Advertisement

UPDATE: Falsities on Resume Hint at Adam Wheeler's Web of Lies

UPDATED 11:27 a.m.

A closer examination of a resume drafted by former Harvard student Adam B. Wheeler reveals inconsistencies in line with recent charges that he submitted fraudulent applications to a slew of institutions.

On Tuesday, the New Republic—a news magazine based in Washington, D.C.—posted on its blog that it too had received an application from Wheeler, who had applied for an internship earlier in 2010 after he had been dismissed from Harvard for academic dishonesty.

The New Republic, which ultimately turned Wheeler down, also posted a copy of the resume that Wheeler had submitted.

The resume stated that Wheeler had a 4.0 GPA at Harvard, in contrast to prosecutors' claim that he received some A’s, some B’s, and a D in his Harvard classes. The resume also stated that Wheeler began attending Harvard in 2006, though he actually matriculated in 2007.

Advertisement

On the document, Wheeler called himself the "co-author" of four books with English Professor Marc Shell that are either under contract or under review with several major university presses. Willis G. Regier, director of University of Illinois Press, said in an interview Wednesday that "Wampum and the Origins of American Money" is indeed under contract with UIP, but Shell is the only name listed on the contract for the work.

"I had no knowledge of [Wheeler's] involvement whatsoever in the project," said Regier, who is the editor of the book and added that the project has been ongoing for years.

Wheeler also listed himself as the co-author of a book under contract and another project under review with McGill-Queen's University Press. But the press' marketing director Susan McIntosh said that Wheeler "is completely unknown to us," and that his name would be on a contract if he was a co-author for a project.

Representatives from Princeton University Press—another place that Wheeler listed on his resume—declined to comment on Wednesday.

None of the three lectures Wheeler claimed to have delivered at the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research at Harvard are included on the organization’s online list of past events, except one which is attributed to Harvard Professor James R. Russell, not Wheeler.

Wheeler also claimed to have served as a writing tutor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, a position which Department Chair Wilt Idema said does not even exist.

Wheeler also has never worked as a writing tutor at the Harvard Extension School Writing Center as his resume claimed, according to Jeannine Johnson, director of the Writing Center.

Wheeler’s resume did not mention undergraduate work at either MIT—where he claimed in his Harvard transfer admission application to have attended—or Bowdoin, where prosecutors said he spent his first two undergraduate years.

The resume concluded with the assertion that Wheeler speaks French, Old English, Classical Armenian, and Old Persian.

Wheeler pled not guilty Tuesday morning to 20 counts including larceny and identity fraud. Middlesex County prosecutors charge that he submitted plagiarized letters of recommendations, fake transcripts, and fraudulent SAT scores in his application to Harvard and to several other scholarships and programs.

Representatives at The New Republic declined to comment Tuesday afternoon.

Esther I. Yi and Xi Yu contributed to the reporting of this story.

Staff writer Julie M. Zauzmer can be reached at jzauzmer@college.harvard.edu.

Tags

Advertisement