Don Bradley joined Samford’s Department of Sociology as Associate Professor and Chair beginning with the Fall 2014 semester. Though recently arrived, Dr. Bradley says he has felt right at home from the very start. Dr. Bradley comes to Samford from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina where he served for 11 years in a variety of roles, most recently as Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean for Planning in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.

Since completing his dissertation in 1998, a project that evaluated predictors of self-employment across seven immigrant groups, Dr. Bradley’s research interests have evolved. For the last 10 years, Dr. Bradley has focused his research efforts on later life migration, both within and across international boundaries. The complex and diverse set of reasons why people move later in life makes this a fascinating area of study for Dr. Bradley. Beyond the question of why people move, Bradley’s research also analyzes the impacts that older in-migrants can have on communities. Retirement destination areas often receive an economic boost from newly arrived older adults, but according to Dr. Bradley, there are other potential social and sometimes environmental impacts that deserve close scrutiny.

Dr. Bradley did not always want to be a sociology professor. After completing a double-major in religion and sociology at Mars Hill College, Bradley spent time as a youth minister, a seminarian, a social worker, and a high school teacher. Bradley says he decided to embark on a career in higher education after realizing a love for teaching and research: sharing with students and colleagues the work of creating, refining, and disseminating knowledge. “I chose sociology because the discipline provides the conceptual and methodological tools required to empirically examine fundamentally important issues like the role of religion in contemporary society and the persistence of social inequality.”

Dr. Bradley and his wife, Joanna, who also teaches at Samford, have two daughters, Julia and Erica. They enjoy traveling as a family and over the last five or six years have visited Alaska, China, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Turkey, Greece, and a few other spots along the way. The Bradleys also enjoy playing music and singing together. Until recently Dr. Bradley was part of the praise band for his church’s Hispanic mission in North Carolina. He hopes to join a group in Birmingham soon and is always looking for opportunities to play his mandolin.

Articles and Book Chapters

• 2013 Crawford, Tom, Don E. Bradley, and Daniel Marcucci. “Impacts of In-Migration and Coastal Amenities on Housing Growth in Coastal North Carolina, USA.” Population, Space, and Place , 19(3): 223-238.
• 2011 Bradley, Don E. “Litwak and Longino’s Developmental Model of Later Life Migration: Evidence from the American Community Survey, 2005-2007.” Journal of Applied Geronotology , 30(2): 141-158.
• 2010 Bradley, Don E. and Marieke Van Willigen. “Migration and Psychological Well- Being among Older Adults: A Growth Curve Analysis Based on Panel Data From the Health and Retirement Study, 1996-2006.” Journal of Aging and Health, 22(7): 882-913.
• 2009 Mitchell, Jim, Don E. Bradley, and A.J. Delgado. “Costa Rica: Brief History, Services for Older Adults, and Quality of Life.” International Handbook on Aging, 3 rd edition .
• 2009 Bradley, Don E. and Charles F. Longino, Jr. “Geographic Mobility and Aging in Place.” In International Handbook of the Demography of Aging . Edited by Peter Uhlenberg. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer-Verlag.
• 2008 Mitchell, Jim, Don E. Bradley, Jim Wilson, R. Turner Goins. “The Aging Farm Population and Rural Aging Research.” Journal of Agromedicine , 13(2): 95-109.
• 2008 Longino, Charles F., Jr., Don E. Bradley, Eleanor P. Stoller, and William H. Haas, III. “Predictors of Migration among Older Adults: A Prospective Study.” Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences 63B(1): S7-S14.
• 2008 Bradley, Don E., Charles F. Longino, Jr., Eleanor P. Stoller, and William H. Haas, III. “The Actuation of Mobility Intentions among the ‘Young-Old’: An Event- History Analysis.” The Gerontologist , 63B (1): S7-S14.
• 2007 Sunil, T.S., Viviana Rojas, and Don E. Bradley. “United States’ International Retirement Migration: Reasons for Retiring to the Environs of Lake Chapala, Mexico.” Ageing and Society 27: 489-510.
• 2006 Haas, William H., Don E. Bradley, Charles F. Longino, Jr., Eleanor P. Stoller, and William J. Serow. “In Retirement Migration Who Counts? A Methodological Question with Economic Policy Implications.” The Gerontologist , 46(6): 815- 820. (Brief empirical report).
• 2006 Bradley, Don E. and Charles F. Longino Jr. “Demographic and Resettlement Impacts on Rural Services.” In Best Practices in Service Delivery to the Rural Elderly , edited by R. T. Goins and J.A. Krout. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
• 2006 Longino, Charles F. Jr. and Don E. Bradley. “Internal and International Migration.” Pp. 76-93, in Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences , 6 th Edition, edited by Robert H. Binstock and Linda K. George. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Inc.
• 2005 Longino, Charles F., Jr. and Don E. Bradley. “The Demographics of Productive Aging.” In Perspectives on Productive Aging: Social Work with the New Aged edited by Lenard W. Kaye. Washington, D.C.: NASW Press.
• 2004 Bradley, Don E. “A Second Look at Self-Employment and the Earnings of Immigrants.” International Migration Review 38 (2): 547-583.
• 2004 Bradley, Don E. and James Roberts. “Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction: Investigating the Role of Self-Efficacy, Depression, and Seniority.” Journal of Small Business Management, 42(1): 37-58 .
• 2003 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley. “A First Look at Retirement Migration Trends through 2000.” The Gerontologist , 43(6): 904-907.
• 2001 Bradley, Don E. and Charles F. Longino Jr. “How Older People Think About Images of Aging in Advertising and the Media.” Generations, 25(3):17-21 .
• 1995 Bradley, Don E. “Religious Involvement and Social Resources: Evidence from the Data Set ‘Americans’ Changing Lives.’” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34(2): 259-267.

Grants

• 2013 Co-Investigator. “Linking Monsoon Dynamics to Coastal Riverbank Erosion and Human Response in South Asia.” Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, $137,377 (under review).
• 2012 Co-Investigator. “Human Responses to Catastrophic Monsoon Events in South Asia: Designing a Spatially Explicit Model in Low-Lying Coastal Bangladesh and India.” Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, $14,998 (funded).
• 2008 Principal Investigator. “AOC Migration Dynamics in a Coastal Frontier: Later- Life and Working Age Migrant Impacts.” Submitted to the National Science Foundation, Human and Social Dynamics priority area, $719,696 (not funded).
• 2006 Co-Principal Investigator. “Rural Transition, Health, and Quality of Life for Older Adults.” Submitted to the National Institutes of Health, $44,320 (not funded).
• 2006 Co-Principal Investigator. “Assessing the Environmental Implications of Later- Life Migration in Coastal North Carolina: Linking People to Place Using Parcel Data and Spatial Sampling.” Coastal Maritime Council, East Carolina University, partial summer salary support (funded).
• 2005 Co-Principal Investigator. “Linking Demographic Patterns to Landscape Indicators of Coastal Growth: A Spatial Characterization of Changing Land Use/Cover Metrics Associated with Tourism and In-Migration.” Submitted to North Carolina Sea Grant, $69,000 (funded).
• 2005 Principal Investigator. “Traditional Fishing Communities: A Conference on Social Science Issues.” Submitted to North Carolina Sea Grant, $900 (funded).
• 2004 Co-Investigator. “Health & Other Predictors of Expected and Actual Mobility.” Submitted to the National Institutes on Aging, $50,000 (funded).
• 2003 Principal Investigator. “The Causes of Migration Among Older Adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study .” Research/Creative Activity Grant Committee, East Carolina University, $8,318 (funded).
• 2002 Co-Investigator. “The Public’s Right to Know: Science and the News Media.” Fund for Ethics and Leadership, Wake Forest University, $10,000 (funded).

Works in Progress

• Bradley, Don E. “The Impact of Later Life Migration on Receiving Communities: A Critical Review.” Working Manuscript.
• Bradley Don E. and Tom Crawford. “Reconsidering the Economic Impact of Later-Life Migration on Counties.” Working Manuscript.

Other Scholarly Writings

• 1999 Bradley, Don E. Review of, Mighty Like A River: The Black Church and Social Reform by Andrew Billingsley. Review of Religious Research . 42(2):219-221.
• 1997 Bradley Don E. and Erik Paulino. “’Latinos in the Smithsonian’ Revisited.” Report commissioned by the Latino Oversight Committee at the Smithsonian Institution, as a follow-up to the 1994 study.
• 1994 Bradley, Don E. “Latinos in the Smithsonian.” A paper which contributed to the “Latino Task Force” report to the Secretary of the Smithsonian entitled “Willful Neglect.”

Research and Professional Presentations

• 2013 Bradley, Don E. “Space Utilization at East Carolina University: An Exploratory Analysis.” Knowledge Management Steering Committee, East Carolina University.
• 2012 Bradley, Don E. “Environment and Migration: A Recursive Model.” Scoping Workshop: Human Responses to Catastrophic Monsoon Events in South Asia, Designing a Spatially Explicit Model in Low-Lying Coastal Areas. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• 2011 Bradley, Don E. “The Evolution of Later Life Migration Flows to Florida, 1935- 2007.” Southern Gerontological Society, Raleigh, North Carolina.
• 2010 Bradley, Don E. “Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in the Study of Later Life Migration: Assessing Community Impacts.” Southern Gerontological Society, Richmond, Virginia. Invited.
• 2009 Bradley, Don E. “The Life Course Model of Later Life Migration: Evidence from the American Community Survey, 2005-2007.” Southern Gerontological Society, St. Petersburg, Florida. Invited.
• 2008 Bradley, D. E. and T. Crawford “Reconsidering the Economic Impact of Later- Life Migration on Counties.” Annual meeting, Gerontological Society of America, National Harbor, Maryland (poster session).
• 2008 Crawford, T. W. & Bradley, D. E. 'How do retirement, migration, and tourism impact new housing growth in coastal North Carolina?'. Southeast Division Association of American Geographers, Greensboro, North Carolina.
• 2007 Mitchell, Jim and Don E. Bradley. “Coastal Zone Aging Migration Initiative.” Annual meeting, North Carolina Conference on Aging; Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
• 2007 Mitchell, Jim and Don E. Bradley. “Health Inequality between Older African and White Americans: A Review.” Annual meeting, Gerontological Society of America; San Francisco, California.
• 2007 Crawford, Thomas W., Don E. Bradley, and Bob Edwards. “Linking Demographic Profiles to Residential Land Use Patterns in Coastal North Carolina: Integration of Census Blockgroup and Parcel Data.” Coastal GeoTools; Myrtle Beach, SC.
• 2006 Bradley, Don E. and Marieke Van Willigen. “The Mental Health Implications of Migration among Older Adults. Tenth Annual International Conference on Social Stress Research; Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• 2006 Bradley, Don E., Charles F. Longino, Jr., Eleanor P. Stoller, and William H. Haas, III. “The Actuation of Mobility Intentions Among the ‘Young-Old’: An Event- History Analysis Using Panel Data from the Health and Retirement Study, 1994- 2002.” Annual meeting, American Sociological Association; Montre´al, Que´bec.
• 2006 Mitchell, Jim, Don E. Bradley, and Jim Wilson. “What is Rural in Aging Research? Definition, Measurement, Application, and Variability.” Poster presentation. Annual meeting, Gerontological Society of America; Dallas, Texas.
• 2006 Rojas, Viviana D., and Don E. Bradley. “Intercultural Negotiation and Expatriates’ Adaptation to Mexican Culture.” Annual meeting, National Communications Association; San Antonio, Texas.
• 2006 Bradley, Don E. “Later-Life Migration in North Carolina: What Do Current Data Suggest about Future Trends?” The North Carolina Conference on Aging; Durham, North Carolina.
• 2006 Mitchell, Jim, Don E. Bradley, and Jim Wilson. “Slicing and Dicing Counties in Research on Rural Aging: Definitions and Diversity.” Annual meeting, Southern Gerontological Society ; Lexington, Kentucky.
• 2005 Bradley, Don E. “Later-Life Migration among African Americans in the United States: Evidence from the 2000 Census.” Annual meeting, Gerontologial Society of America ; Orlando, Florida.
• 2005 Bradley, Don E. and Thomas Crawford. “Exploring the Potential Environmental Impacts of Later-Life Migration in Coastal Regions: Land-Use in New Hanover County, North Carolina.” Annual meeting, Gerontologial Society of America ; Orlando, Florida.
• 2005 Bradley, Don E. “Later-Life Migration among African Americans in the United States: A Descriptive Analysis Based on 2000 Census Data” North Carolina Conference on Aging ; New Bern, North Carolina.
• 2005 Bradley, Don E. and Tom Crawford. “Demographic Change in Carteret County: Spatial Distribution of Population Growth and the Contribution of Later Life Migration.” Carteret County Economic Development Council. Morehead City, North Carolina.
• 2005 Bradley, Don E. and Tom Crawford. “Demographic Change and Economic Restructuring: Retirement Migration and Fishing Communities.” Traditional Fishing Communities Conference; Greenville, North Carolina.
• 2004 Bradley, Don E. and Charles F. Longino. “Later-Life Migration and the Environment.” Grantmakers in Aging, Annual Meeting; Miami Florida. Invited.
• 2004 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley. “Later-Life Migration Impacts.” Aging Americans: Impacts on Ecology and Environmental Quality Workshop . Sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection; Raleigh, North Carolina. Invited Presentation.
• 2004 Bradley, Don E. “The Demography of Aging in the United States.” Infusing Cross-Cultural Aging Education into Allied Health Curriculum Institute. Sponsored by Utica College, Florida A&M University, and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education; Tallahassee, Florida. Invited.
• 2004 Bradley, Don E. “A Longitudinal Analysis of Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction” Southern Sociological Society, Annual meeting; Atlanta Georgia
• 2004 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley, “The Changing Character of Retirement Migration to the South” Southern Gerontological Society, Annual meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.
• 2004 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley, “Tracking Retiree Migration Trends in North Carolina: A 2000 Census Analysis.” Blue Cross Blue Shield.
• 2003 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley, “Tracking Retiree Migration Trends in Tennessee: A 2000 Census Analysis.” Middle Tennessee State University Sociology Graduate Program and Aging Studies Students and Faculty. Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
• 2003 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley, “Retirement Migration trends, 1960- 2000 in the USA.” Wayne State Institute of Gerontology Colloquium Series. Detroit, Michigan.
• 2003 Longino, Charles F. and Don E. Bradley, “Tracking Retiree Migration Trends in the Carolinas: A 2000 Census Analysis.” Coastal Carolina University and the 4th Annual Carolinas Active Retirement Association (CARA) Conference "Strategies and Trends in Active Adult Building and Marketing.” Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
• 2001 Bradley, Don E. and Charles F. Longino Jr. “A Demographic Profile of Productive Older Adults.” Gerontological Society of America, Annual meeting; Chicago, Illinois.
• 2000 Bradley, Don E. “Mexican Immigrant Self-Employment in Seven Cities with Dense Hispanic-Origin Populations.” Southern Sociological Society, Annual meeting; New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 2000 Bradley, Don E. “A Second Look at Self-Employment and the Earnings of Immigrants.” Southwestern Social Science Association, Annual meeting; Galveston, Texas.
• 1999 Bradley, Don E. “Small Business Demand and Self-Employment in Selected Immigrant Groups.” Southern Sociological Society, Annual meeting; Nashville, Tennessee. 1999 Bradley, Don E. “Mexican Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the Ethnic Neighborhood: Examining the Role of Selected Contextual Variables.” Scholarship Day, Baylor University; Waco, Texas.
• 1997 Bradley, Don E. and Marci Bounds. “The Economic Consequences of Embeddedness in a Black Church.” Religious Research Association/ Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Annual meeting; San Diego, California.
• 1997 Bradley, Don E. “Immigrant Entrepreneurship and the Interaction Paradigm: The Group Specific Effects of Selected Ecological Variables,” Southwestern Social Science Association, Annual Meeting; New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1996 Bradley, Don E. “Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Reexamining the Importance of Ethnic Group Size, Linguistic Isolation and Dispersion.” Southern Sociological Society, Annual Meeting; Richmond, Virginia.
• 1995 Bradley, Don E. “Social Class and the Social Network Advantages of Religious Participation: Evidence from the ‘Americans’ Changing Lives’ Project.” American Sociological Association, Annual Meeting; Washington, D.C.
• 1995 Bradley, Don E. “Marital Status and the Implications of Religious Attendance for Social Resources: Evidence from the ‘Americans’ Changing Lives Data Set.’” Southern Sociological Society, Annual Meeting; Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1994 Bradley, Don E. “Religious Involvement and Social Resources: Evidence from the Data Set ‘Americans’ Changing Lives.’” Southern Sociological Society, Annual Meeting; Raleigh, North Carolina.
• 1993 Bradley, Don E. “ Economy and Society Revisited.” Southwestern Social Science Association, Annual Meeting; New Orleans, Louisiana.

Scholarships and Honors

• 2007 Teaching Excellence Award for the Graduate Division. Department of Sociology, East Carolina University.
• 2007 Named as one of 150 distinguished alumni of the 20 th century. Mars Hill College: Mars Hill, North Carolina.
• 2006 Co-Principal Investigator. “Assessing the Environmental Implications of Later-Life Migration in Coastal North Carolina: Linking People to Place Using Parcel Data and Spatial Sampling.” Coastal Maritime Council, East Carolina University, partial summer salary support (awarded).
• 2005 Teaching Excellence Award for the Graduate Division. Department of Sociology, East Carolina University.
• 2005 Co-Principal Investigator. “Linking Demographic Patterns to Landscape Indicators of Coastal Growth: A Spatial Characterization of Changing Land Use/Cover Metrics Associated with Tourism and In-Migration.” Submitted to North Carolina Sea Grant, $69,000 (funded).
• 2004 Co-Investigator. “Health & Other Predictors of Expected and Actual Mobility.” Funded by the National Institute on Aging, $50,000 (funded).
• 2004 Principal Investigator. “The Causes of Migration Among Older Adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study .” Research/Creative Activity Grant Committee, East Carolina University, $8,318 (funded).
• 2002 Co-Investigator. “The Public’s Right to Know: Science and the News Media.” Fund for Ethics and Leadership, Wake Forest University, $10,000 (funded).
• 2001 Summer Research Grant, Dean of the College, Wake Forest University.
• 1999 Junior Faculty Summer Sabbatical Award, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Baylor University.
• 1995-1997 Professional Development Award, Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin.
• 1994 Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi national honor society.
• 1989 Rice-Judson Scholar, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. 1988 “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.”
• 1988 Magna cum laude graduate, Mars Hill College. 1987-1988 Barker Sociology Scholar, Mars Hill College.
• 1985-1988 Grayson Scholar, Mars Hill College.

Degrees and Certifications

• PhD, The University of Texas at Austin
• MA, The University of Texas at Austin
• BA, Mars Hill College