Michael Van Allen

The Life and Times of Michael A Van Allen

MichaelVanAllen@aol.com

http://www.MichaelAVanAllen.com/

Once upon a Thanksgiving Day,

Morton Curtis van Allen of Dutch and African American decent and his Christian wife Sarah Cecilia of African and Native American decent conceived a baby boy. On Sunday, August 01, 1953, at 1:43 AM, Michael Anthony van Allen was born on a small, exotic island where he became a competitive swimmer. The island he was born on is Manhattan, where his grandfather was a teacher and Jazz musician. As a boy, Michael lived in the Abraham Lincoln public housing projects in Harlem where his very pretty, loving and protective mother was the recipient of the "1953 Mother of the year award." His mother Sarah, the senior child of 8 sisters and 4 brothers, later became parent coordinator for the federally funded, Head Start Program. 1953 was an intriguing year that produced great things - The United States Supreme Court ruled against racially segregated schools, the double helical structure of DNA was discovered, the transistor was invented, the polio vaccination was produced, the first successful open-heart surgery was performed, the top of Mt. Everest was conquered, the first McDonald's restaurant opened, the first edition of Playboy magazine was published and Rock & Roll first topped the musical charts. 1953 was a very good year!

Michael's fair skinned, freckled-faced father was a proud man of immense character and intellect. (He was a trailblazer for people like the former Secretary of State General Colin Powell- who is from the same Bronx neighborhood.) Having graduated as the salutatorian from Morris High School in the South Bronx, Van voluntarily joined the United States Army at seventeen years of age. He honorably served in combat as a sergeant in World War II within a segregated United States Army. Ironically, he returned home to fight for his own freedoms in the Civil Rights Movement. He participated in the "March to Washington" where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the national historic "I Have A Dream" speech. Prior to the civil revolts escalating to dangerous riot levels, Morton C. van Allen moved his family out of the ghetto and into the Garden State where Michael was honored to have been actively recruited and immediately drafted onto the award winning Newark Boy's Club swim team. He was honored with many certificates, awards and trophies for competitive swimming while attending Newark Broadway elementary and Broadway Junior High School. Wanting to emulate his grandfather, Michael began playing the clarinet for his grammar school band. The high school that Mike was to attend that Fall began to have an ethnic mix of students. Black students and white students were beginning to enter the swimming pool at the same time. The all white school board and Mayor Kelly agreed to address the situation by replacing the chlorinated water with sand. They poured cement into the olympic size swimming pool, and replaced the pool areas with upgraded marching band facilities to support the back-to-back State championship varsity football team. Weighing in at a buck fifty and standing only five and a half feet from the ground, this scholar-triathlete did not qualify to make the football or the basketball team offered to the typical black students. He also failed to make the East Orange High School Marching Band. This Autumn of failure was a disappointment in his life.

When Michael was a teenager, he took his first employment as a pharmacy clerk. One day, a very pretty girl patronized the store. Michael immediately recognized Laverne from school. They exchanged glances, smiles and friendly words as he bagged her prescription. Michael waved (Adios) good-bye to Laverne and assured her that he would see her in class, on the following day. The pharmacist brought to Michael's attention that he failed to ring her purchase on the register. Having witnessed the juvenile flirtatious behavior, Michael's boss realized that this was an oversight and didn't make him pay out-of-pocket. Michael was relieved because he was only earning $1.60 per hour. The next day, Laverne approached Michael with the money and apologized for not having paid at the store. Michael refused the money but accepted her apology and explained that he needed her telephone number in case he had to 'follow-up'. Laverne knew where Michael was going, but she gave him the number anyway. They both laughed aloud and staggered disorderly into their Spanish class tardy yet still laughing disturbingly loudly.

Michael studied the martial arts and military science. After high school graduation, at 17 years of age and during the Vietnam war, Michael flew down to Greensboro and enlisted into the North Carolina A & T State University Air Force Recruiting Officers Training Corp.

Although born in the Big Apple, Michael made history in the Oranges. He was the first non-white student to be awarded a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Upsala college. He matriculated in the students for medicine program at the medical college. He was hired by his hometown's health department where he conducted microbiological test for the detection of bacteria in public food, water and milk, employing various bacteriological techniques. He screened children for contaminated blood levels of lead and he prepared, organized and secured PAP smear slides used for the detection of cervical cancer.

Michael moved from his parents' home and rented an Andrea Towers condominium apartment. He was awarded a chemistry certificate from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He resigned from the health department to work as a biochemist at Merck & Co., the world's leading and largest pharmaceutical company. He performed qualitative and quantitative analysis, using instrumental and wet chemical procedures. His talents and skills were quickly recognized. He was promoted from analytical chemistry to research & development to support the Microbial Chemotherapeutic, Pharmacometric and Antibiotic programs. Still in his 20's, he earned enough money and bought his luxury condominium apartment and a brand new BMW automobile.

Michael fell in love with his high school sweetheart, whom he took to the senior prom held at the West Orange Manor. Succinctly, Laverne had a miscarriage and later died of breast cancer. These were the saddest times of Michael's life. This tragic period prompted him to prioritize his life's values. He accepted a medical research position at St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark. He worked at the Blood Institute in the Hematology/Oncology department. He coordinated medical research projects for the separation and purification of plasma proteins using isoelectric focusing, high pressured liquid chromatography, SDS three dimensional gel electrophoresis and several hematological methods. It was during this time that he transformed from the life and physical sciences to the social and political sciences. Being political congruent with the philosophy of the late Malcolm X, he was appointed chairman of a chapter of the Organization of African Unity. He was elected block association president, appointed municipal fourth ward Treasurer, and Essex County Committee executive board district leader. He became a cablevision show host and was appointed by the Mayor (and unanimously confirmed in by the City Council) to serve as the Commissioner for the city of East Orange. After several campaigns and re-elections, dissatisfied with the failure of politics in serving the best interest of the masses, Commissioner MAVA decided to return to the pure sciences via academia. He was awarded his master's degree. Returning to his roots, he became the first black instructor in the chemistry/physics department at his undergraduate college. He taught inorganic, organic, and biochemistry. He was listed in Who's Who in American Education. He served as a debate coach and senior class advisor. He continued his formal education and returned to the island of his birth. He did his graduate studies in Biochemistry at Columbia University in Harlem, New York City. Mr. Van Allen accepted a chemistry teaching appointment at the fine and performing Arts school in Newark where his older sister graduated as a violinist. [Many talented people graduated from Arts High School ranging from the legendary songstress Sarah Vaughn, Melba Moore, Woody Shaw, Connie Francis, Jazz artist Wayne Shorter and contemporary actress Tiesha Campbell.] He served as the advisor for the Allied Health Careers' and the National Honor Society. Michael returned to the medical school in Newark to do Pharmacokinetical research, and co-authored publications in medical journals.

In 1997, Van was appointed to serve as an adjunct biochemistry instructor in the pre-medical program at the UMDNJ medical college in Newark. Contemporaneously, he was promoted to science department chairman. [His sister Barbara teaches college mathematics. Her son David attended Dartmouth University]. The only Black man that chairs a public secondary school science department in the State of New Jersey received his pinnacle of recognition- after twenty plus years of service as an educational leader- when he was appointed in 2007, by the NJ Department of Education to establish the benchmarks to the NJ Board of Education for the Science High School Proficiency Assessment. [The HSPA is an exit exam that over 80,000 science students throughout the State must pass in order to graduate from High School]. Unfortunately, Michael A. Van Allen still does not qualify to be part of any marching bands! However, he loves the challenges of his supervisory/administrative responsibilities and the positive differences he makes in people lives. And the personal satisfaction he receives when he feels he is giving back. He also gets that feeling when he gives to his favorite charity- "The Boys and Girls Club of America". He is engaged in the happiest times of his entire life as he lives in the moment- the here and now. He has a passion for his profession, social life, hobbies and personal interest. He treasures living, listening, learning, loving, laughing, reading, writing, dating, dining, dancing, helicopter flying down the Grand Canyon, traveling through Europe, camel riding in Northern Africa, climbing the Great Wall of China, cruising the Caribbean islands, scuba diving in the Hawaiian islands, day-break jogging with his dog and early morning lap swimming. He also enjoys tennis and playing the in-field on his hometown softball league. He enjoys bookstores, concerts, plays, parks, libraries, malls, movies, museums and music. Mike drives the BMW 5-series. [For 15 years, Michael lived in his single-family colonial home in West Orange township -right up the road from where the famous scientist Tom A. Edison once lived and developed his inventions]. He now lives with his very pretty, smart and loyal black female Labrador Retriever -named Mia- in the suburban township of Randolph in Morris County, NJ. A tree-lined community on Mountain Freedom- that only lack sidewalks. He was a candidate for Randolph town council in 2006. He studied legislation at the Eagleton Institute in New Brunswick, NJ during his campaign. He is proud of the nomination he received and support of thousands of his neighbors that came out in the rain and voted for him in the General Election. He served as the Morris County Committee District Leader and Treasurer of the Randolph Democratic Committee for several years. He plays second base and catcher on his softball team. His oil-heated French Dutch Colonial 'castle' is located with private well-water, on a couple of acres of a bucolic evergreen, private setting, surrounded by forest, mountainous lakes and parks often visited by herds of deer, birds and other wildlife. He was elected by his colleagues to represent them as their labor leader on the CASA union's executive board (local #20) under the American Federation of School Administrators (AFL-CIO). He is a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development and the New Jersey Science Education Leadership Association.

His ambition include: Earning his doctorates degree in Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy from Seton Hall University Graduate College of Education; Successfully serving the County College of Morris as a distinguished member of the Board of Trustees; Completing the Randolph Lake Triathlon annually; Riding off into the sunset with his amicable, amorous, petite, Jewish, physician girlfriend Pat; And living happily ever after...

Telephone: 973 895 4446

To be continued: Stay tuned!