Dean James A. Gardner

On December, 2014, SUNY Distinguished Professor James A. Gardner was named interim dean by Provost Charles F. Zukoski.

A member of the law faculty since 2001, Gardner is a highly regarded specialist in constitutional and election law. He is a prolific scholar who has published six books, as well as numerous book chapters, articles and review essays.  Gardner recently was recognized as one of the 10 most frequently cited scholars in the field of election law by Election Law blog. 

He has served as the director of the law school’s Jaeckle Center for Law, Democracy, and Governance and formerly served as the school’s vice dean for academic affairs, 2005-2012.

Gardner has served as the elected chair of the School of Law’s ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee, which was charged with evaluating the current state of the school and identifying strategies to preserve and enhance its strengths moving forward.

His most recent publications include Election Law in the American Political System (Aspen), What Are Campaigns For? The Role of Persuasion in Electoral Law and Politics (Oxford University Press) and a new revision of his Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy (LexisNexis).

He has taught at Western New England University, William and Mary, the University of Connecticut and Florida State University, and in 2012 held the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in the Theory and Practice of Constitutionalism and Federalism at McGill University in Montreal.

Gardner received his BA from Yale University in 1980 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1984. From 1984 to 1988, he practiced law in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.