[1] Wasow did his undergraduate studies in mathematics at Reed College, graduating in 1967.
[2][3] He earned his Ph.D. in linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972, and joined the Stanford faculty in 1973.
[2][3] At Stanford, he was a co-founder of the Center for the Study of Language and Information and directed it from 1986 to 1987 and 2006 to 2007.
[3] He served a four-year term as Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Stanford beginning in 1987, another four-year term as Associate Dean of Graduate Policy beginning in 1996, was chair of the faculty senate for the 2003-4 academic year,[2] chaired the linguistics department from 2007 to 2010 and 2011 to 2014, and served as Academic Secretary to the University from 2017 to 2024.
He is also an avid bicyclist,[6] and has been active combating homelessness and developing low-income housing in the Palo Alto area.