Jeffrey Bissell
Head of School
headofschool@cais.org
- Ph.D. in Chinese Language and Literature, University of Wisconsin
- MA in Chinese Language and Literature, University of Wisconsin
- BA in History, Lawrence University
- Senior Scholar, Inter-University Program, Tsinghua University 清华大学, Beijing, China
- Advance Chinese language studies, Liaoning Normal University 辽宁师范大学, Dalian, China
Began at CAIS in 2010
Head of School Jeff Bissell came to CAIS after 11 years as Director of School Year Abroad in Beijing, China. Prior to that he served as Adjunct Professor of Chinese Language at Marquette University, an instructor at Shenyang University of Technology 沈阳工业大学 in Liaoning Province, China; and at rural and urban high schools in Wisconsin. Jeff currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Keystone Academy in Beijing. Previous board service has included the California Teacher Development Collaborative (CATDC); the Chinese Early Language Immersion Network (CELIN) at Asia Society, the 1990 Institute, the Mandarin Institute, Western Academy of Beijing, and the JUMP! Foundation. He was also named to the task force for the 1 Million Strong initiative spearheaded by Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping to expand to 1 million the number of US K-12 students studying Mandarin by 2020.
Jeff is the recipient of numerous fellowships for the study of Chinese and Japanese language. He has published and presented at professional conferences on a variety of topics including Mandarin immersion, experiential education, and leadership in multilingual and multicultural environments.
Jeff is a devoted fitness enthusiast, a mindfulness practitioner, a plant lover, and an avid fan of many musical genres.