Following completion of his doctoral study, Bill Griffith became a professor of adult education at the Universities of Chicago and British Columbia. While teaching at the University of Chicago, he served as Vice President of the Adult Education Council of Greater Chicago and chaired the program committees for national conferences of the AEA/USA in 1966 and of NAPCAE in 1975. He was also chairman of the Research Section of the National University Extension Association. He was President of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education in 1990-1991. He also served as President of the Northwest Adult Education Association, as Chairman of the Commission of Professor of Adult Education, and as a member of the steering committee of the Adult Education Research Conference. He also made a significant contribution to the field with his co-editorship (with Howard McClusky) of the 8-volume Adult Education Association Handbook Series in Adult Education in 1980-1981.
His contributions to the field have been recognized in various ways. In 1972-1973, he was named a Fulbright-Hayes Senior Research Fellow to Australia. The AEA/USA awarded him its coveted Research to Practice award in 1980 as well as its Leadership Award.