A part of Bob Wheeler hopes that you don’t know who he is or what he does for NIU. For that ignorance means that he has done his job well.

“You have to be able to do a number of things at once in this job because so many things come at you from many different directions,” the soon-to-retire vice provost said. “My primary role is to be a negotiator, a facilitator, a moderator — a person who makes the university run smoothly. If the vice provost is doing their job correctly, they will be almost invisible to the general population of the campus, but the university will run more smoothly as a result.”

As vice provost, Wheeler is responsible for administration of the undergraduate academic program, enrollment management and teacher certification. It’s his dealings with students that leave him smiling.

“Working with the students directly is my favorite part of the job,” he said. “In many cases, students who have a concern that hasn’t been addressed at a lower level, will come talk to me, and sometimes we are able to find a way out for those students and make things right, and that’s always a very good feeling.”

Wheeler came to NIU in 1972 as an assistant math professor and quietly moved his way up the ranks over the course of the last 31 years.

At the end of this semester, the only problems Wheeler will focus on are his own as he enters a well-deserved retirement. Although he will miss the students and faculty he’s grown fond of over the years, he said the timing is just right.

“I have been here 31 years and I just have a sense that it’s time to move on,” he said. “I have some goals that I want to achieve that are apart from the university. It just seems like the right moment. In some ways, I am a very intuitive person and I have come to have this feeling that it’s time to step aside and let new people come to the forefront and display news ideas and new leadership. I feel very positive about that right now. I am leaving the office in good hands.”

Post-NIU, Wheeler is looking forward to spending time with his wife of 10 months, Kathy. The pair will travel to China for two weeks in September with the NIU Alumni Association.

After the trip, he plans on catching up on his reading and favorite sport teams. He also will focus on a new endeavor far closer to his heart as he continues his work in a hospice training program. Wheeler’s first wife, Margie, passed away from cancer three years ago.

“It had a deep impact on me,” he said. “It was very tough. It was the first time I ever directly had to face cancer in my own immediate family and it was a hard thing to go through. The support of Hospice helped immeasurably.”

Wheeler hopes that students appreciate the world they live in today the same way he does.

“This is a very diverse world we live in today,” he said. “It is terribly important to be ready to work with people coming from very different and diverse backgrounds.