Headmaster

William D. Wharton

Teacher: Language and Ethics, Readings in Ethics

“We set the bar high for students, and we have the resources and teachers to help them clear it.”

Headmaster since July 2000, Bill Wharton joined the faculty in 1985 as a teacher of history, Latin, and Greek, and over his 25 years at Commonwealth his courses have included current events, ancient philosophy, and world religions. With his wide-ranging interests and love of reading, he brings philosophy, neuroscience, and decision theory to the classes in language and ethics that he now teaches to all 9th graders and seniors.

Mr. Wharton received his A.B. and M.A., both in classics, from Brown University, and he taught Latin for five years at the Lincoln School in Providence, RI, before coming to Commonwealth. In 1992, he was one of 38 recipients of Teacher-Scholar Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and DeWitt-Wallace Readers’ Digest Fund, an award that funded a year’s sabbatical study of the philosophy of Plato. He is married to Danaë Cotsis Wharton, who teaches at Tenacre Country Day School. They have two children, including Rhea '06.