General Richard Neal Ed’65, H’91
On attending Northeastern and majoring in education:
“The guidance counselor suggested that the cooperative education program would provide me some income…I also applied for a scholarship, and they actually paid for the first year at Northeastern.”
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On commuting to school:
“I would have liked to live on campus because I felt like sometimes, when I would come in the morning and join the group that we had of friends, they were sharing experiences that I didn’t have the opportunity to share because they were living there. But commuting had its own special benefits.”
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![o [archival photo] In the early 1960s, Northeastern had the largest ROTC unit in the country with well over 2,000 volunteers.](../images/neal/rotc-1960.jpg)
In the early 1960s, Northeastern had the largest ROTC unit in the country with well over 2,000 volunteers.
On his fellow students:
“I think there was kind of a unique blending of folks there at that particular time. A lot of similar backgrounds…All of the kids that I know now as young kids, and all of the folks that I was with during my tenure, all turned out to be pretty good people.”
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On co-op experiences:
“I was assigned down to a school in the south of Boston, Silver Lake Regional High School and I stayed there for my whole four years. So I started out as a typical intern in the administrative office and then matriculated into the classroom, and basically had some pretty significant teaching experience the last couple years of my internship.”
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On significant moments as a student and the evolution of the campus:
“The defining moment during my time at Northeastern was the assassination of President Kennedy and the impact that had on the student body, on all of us individually and collectively. I can remember the class I was in when we got the word that it had occurred.”
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General Neal speaking at the Veterans Memorial groundbreaking ceremony. The memorial was dedicated in 2008.
On how his Northeastern education prepared him to teach cadets:
“I had some great instructors…they lit the fire of intellectual curiosity on my part, and as a result I’ve become a student of history and I’m an avid reader. That intellectual curiosity was born at Northeastern.”
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On teaching in the military:
“I think the military really is a teaching institution…I can almost say all the way through, almost 35 years in the military, at one time or another I was a teacher, a counselor, or a mentor. That goes with the territory of being a military officer.”
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On the evolution of Northeastern:
“I’m impressed by the campus, and the grounds and environment. I think it hasn’t tried to isolate itself from the city that it’s an integral part of, and I think that’s some of the keys to its success.”
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On the importance of education:
“College educations are terrific and I think they’re good, but I think it really begins at the lower level. I really think that the seeds and the germ that grows to the desire for a college education begin in the elementary and the high schools.”
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This interview is available in its entirety in the Northeastern University Archives. Photos: University Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department and the Office of Alumni Relations.
Biography
A native of Hull, Massachusetts, Richard Neal was attracted to Northeastern because of the co-op program, which allowed him to simultaneously gain work experience and pay for his schooling. He arrived at the University intending to pursue a career as a teacher or a civil engineer, in the end deciding upon education. General Neal's ultimate profession led him to become an educator of a different kind: a four-star general in the United States Marine Corps.