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Bergen Community College adjunct professor Michael Neiman has traveled the world and has been teaching in higher education for over 15 years. With his passion for adventure, he studied in New Zealand and the Netherlands and worked in Africa, South Korea, Kosovo, and Mexico. Reflecting on his experiences, he said, “I have always thrived in a multi-cultural world.”
“After the financial crisis of 2008, many Americans were struggling with employment issues,” said Neiman. “I became a teacher because I had a genuine interest in supporting my local community.”
When he was hired at Bergen in 2012, he taught courses in English, English Basic Skills, and History. “The students are diverse and come from a melting pot of backgrounds, cultures and experiences,” he said. Although he enjoyed his time teaching in the United States, Neiman joined the United States Peace Corps to focus on international development.
After serving a few tours in the United States Peace Corps, Neiman has come back to Bergen to teach English Composition to international students this semester.
“The students are diverse and the opportunity to provide them support and knowledge has always been the gem of my Bergen teaching experience,” he said.
In October 2025, Neiman presented his research “Teaching as an Influencer” at the Congreso Nacional de Formadores de Inglés en Escuelas Normales (CONFIEN) 2025 in Mexico. In 2024, the Escuela Normal de las Huastecas collaborated with Neiman who was serving as an English teacher in the Peace Corps to teach extracurricular English classes. The students were given the choice to take English conversation classes in addition to their required language classes. These intercultural courses at the Escuela Normal de las Huastecas had a key focus of teaching students to be future influencers. The idea focused on helping students make their English skills more valuable by learning English to inspire children and youth to want to learn English. According to Neiman, this innovative approach to teaching practice focused less on perfection of grammar but on the positive interaction of teachers with children to enjoy the learning process through diversity, storytelling, and games.
Neiman has taught at Bergen Community College, Passaic County Community College, Caldwell University and NYC College of Technology in New Jersey and New York. He has also had the opportunity to work in conjunction with the United States Peace Corps in multiple universities in Mexico, including the Universidad Technologica de Tehuacan and Universidad Technologica de Huasteca Hidalguense. In 2002, he was also a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Africa.
Neiman holds a bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College and a master’s degree in international development with a focus on political economy and human rights from the International Institute of Social Studies, a part of the Erasmus University, in the Netherlands. Neiman has several books available on Amazon that pertain to his travel experiences and work overseas.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 24,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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