With over 12 years on the ground in China and 15 working in higher education, Bradford brings a depth of experience unique among Americans in China.

Bradford is the longest serving foreign professor at Guangxi Normal University, CLI’s university partner. In 2012, he was promoted to the university’s Director of International Staff, making him one of a select few American university administrators in China. Bradford holds a BA in Philosophy from Lewis and Clark College and an MA in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language on a fully funded fellowship from Hanban, the parent organization behind the Confucius Institute.

As of this writing in 2026, Bradford is nearing completion of a PhD in Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where his focus is on applied linguistics and cognitive science. Bradford is fluent in Mandarin.