Dr. Greene joined the faculty of the university’s Political Science Department in 1937 while serving as a research associate at TVA. He became department head in 1946 and held that position until 1971. He was also director of the Bureau of Public Administration from 1945 to 1971. He retired in 1975.
Greene was a specialist in American government; an accomplished musician; a consultant to numerous local, state, and national government agencies and committees; a dedicated teacher; and a nationally prominent scholar. He served as president of the Southern Political Science Association (1957–58) and edited the Journal of Politics from 1953 to 1957. He was coauthor of the widely used textbook Government in Tennessee (4th ed., 1982), author of Lead Me On: Frank Clement and Tennessee Politics (1982), and coauthor of To Foster Knowledge: A History of The University of Tennessee, 1794–1970 (1984).
In 1944 he was responsible for reestablishing the University Choral Society, which had been dormant for two years, and served as director of the UT Chorus for two years, after which he served as accompanist. In recognition of his contributions to the intellectual life of the campus, a plaque with his name has been placed on the door of a faculty study in Hodges Library.