Growing up in Detroit, Jerrard Wheeler was surrounded by examples of service. His grandfather worked as a sanitation worker while dedicating his free time to church and neighborhood committees. His grandmother served as a social worker, always finding ways to help others in her community. These early influences would shape Wheeler’s understanding that meaningful work meant serving people, though his path to that realization would take him from the laboratories of Western Michigan University to the villages of Zambia before landing him to where he is today.
At 36, Wheeler has been named one of ten Rising Graduate Scholars by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, nominated by Dr. Daicia Price, clinical associate professor of social work at the University of Michigan.
“Jerrard is a visionary practitioner whose leadership is rooted in restorative justice, intersectionality, and community healing,” says Price, who lauds Wheeler’s work in organizing Cultural Heritage Month celebrations, identity-based graduation ceremonies and the Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Events. “Through these initiatives, he has helped create inclusive spaces that celebrate difference while challenging systems of oppression.”
Wheeler’s journey to social work wasn’t direct. Like many students, he entered college with pre-med aspirations, earning a biology degree at Western Michigan University. But something didn’t sit right with the reactive nature of medical practice. “I was more like, how do we prevent people from getting sick in the first place?” Wheeler recalls. At the time, he didn’t know about nonprofit work or social work as broader professions.
After graduation, Wheeler joined AmeriCorps, serving for two years at the Museum of African American History in Detroit. The experience was transformative for someone who identifies as Black and gay — two crucial parts of his identity. “I was really just building up helping connect the museum to the Black community and also just learning a lot about African American history,” he explains.
Despite being offered a full-time position at the museum, Wheeler felt called to international service. In 2016, he joined the Peace Corps, spending two years in Zambia as an environmental volunteer. His work focused on helping communities find new sources of nutritious food, introducing new crops, and working extensively with children. But perhaps more importantly for his future career, Wheeler also served as part of a peer support network, helping other volunteers navigate challenges like village integration difficulties or family tragedies back home.
