Grand Valley State University                             Telephone: (616) 331-7173

School of Criminal Justice                                   Fax: (616) 331-7155

253-C DeVos Center                                           E-Mail: stevenru@gvsu.edu

401 W. Fulton Street

Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Professor Stevens joined the faculty of the School of Criminal Justice at Grand Valley in fall 2008.  She has taught Introduction to Law, Legal Research and Writing at Grand Valley and also serves as the Legal Studies Coordinator.  She looks forward to teaching Women and the Law and other Legal Studies courses in future terms.    Stevens is an active member of the Libraries and Legal Publications Committee of the State Bar of Michigan and has authored a number of articles on the topic of legal research in the Michigan Bar Journal.  She contributed to a bibliography on the topic of legal reference services to the public that was published in Law Library Journal in fall 2008 and is currently working on a profile of one of the first women attorneys to practice in Grand Rapids.   Her interests also include research on public access to legal information and the teaching of legal research skills.

Professor Stevens received her undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and her law degree from the University of Michigan. She started her career as an attorney with Legal Aid of Western Michigan and continued practicing law as a staff attorney and then managing attorney for UAW-GM Legal Services.  She left UAW-GM to join Davenport University where she served for a number of years as a professor and the director of its paralegal studies program.    While at Davenport, she received the Mentor Award from the Legal Assistants’ Section of the State Bar of Michigan in recognition of her work to advance the paralegal profession at the local and state level.  She is happy to be a member of the Grand Valley community and looks forward to working with students, faculty, and staff.

B.A. in History, Harvard University, 1975

J.D. University of Michigan, 1980

M.L.S. Wayne State University, 2005