Mark R Gudgel
By appointment -- please contact me via email to schedule a meeting.
"Tolerance is condescending. Who am I to tolerate your views? I should respect your views. Who knows -- they may be better than my own!" ~Elie Wiesel
I've spent fifteen years in public school education, teaching English, courses on genocide, and most recently, world religions. The first ten years were spent at Lincoln Southwest High School, and the past five at Omaha North High Magnet School. In the earlier years of this century, I coached basketball at º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ University, and am excited to now be on the faculty, teaching in the M.Ed. program.
Let's not make this a list. I did my undergraduate at UNL in English Education with an endorsement in coaching. I then earned a M.A. in theology at Grace University before accepting a fellowship with the Imperial War Museum in London which allowed me to study Holocaust education at the University of London's Institute of Education, where I completed a master's module. Following that, I earned my Ed.D. at Regent University, studying character education and focusing my dissertation research on the way film is used to teach about the Holocaust in American secondary schools. Most recently, I've begun studying innovative methods for teaching about world religions as part of the Religious Literacy Projecy at Harvard Divinity School.
I generally teach Education and the American Dream in the summer, Reflective Practitioner in the autumn, and a research course that focuses on compiling a literature review in preparation for thesis writing during the spring semester. I supervise thesis writers in the spring, and have also taught Positive Education courses in the summer semester.
I am most actively engaged in research surrounding the pedagogy and methodology of teaching about genocide. More recently, I've begun to focus my attention on world religions. In addition, public policy and shaping education has become a focal point in my reading and writing.
I enjoy helping to form and grow our young M.Ed. program, and supervising thesis writers who are part of that program.
I serve on the Middle East Outreach Commission's book award committee, and am a member of several professional teaching organizations. My work as a Fulbright Scholar has lead to a number of different avenues of continued service and education, and I continue to serve on the selection committee with that organization. A few years ago, I gave a TEDx talk, focused largely upon genocide education.