Mark Gudgel is a Nebraska native, born in the northern part of the state in the rolling Sandhills of Cherry County. Gudgel’s parents owned the bookstore on Valentine’s Main Street, and most of his exposure to religion at an early age came from his grandmother taking him to the Presbyterian church, and from the would-be parishioners who would occasionally stroll into their living room on Sunday morning while Mark was watching cartoons in front of the sofa, not realizing that what was once a Lutheran church was now the Gudgel residence.
Gudgels’ teachers had a profound influence on him, and many of his great loves to this day—running, Shakespeare, writing poetry, social justice, sarcasm, and more—can be traced back to these early influences. After high school, Gudgel attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, majoring in English Education. He would spend the eighteen years that followed as a high school English, Humanities, and World Religions teacher, first at Lincoln Southwest High School, and later at Omaha North.
While teaching in the high school, Gudgel earned his Master’s degree in Theology at Grace University, followed by a Master’s Module in Holocaust Education at the University of London. During this time, he held fellowships with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where he would later work for six years as a member of the Regional Education Corps, and the Imperial War Museum in London. Gudgel also co-founded the Educators’ Institute for Human Rights with his friend and colleague at the USHMM, Drew Beiter, and spent six years as the non-profit’s executive director. After completing his work at the University of London, Gudgel began his Ed.D. in Character Education at Regent University, eventually writing his dissertation on how American secondary teachers use film to teach about the Holocaust. Gudgel gave his TEDx talk, “Empowering Young People to Repair the World,” in the fall of 2012, and was married to Sonja in February of 2013. The following month, he departed again for London, spending three months at the University of London as a Fulbright Scholar. Upon his return, Gudgel defended his dissertation in August of 2015, and his first child, a son named Titus, was born one month later. Less than two years later, his second, a daughter named Zooey, was born.
Gudgel is the author of numerous books and articles, and is a regular contributor to several periodicals. Think Higher Feel Deeper: Holocaust Education in the Secondary Classroom, was released from Teachers College Press in the fall of 2021. The Rise of Napa Valley Wineries:How the Judgment of Paris put California Wine on the Map will be released by The History Press in May of 2023. Presently, Gudgel’s research interests range from the Napa Valley to Sarajevo, where he recently spent three weeks on a Fund For Teachers fellowship, researching the Siege of Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Roses—sites of massacres from during the siege—laying the groundwork for future scholarship and publication.
After nine years as an adjunct instructor at Southeast Community College and five more in the graduate program at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Gudgel joined the faculty at the College of Saint Mary in the fall of 2022, serving as an assistant professor working with students in the Ed.D. program. In addition to teaching many classes, Gudgel will serve as an advisor to the five-year track, sit on dissertation committees, and seek to support the mission of CSM in scholarship and in his daily work with fellow faculty, staff, and students on campus and online.
Deeply involved in the Omaha community, Gudgel remains a passionate advocate for teachers, and sits on the board of many local non-profit organizations, serving Omaha Performing Arts, Completely Kids, and numerous other organizations. When not teaching or writing, Gudgel enjoys running marathons, catching fish, traveling the world, wine tasting, cooking, and spending time with his family in their home in Omaha.
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