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Sol Gittleman was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the son of immigrant parents. He was educated in the New Jersey public school system, received his B.A. from Drew University, the M.A. from Columbia University (Comparative Literature), and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan (Comparative Literature) in 1961. In 1962 he became an Assistant Professor of German at Mount Holyoke College and in 1964 came to Tufts University as an Assistant Professor, of German. In 1966 he was appointed Associate Professor and has been Professor of German at Tufts University since 1971. He was Chairman of the Department of German and Russian from 1966 to 1981. In 1981 he was appointed Provost and Academic Vice President, and from 1985 to 2002 he served as Senior Vice President and Provost. In 1992, Provost Gittleman was also named the Alice and Nathan Gantcher Professor of Judaic Studies. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hebrew College in 1993, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Stonehill College in 1996. In 2003 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from his alma mater, Drew University, and in 2005 he received an honorary degree from the German University of Tuebingen.

In August, 2002 he stepped down as Provost after serving for twenty-one years in that position. Gittleman was named the Alice and Nathan Gantcher University Professor, one of three current university professors at Tufts.

He is the author of books on German Literature, East European Jewish Literature and the American immigrant experience. His most recent have been The Entrepreneurial University: Tufts, 1976-2002(2004); and a baseball book, Reynolds, Raschi, and Lopat: New York's Big Three and the Great Yankee Dynasty of 1949-1953(2007). He continues to teach his courses on the migration of East European Jewish literature to America, and American baseball history. Gittleman has been lecturing extensively on topics of American immigration, the National Pastime, and comparative religion, particularly the Religions of Abraham and the history of war in the name of God.

Professor Gittleman has received two Fulbright awards, the Harbison Prize of the Danforth Foundation for Outstanding Teaching, a citation as Professor of the Year from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, and is the recipient of the Robert J. McKenna Award in 2009 from The New England Board of Higher Education.

He is married to Robyn Singer Gittleman, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Director of the Experimental College at Tufts University. They have three children and seven grandchildren, who call every day.

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