Meant to be

When Alan Wishart was vacationing with his family in Lake George the summer before his senior year of high school, he met and fell in love with a young woman growing up just minutes from his hometown in Massachusetts. 

"We lived 15 minutes apart and didn't know the other existed," he laughed. 

They married and eventually bought a vacation home in the area where their romance began. 

When Wishart was hired by SUNY Adirondack, the couple moved to the area full time. "The timing and location of this job were just amazing," said Wishart, an assistant professor in the Social Sciences division at SUNY Adirondack. 

In 30 years on the job as a police officer, he always enjoyed community education the most. "I led a RAD class, worked with fifth-graders in the DARE program, taught community police academies — and it was those less traditional things I loved most about the job," said Wishart, who teaches classes in Criminal Procedure, Criminal Justice Administration, Criminal Evidence and a seminar in Criminal Justice. 

Wishart retired from law enforcement in Massachusetts in 2021 and, since he always loved teaching, started looking for jobs at colleges. When he saw the position at SUNY Adirondack, he knew it was meant to be. "We have a house here, about 14 minutes away from campus," he said. "If I had been writing my future, the timing could not have been more perfect."