Charles Wise is the founding director of the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. He previously served as associate dean of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs of Indiana University, and was a full professor of public affairs there.

Wise has served as president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, and is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He has also served in the United States Department of Justice, first as special assistant for policy analysis in the Office of Legislative Affairs and then as director of Intergovernmental Relations for the department.

He is the former managing editor of the Public Administration Review. He has three times been awarded the William and Frederick Mosher Award (for 1985, 1991 and 1992) by the American Society for Public Administration for the best academic article to be published in the Public Administration Review for the year. He is the only recipient of the award to have received it three times.

From 1994 to 2013, Wise served as the project director of the Parliamentary Development Project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to assist the Parliament of Ukraine in developing as a democratic institution.