Bradford Sims’ academic path led him to Purdue University not once, but twice. He began his undergraduate career in 1985 trying to find a major that would grab his interest. Fortunately, a friend in Shreve Hall passed along information about the Building Construction Technology (BCT) program. The following semester, Sims met with a BCT advisor, received a tour of the labs and changed his major “on the spot.”
“During my undergraduate BCT time, several faculty influenced me a great deal. The BCT program founder, Dr. Moss, with his energy and dedication to the program; Dr. Baha, with his Friday 7:30 a.m. statics quizzes and helpfulness in all his classes; Prof. Lew and the conversations on the industry; and Dr. Orczyk, especially during his capstone class that provided me with the confidence and skills to be successful and the feeling I could use my education to move into a corporate leadership position.”
Sims built a successful career in the industrial construction industry, first, as a project controls engineer with the Westinghouse Savannah River Corporation in South Carolina. He also was a project controls supervisor for Cherne Contracting in California and a cost engineer for a subsidiary of Raytheon Engineering in Massachusetts.
Sims returned to Purdue with his wife, Holly, in 1996 to pursue a doctorate degree, which he completed in 1999, transitioning his career to an academic trajectory. His first higher education position was at the University of Florida as an assistant professor.
From 2002-2009, Sims was professor and department head at Western Carolina University, where he founded their construction management program. Under his direction, the undergraduate degree program grew to 400 majors over a five-year span.
As dean of the College of Technology at Indiana State University from 2009 until 2013, he increased the college’s enrollment by 75 percent.
Sims moved on to become Interim Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide campus, based in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 2013 until 2017.
Today, Sims is president of Capitol Technology University in Laurel, Maryland. He lives in Millersville, Maryland, with Holly and the couple’s two daughters, Summer and Molly.