After graduating from Dartmouth, Charles Wheelan '88 travelled the world for nine months as a reporter for the Valley News and was paid $50 per article with Leah Yegian, another member of the Class of 1988. Now an economist and married to Leah, Wheelan is a lecturer at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy during the regular school year but returns to the College to teach two courses each summer.
Wheelan who is also the author of the best-selling book "Naked Economics" is teaching two courses this term: Public Economics, ECON 28, and Economics of Public Policymaking, PBPL 40.
"He's very engaging, very down to earth and practical," Adam Rice '12, who is in Wheelan's public policy class this summer, said. "He takes things that are very complicated processes in real life and lays them out in a very simplistic way."
William Mueller '12, who is in Wheelan's economics class, noted that Wheelan's "practical knowledge" and "unique humor" come across in his lectures.
"On the first day of class, he told us how his life has brought him only 100 yards from where he started his college experience in Russell Sage," Mueller said.
Wheelan, who was an Asian Studies major at Dartmouth, also played on the golf team for two seasons and was a member of Alpha Delta fraternity. He spent several terms abroad, travelling to France on a Language Study Abroad program, working for Morgan Stanley in London and working for an Arab newspaper in Kuwait.
"One of the things that attracted me to Dartmouth was the international programs," Wheelan said.
The D-Plan, which allowed Wheelan to take advantage of foreign study opportunities as an undergraduate, now allows him to teach at two schools as a professor. Since Dartmouth and the University of Chicago are both on quarter systems, he is able to spend time at both institutions, he said.
"The D-Plan allows for non-conventional work experiences and facilitates travel," Wheelan said. "Flexibility is a huge asset."
Now teaching at the College, some of Wheelan's old professors are now his colleagues.
"He could probably make a fortune on Wall Street," English professor Donald Pease said. "Instead he's decided to become a teacher. I think that's a sign of the true value of a Dartmouth education."
Pease said that Wheelan "made an impression" on him as a student in his American Drama course 22 years ago.
"He struck me with his clarity and his capacity to take very complex questions and translate them into very specific problems that could be addressed by policy," Pease said. "I think that's a gift."
Although returning to the College as a professor was strange at first, Wheelan quickly adjusted to his new position.
"There was a sobering moment my first year [teaching] here when I realized that the sophomores I was teaching were born my sophomore Summer," he said.
Although much has changed since Wheelan's days at the College, a "hierarchy of study places" on campus has always existed, he said.
According to Wheelan, the Orozco murals in the reserves of Baker-Berry Library rather than First Floor Berry used to be the "hub of campus."
Since Blackboard was not yet in use, students went to the reserves to complete their readings for class, he said.
"All of those tables were full every night if you were looking for someone they would be at the reserve corridor," Wheelan said. "But if you were really serious you would go to the stacks."
Wheelan credited his Dartmouth education with cultivating an interest in public policy and exposing him to international experiences.
"One of the great things about Dartmouth is that it has a strong sense of personality both as an institution and a geographic location," Wheelan said.
Rice said that Wheelan's teaching style "resonates" with his students.
"He's not preaching, he's there with us he shares stories from his own life everyday," Rice said.
Wheelan once told a story about rewarding his seven-year-old son for finding his slippers to explain the concept of "perverse incentives," which are a type of unintended consequences, Rice said.
"What ended up happening was that his slippers were disappearing all the time [because his son] was intentionally taking them away," Rice said.
Wheelan said he enjoys teaching at his alma mater and that the College is an overall "terrific place to be."
"The sense of place, the culture is very familiar in a good way," he said.
