Professor and Undergraduate Chair

Ph.D., University of California-Santa Barbara, 1976.
Fields: Judicial Process, Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, Criminal Justice.

His research on American government includes journal articles on Supreme Court issues, such as "The Impact of Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices," in Judicature (Sept.-Oct. 1997), and he recently co-authored book (with Susan Welch) entitled Affirmative Action and Minority Enrollments in Medical and Law School (University of Michigan Press, 1998). He has also co-authored two widely used textbooks, American Government (6th ed., 1996) and Understanding American Government (4th ed., 1997), both published by West and co-authored by Susan Welch, Michael Steinman, and John Comer. John Gruel has won campus teaching awards twice and the university's highest teaching award in 1997. He is a charter member of the university's Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and is the Chief Undergraduate Adviser and Honors Adviser for the Department.