Meet the Director

Dr. John Wheeler

Dr. John Wheeler

Dr. Wheeler is currently Professor of Special Education, Associate Dean and Director of Doctoral Studies in the College of Education at Tennessee Tech University and is now in his thirteenth year at the university.  Prior to his appointment at TTU, he was an Associate Professor of Special Education and Director of Interdisciplinary Training at the South Dakota Center for Disabilities in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota. While in South Dakota, he served as a founding member of the South Dakota Autism Project for five years delivering clinical and field-based supports to children with autism and other developmental disabilities, families and educators throughout the state of South Dakota.

Currently he serves as Associate Dean and Director of the PhD program in Education at TTU and facilitated the program being approved by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board.  Dr. Wheeler has been in the field of special education for twenty-seven years having begun his career as a teacher of students with severe disabilities in his home state of Illinois.  Since that time he has established himself as a university educator and researcher where currently his research interests include designing instructional and behavioral supports for children and youth with severe disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders.  He has served as Director and Principle Investigator on the TTU Positive Behavior Support Initiative, a grant funded and designed to provide consultation and technical assistance to regional schools in a 23-county rural and underserved area of Tennessee for the past thirteen years.  He serves on numerous editorial boards and has authored numerous research articles, book chapters and two texts in the area of positive behavior supports.