Shane majored in social psychology at Cornell University and social group work at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University. After graduation, he was drafted and spent two years in the army. He received a master's degree in public health and an Sc.D. in the sociology of mental health from the John Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore. He is currently on the faculty of the Social Welfare/Social Work Department at Rutgers-Newark.