Dr. Vile was raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He earned his B.A. in Government at the College of William and Mary in 1973 and his Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia in 1977. He subsequently taught at McNeese State University in lake Charles, Louisiana from 1977 to 1989, serving for the last eight years as Head of the Department of Social Sciences. During the years that he taught in Louisiana, Dr. Vile attended three eight-week summer seminars sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Two of these were held at Princeton University and one at the University of Iowa. Dr. Vile taught and served as MTSU Chair of the MTSU Department of Political Science from 1989 to July 2008, when he was appointed Dean of the University Honors College.

PS 2010: Introduction to American Government and Politics
PS 2100: Courtroom Procedures
PS 3370: American Constitutional Law
PS 3370H: American Constitutional Law, Honors
PS 3380: American Constitutional Law
PS 3380H: American Constitutional Law, Honors

PUBLICATIONS 
   
 
 

• The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action. Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham, MD 2012
• Proposed Amendments to the U.S. Constitution 1787-2001, 4 vols., ed., (Law Book Exchange, 2011)
• Constitutional Law in Contemporary America, with David Schultz and Michelle Deardorff
     Vol II: Civil Rights and Liberties (Oxford 2011)
• Constitutional Law in Contemporary America, with David Schultz and Michelle Deardorff
     Vol I: Institutions, Politics, and Process (Oxford 2011)
• Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues (ABC-CLIO, 1996), 2nd edition 2003, 3rd edition 2010
• A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments (Praeger 1993, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2010). Rowman & Littlefield paperback edition 2011
• Essential Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Leading Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law, 15th edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010)
• Encyclopedia of the First Amendment , 2 vols., co-edited with David L. Hudson, Jr., and David Schultz (Congressional Quarterly, 2009)
• Pleasing the Court: A Mock Trial Handbook, 4th edition (Houghton-Mifflin), 2008
• James Madison: Philosopher, Founder, and Statesman, co-edited with William D. Peterson and Frank J. Williams. (Ohio University Press, 2008)
• Presidents From Eisenhower through Johnson, 1953-1969. Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents, edited with John A. King Jr. (Greenwood, 2006)
• The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of America's Founding, 2 vols. (ABC-CLIO, 2005)
• Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America (M.E. Sharpe), 3 vols., co-edited with David Schultz, 2005
• Coauthor with David E. Carlton and Mark Eaton Byrnes, On Common Ground: Framework for Democracy Study Guide, 2nd ed. (Pasadena, CA: INTELECOM, 2004)
• Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia, editor, 2 vols., (ABC-CLIO, 2002)
• Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession (Congressional Quarterly, 2002)
• Great American Lawyers: An Encyclopedia , ed., 2 vols. (ABC-CLIO, 2001 )
• Tennessee Government and Politics: Democracy in the Volunteer State , edited with Mark Byrnes, (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998)
• The United States Constitution: Questions and Answers (Greenwood, 1998 )
• Constitutional Change in the United States (Praeger 1994)
• The Theory and Practice of Constitutional Change in America, ed. (Lang 1993)
• Contemporary Questions Surrounding the Constitution Amending Process (Praeger 1993)
• The Constitutional Amending Process in American Political Thought (Praeger 1992)
• Rewriting the United States Constitution (Praeger 1991 )
• The History of the American Legal System: An Interactive Encyclopedia, CD-ROM (ABC-CLIO, 1999)
  

• Encylopedia of the Fourth Amendment, with David L. Hudson, Jr. (CQ Press 2011)

PUBLICATIONS: CHAPTERS

In addition to books, Dr. Vile has written numerous articles and reviews in a variety of political science and law journals. He received MTSU's Outstanding Research Award in 1993 and 1999. Books to which Dr. Vile has contributed include the following:

• Foreword to Time and Tradition: A Poetry Anthology, ed. by Philip M. Mathis (Twin Oaks Press, 2011)
• "Noah Webster: Proposing and Promoting Stronger National Union Through the Power of the English Language," in Noah Webster, Sketches of American Policy (Clark, NJ: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2008), pp. iii-xix
• Foreword to The Rehnquist Court Understanding Its Impact and Legacy, written by David L. Hudson, Jr. (Praeger, 2007)
  
• "The President and the Supreme Court," Guide to the Presidency, Michael Nelson, ed., (Washington, D.C. CQ Press, 2007), II: 1393-1457
  
• "Samuel Sewall: Defender of the Rule of Law?" Noble Purposes: Nine Champions of the Rule of Law, ed. Norman Gross (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007), pp. 3-16
  
• Assorted essays, The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, ed. Kermit L. Hall, 2nd ed (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)
  
• Coauthor with David E. Carlton and Mark Eaton Byrnes, On Common Ground: Framework for Democracy Study Guide, 2nd ed. (Pasadena, CA: INTELECOM, 2004)
  
• "Charles Evans Hughes: An Eighteenth Century Statesman Redivivus," in Leaders of the Pack: Polls & Case Studies of Great Supreme Court Justices, ed. William D. Pederson and Norman W. Provizer, eds. (New York: Peter Lang, 2003)
  
• "Tennessee," Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia," ed. Herbert M. Kritzer (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002), IV: 1607-1610
  
• "The Tennessee Supreme Court, 1946-1974: Tranquility amid a National Judicial Revolution," in A History of the Tennessee Supreme Court, ed. James W. Ely Jr. (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press), pp. 229-269
  
• "Proposals to Amend the Constitution," American Government: Readings and Cases, Karen O'Connor, 2nd ed. (New York: Longman, 2001), pp. 40-46
  
• Assorted entries, The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions, ed. by Kermit L. Hall (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)
  
• The Early Presidents, The Presidency, ed. Michael Nelson (New York: Smithmark, 1996), pp. 64-81
• "The Case against Implicit Limits on the Constitutional Amending Process," Responding to Imperfection: The Theory and Practice of Constitutional Amendments, Sanford Levinson, ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), pp. 191-214
  
• "El Procesco De Enmendar La Constiucion en Los Estados Unidos de Norteamerica: Analisis Y Comparacion Con La Experiencia Mexicana," Derecho constitucional comparado Mexico-Estados Unidos (Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico, 1990), pp. 201-216

Dr. Vile has also edited two books of his father's poetry and one of his proverbs (Ralph Vile).

• Let the Bells Ring Out on Christmas Morning (Xulon Press, 2008)
• Poverbs From the Poet Preacher: Quips, Quibbles, and Quotes (Xulon Press, 2008)
• We are His Poets, the first volume of a projected seven volumes of Valley Verses (Xulon Press, 2007)

Dr. Vile works with Ms. Brandi Snow coaching MTSU mock trial teams. These teams have placed in the top ten nationally for eleven years, and students have won numerous individual awards. Vile serves as a member of the national board of the American Mock Trial Association. In 2000 he received the Congressman Neal Smith Award for Outstanding and Exemplary Contributions to Law-Related Education, and in 2008 he was inducted into the Coaches Hall of Fame. Each November, MTSU sponsors one of the largest invitational mock trial tournaments in the nation.

Vile has served as past president of the Tennessee Political Science Association, of the MTSU Chairs Council, of the MTSU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, and of the MTSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Dr. Vile lives in Murfreesboro, is married to the former Linda Christensen, and has twin daughters. His wife teaches kindergarten at Stewartsville Elementary School in Smyrna. One daughter earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Tennessee and is now a office manager in a Knoxville dental office. The other, an MTSU graduate, is also a graduate of the Marshall Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and of George Washington University. Dr. Vile enjoys collecting American art pottery and old campaign items and has several booths in local antique malls where he has stocked several thousand books. He may be reached at 615-898-2596 or by email ( jvile@mtsu.edu) and is accessible to students and other visitors in his office throughout the week. He is especially interested in talking to high school students (and their parents) who are considering attending MTSU.