[461]MTSU NAMES JOHN VILE DEAN OF UNIVERSITY HONORS COLLEGE

Release date: May 29, 2008


News & Public Affairs contacts: Tom Tozer or Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Executive Vice President and Provost contact: Dr. Kaylene Gebert, 615-898-2880


MTSU NAMES JOHN VILE DEAN OF UNIVERSITY HONORS COLLEGE


(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU has named Dr. John Vile dean of the University Honors College, Dr. Kaylene Gebert, executive vice president and provost, announced this week. Vile has served as Department of Political Science chair for 19 years.
“He is an exemplary academic, an involved university and community citizen, and a man with a wonderful laugh,” Gebert said, in discussing Vile, who officially takes the Honors College reins July 1. “Dr. Vile will be an exceptional honors dean, and we
are delighted to welcome him to this new role.”
“John Vile is an internationally recognized Constitutional scholar who also
takes time to advise CUSTOMS students for freshman registration,” Gebert added. “Dr. Vile also chaired the recently revised University Academic Master Plan.”
Vile, who was raised near Luray, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley region, replaces Dr. Phil Mathis, who will retire June 30 as honors dean. Vile was selected after a national search. It also was announced that Dr. Clyde Willis would serve as political science interim chair.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge of this job,” Vile said of becoming the third dean and fifth director in the program. “I directed an honors thesis this year and am looking forward to working with students on a one-to-one basis. I’ve always had an open door policy in political science that I plan to take with me to the Honors College. I believe that my experience as a department chair will help me in interacting with the departments that supply the faculty for the Honors College.”
“MTSU’s is the first public honors college in the state, and it attracts quality students like those I already am used to getting in my pre-law and mock trial classes,” Vile added. “I think I’ve known each of the previous chairs and deans, from Dr. June McCash to Dr. Ron Messier to Dr. John Paul Montgomery and Dr. Phil Mathis. Each has been the kind of scholar-teacher that I myself aspire to be.”
Vile’s new office will be in the 21,000 square foot Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building, which opened in 2004, and the honors program receives significant financial support from the Martin family
“The Martin family epitomizes what can be done when private donors contribute to public institutions, and I plan to continue to seek outside support at a time when state budgets are tight,” Vile said. “Dr. Mathis has put together an extraordinary advisory board. I already know some of the members and am looking forward to meeting the others.”
Vile earned his B.A. degree in government from the College of William and Mary in 1973 and his Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia in 1977.
“I was in the honors program when I was an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary,” he said. “My daughter (Virginia) participated in the program here (she was named Honors College Most Outstanding Senior). Both my daughters went to public universities (Virginia’s twin sister Rebekah attended the University of Tennessee), and I am looking forward to explaining to other students what a bargain an honors education can be.”
Vile also taught at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., from 1977-89.
Vile admits he has 19 years of emotional attachment to his political science chair’s job in Peck Hall.
“I told Dr. John McDaniel (College of Liberal Arts dean) that when I’m buried, I may be like (explorer) David Livingstone – my heart might have to be buried near the (political science) department. I’ve formed some extraordinary friendships with students, faculty and administrators, and look forward to forming many more in the Honors College.”
Vile has worked with Willis and Dr. Tom VanDervort in coaching MTSU mock trial teams. They have placed in the top 10 nationally for 11 years, and students have won numerous individual awards. He serves as a member of the American Mock Trial Association board member and is rules committee chair. In 2000, Vile received the Congressman Neal Smith Award for Outstanding and Exemplary Contributions to Law-Related Education. MTSU sponsors one of the largest invitational tournaments in the nation.
Vile and his wife Linda, who teaches kindergarten at Stewartsboro Elementary School in Smyrna, live in Murfreesboro. He describes her as a “people person” who has been of “immeasurable help in ministering to the Beechgrove Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where I preach on Sundays.”
The honors program began in 1975. It became a college in 1998.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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Note: A high-resolution photo of new University Honors College Dean John Vile is available by calling Randy Weiler or the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919. To interview Vile, please call 615-898-2596.