William G. Bowen is the current president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He was the former president of Princeton University (from 1972 to 1988).

William Bowen is also the chairman of the board of Ithaka Harbors, Inc . He serves on the boards of JSTOR, American Express; Merck & Co, Inc. ; and the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development . He also serves on the boards of Overseers of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and College Retirement Equities Fund . Bowen is a professor of economics and public affairs.

William Bowen graduated from Denison University in 1955, and Princeton University in 1958, where he earned a PhD. He was a member of the Princeton faculty since 1958, where he specialized in labor economics.

Bowen created a research program at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to investigate into doctoral education , collegiate admissions , independent research libraries , and charitable nonprofits in order to ensure that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's grants would be well-informed and more effective.

William Bowen has also been partially responsible for JSTOR, the Mellon International Dunhuang Archive , ARTstor , and Ithaka Harbors, Inc. .

William Bowen has authored 19 books, including the Grawemeyer award-winning (co-authored with Derek Bok. His most recent book was (2003) with Sarah A. Levin .