johnvile
Biography
Dr. John Vile, a professor of political science, is dean of the University Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University. Vile is a scholar of the U.S. constitutional amending process and has written and edited numerous books, essays, chapters, and reviews on this and related topics.
Vile was a founding editor of the two-volume First Amendment Encyclopedia, which was published in 2009 and which became the basis of the online First Amendment Encyclopedia managed by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies at MTSU. He has contributed numerous entries to the encyclopedia.
Vile graduated from College of William and Mary. He earned his Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia and attended seminars sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities at Princeton and the University of Iowa.
Vile also has served as chair of the Department of Social Sciences at McNeese State University, as chair of the Department of Political Science at MTSU.
He received the MTSU Foundation Distinguished Research Award in both 1993 and 1999 and the Career Achievement Award in 2011. The American Mock Trial Association awarded him the Congressman Neal Smith Award in 2000 for outstanding contributions to legal education and named him to the Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008. Vile is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi.
Vile’s books include:
- “The Drama of Presidential Inaugurations and Inaugural Addresses from Washington Through to Biden” (2023), a 330-plus page hardback book published earlier this year by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- “Prayer in American Public Life: An Encyclopedia” (2022)
- “The Bald Eagle and Its Legacy: An Encyclopedia of a High-Flying American Icon in U.S. History: Nature, Law and Culture” (2022), a nearly 390-page paperback book, was published in late 2022 by William S. Hein & Co. Inc.
- “The Bible in American Law and Politics: A Reference Guide” (2020)
- “A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments”
- “America’s National Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner in U.S. History, Culture, and Law”
- “The Writing and Ratification of the United States Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action” (2012);
- “A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments, 5th ed.” (2011);
- “Essential Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Leading Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law, 15th ed.” (2010);
- “The Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2010, 3rd ed” (2010); and
- “American Immigration and Citizenship: A Documentary History.”