Darrell Wheeler ’81: Trust your inner compass

By any definition of the word, Darrell Wheeler ’81 is a success. The path he traveled to achieve success, however, was circuitous and often uncertain. He changed his major three times at Cornell, he left med school after one year, and his first job after earning his doctorate in social work fell through. 

Today Wheeler is a university president. He is also a past president of the National Association of Social Workers, and his life’s work led to an appointment on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

“My career path has been full of things that I stepped out on and wasn’t fully sure about. They weren’t totally baked. And many people have looked at me and said, are you sure you want to do that? And my answer in all honesty is, I’m not sure, but I’m compelled to do it because it feels right and I’ll figure it out as I’m going,” Wheeler said. “I think that adaptability, that fortitude, that ability to integrate lessons, has allowed me to function in many different spheres.” 

Wheeler’s first major redirection came during his junior year at Cornell. He was set to study in Germany when low enrollment canceled the program. So, he made an appointment with Professor of Sociology Charlotte Vaughan and applied to a program in Denmark, where he completed a comparative study of healthcare systems in Denmark and the U.S.

The Cornell sociology graduate then worked, went to med school for a year, joined the Air Force, and earned a master’s degree in social work from Howard University, followed by a master of public health degree in health administration and a doctorate in social work, both at the University of Pittsburgh. 

At Pittsburgh he researched gay men’s health and became interested in health disparities, administration, and policy. His HIV-related dissertation led to funded research, followed later by the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and to the HIV Prevention Trial Networks Scholars Program, which fosters career development among underrepresented scholars.

After a career in higher ed teaching and administration he became president of SUNY New Paltz in 2022. Throughout the years he has modeled the type of intimacy and connectivity he experienced at Cornell.

“That has actually given me a signature mode of engaging,” he said. “It’s that right balance of content and directiveness and compassion that I think going to a school like Cornell College gave me—the opportunity to explore, without the rigid parameters that I’ve seen in other institutions where it was do or die every step of the way.”

Wheeler said he and Donovan Howard, his partner of 28 years, have built a life he loves, and he is enjoying a new phase of life as a university president.

“I keep looking out the window in the distance at the Catskill Mountains and the campus here. And sometimes you just pinch yourself and go, how did I get here?” he said. “I try to keep a sense of humor and humility about the whole thing. That this isn’t about Darrell Wheeler … it is really about what difference does it make? And the icing on the cake is seeing so many young people that I’m able to engage—these next generation scientists. And it’s not over yet. I’m still enjoying the ride.”