Neal Raisman

Updated September 2015:

Well, I ended up going to UMass-Boston where I met Aileen who I married 44 years ago now. My god aren’t I just ancient. At UMass I got a great education and fell in love with the idea of teaching English at the College level so I majored in English. I still had the acting bug so I did some standup as an undergrad under the name of Neal Alan. Did okay but decided that I would want something steadier in my life than worrying about my next gig which is just what I am doing now. Ahh the irony of it all.

Went to UMass-Amherst for grad school in English working on a master’s degree which I got and took off two years off for good behavior teaching composition at Western Michigan University. While out there we had our first child. A daughter who we named Shana. Took a chance on the name since Shana means pretty in Yiddish but we lucked out on the name and reality. Budget cuts ended the job at WMU so I came back to UMass to work on a doctorate. While working on that I was given the position of assistant director of the writing program which put me on a path to where I ended up for a while but not before I spent nine years in Maine at Maine Maritime Academy wearing a faux military uniform with long hair. I got one year off for good behavior when I received a Fulbright fellowship in France. That was a glorious year. I had finished my doctorate in neurolinguistics so could just eat, drink, teach and enjoy France.

Before going to France, we had another child, a boy named Isaac. The whole family went to France and had a wonderful time. Life’s highlight I would say. Came back to MMA and spent another year there before I took a Dean’s position at Lansing Community College in Michigan where we spent 4 years. Yuh, me a dean of liberal arts! Wouldn’t that just drive teachers at SHS just up the wall. I was not a wonderful student after all. While at LCC I published my first book, a collection of essays on general education in college.

From LCC we went to the University of Cincinnati where I was a campus dean of one of their two year colleges. That changed when I pissed off the faculty by making changes we had to make in a multi million dollar budget cut. I was then asked to come join the president’s office as the University planner. That lasted for two years when I was chosen to be the president of a college in New York. Yuh, me a college president shows the decline of education in America. I inherited a 10 million dollar problem there and was able to solve it within a year which made me look good. Can fool all the people all the time. I won’t go into the problem but just say that the college had screwed up with federal funds enough that CNN showed up to interview me on my first day. Gave me a big problems to fix but great opportunities too.

I got the school of the brick of ruin to the point that it was running so well that I was informed that the politicians wanted me to hire some of their flunkies. I couldn’t do that it being illegal and unethical and all so I got my ass fired by the board which was appointed by the politicians. So I took another presidency in Syracuse NY where I got so fed up with the politics of the board there that I quit after a year and a half. Loved being a president but hated boards so I opened my own consulting business working with colleges and universities on customer service toward students to improve retention of them. Odd thing. The relationship between treating students like crap and their quitting. Moved to Western Mass. Published three books on academic customer service and won some good recognition for my work.

I did that for about six years when another college asked me to become president there in New York again. That was going great and I would have stayed with that but my 26 year old son died of meningitis and I lost the heart to run a school. So I went back to consulting and moved to Columbus, Oh where my daughter and her family lived so we could be with them. Consulting is going good and allowed me time to write a book on my son’s death, the grief that followed and leaning to live again. That one I am looking for a publisher for and would be glad to send it along if you want to read it.

I am now living in Columbus hustling for consulting jobs ands trying to enjoy life. I often think of the days we spent in rehearsal for one or another play and realize they were my favorite times in junior and senior high school. I am glad one of us went into the theater and often wish I had stayed with my standup. I love working an audience and that is my favorite time of consulting – giving a talk or workshop.

That in a couple of nutshells is the past fifty years for me.