William Wittels, Assistant Director of Academic Affairs

Wittels joined the Graduate School team in the late spring, stepping into the newly restructured Assistant Director of Academic Affairs position. He supports oversight and capacity-building functions for doctoral and MFA programs, collaborates with faculty and administrators to set policies and best practices for graduate education, and guides graduate students who are applying for competitive grants and fellowships.

Stepping into the role, Wittels expressed that he was impressed by the depth and breadth of resources and opportunities that Brown offers for graduate students. “It's great to see Brown going above and beyond what our peers do. I look forward to building upon that great work by seeking out additional ways to support Brown's graduate students and graduate programs alike,” he says.

Before joining the Graduate School, Wittels worked as the Manager of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs for the Leadership Alliance where he supported their Summer Research - Early Identification Program, career development workshops for graduate students and postdocs, faculty grant writing coaching groups, and their National Symposium. Prior to coming to Brown, he was a member of the Tobin Project, where he developed large-scale, interdisciplinary social science research agendas and ran graduate student dissertation and prospectus development workshops.

Wittels is originally from Philadelphia, PA. He earned his undergraduate degree at Tufts University, then went on to complete his master’s and doctoral degrees at Duke University in Political Science.