Before becoming president, he served as chairman of the Economics Department and dean of Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Postal Service and an independent panel appointed by Major League Baseball to examine the sport's economics.

Levin had been rumored as a possible replacement for Larry Summers as Director of the White House National Economic Council[6] until Gene Sperling was selected instead.

As president of Yale, Levin studied and helped to some extent to guide what he called "the rise of Asia's universities".

In 2013, Levin agreed to serve on the Advisory Board for the newly created Schwarzman Scholars - fellowships that will take students from many countries for post-graduate study together at Tsinghua University in Beijing, with the aim of promoting international understanding.

[13] Yale's admissions standards and academic prestige also recovered from a significant lull in the early 1990s since Levin's appointment.

Levin has made a special effort to expand Yale's engagement with China and was elected to the board of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

The project was delayed due to the financial crisis, but construction was begun in 2013, shortly after Levin stepped down.

In 2003, Levin negotiated eight-year contracts with the university's unionized workers that provided health care, extensive paid leave, and cumulative raises ranging from 32% to 43%, although he has also fought strongly against new unionization drives by hospital workers, graduate employees, and security guards.

Yale initially faced strong criticism that Singapore's various restrictions on press freedom and public protests, as well as its anti-homosexuality policies, would undermine Yale-NUS's liberal arts mission.