During Wheeler's twenty-year administration enrollment and faculty tripled, eleven permanent granite and concrete buildings were added to the Berkeley landscape, twenty new departments were established at Berkeley, research funds were created for faculty use, and research stations were built in other California locations.

Wheeler, a scholar in classics who received his Ph.D. from a German university, taught at Cornell for thirteen years before coming to California; he was known as a link between faculty and students and also between the university and the community. He was a forceful figure who convinced the regents to delegate to him several important powers, among them the responsibility for all faculty appointments.