Jacob Wheeler, Northwestern Michigan College
CCN Faculty Champion
Center for Community News
BIO
Jacob Wheeler coaches student journalists as the adjunct faculty advisor to the White Pine Press, the award-winning, student-run newspaper at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan. Wheeler also edits and publishes the Glen Arbor Sun newspaper in nearby Leelanau County. His reporting has won awards from Project Censored and the Michigan Press Association. A native of Denmark, he has filed stories from five continents, and his work has appeared in such publications as Bridge Michigan, Christian Science Monitor, Crain’s Detroit Business, Detroit Free Press, In These Times, The Rotarian, San Francisco Chronicle, Teaching Tolerance, and Utne Reader. Wheeler has written two books from his time reporting in Guatemala: Between Light and Shadow (University of Nebraska Press, 2011), about Guatemala’s child adoption industry, and Angel of the Garbage Dump, 2022, about a social worker from Maine who launched a school for the children of the Guatemala City garbage dump. Wheeler also co-produced The People and the Olive, a 2012 documentary about the daily struggles of Palestinian olive farmers in the occupied West Bank. Wheeler lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with his wife Sarah and children, Nina and Leo. He has a BA from the University of Michigan (Residential College) and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing from Goucher College.
Bio
Jacob Wheeler coaches student journalists as the adjunct faculty advisor to the White Pine Press, the award-winning, student-run newspaper at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan. Wheeler also edits and publishes the Glen Arbor Sun newspaper in nearby Leelanau County. His reporting has won awards from Project Censored and the Michigan Press Association. A native of Denmark, he has filed stories from five continents, and his work has appeared in such publications as Bridge Michigan, Christian Science Monitor, Crain’s Detroit Business, Detroit Free Press, In These Times, The Rotarian, San Francisco Chronicle, Teaching Tolerance, and Utne Reader. Wheeler has written two books from his time reporting in Guatemala: Between Light and Shadow (University of Nebraska Press, 2011), about Guatemala’s child adoption industry, and Angel of the Garbage Dump, 2022, about a social worker from Maine who launched a school for the children of the Guatemala City garbage dump. Wheeler also co-produced The People and the Olive, a 2012 documentary about the daily struggles of Palestinian olive farmers in the occupied West Bank. Wheeler lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with his wife Sarah and children, Nina and Leo. He has a BA from the University of Michigan (Residential College) and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing from Goucher College.