Coleman was educated in anthropology and zoology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, and psychiatric social work at the Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston. He did post-masters work in anthropology at Brandeis University and studied sociology at the University of New Hampshire. Coleman taught at New England universities from 1980 to 2004, also having been a senior researcher at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Policy from 1983 to 1996, before retiring from teaching to write, lecture, and consult on his many interests
