Michael L. Levitan was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. In 1962, he received his BS degree in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. By 1967, he had earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from the University of Minnesota. After teaching three years at Drexel University in Philadelphia, he went to Villanova University in 1970, where he has been ever since. He is currently Director of Villanova's Applied Statistics Graduate Program, a position he has held at various times for approximately 25 years.
He introduced courses in Operations Research and Queueing Theory, and introduced and ran the Math Anxiety Workshop. In 1999 he received the Lawrence C. Gallen Award for Distinguished Faculty Service. He has held six research and teaching appointments at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and at Curtin University, both in Perth. His last research position was at UWA in 2004. He has published articles in probability and in statistics. His most recent publications have been in the area of chick embryo brain growth. As a grant participant, he coauthored a book dealing with sports injury in Australia. He is currently participating in two public health grants in Australia.