BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Williams College men’s water polo athlete/Rev. Edmund Joyce, C.S.C., Professor of German Language and Literature Mark Roche was presented the 2025 University of Notre Dame Sheedy Award for Excellence in Teaching on Tuesday, December 2.
The Sheedy Award for Excellence in Teaching is presented annually to an outstanding teacher in the College of Arts & Letters at Notre Dame. The Sheedy Award — founded in 1970 in honor of Rev. Charles E. Sheedy, C.S.C., who served as dean of the College from 1952 to 1968 — acknowledges a faculty member who has sustained excellence in research and instruction over a wide range of courses. This individual motivates and enriches students using innovative and creative teaching methods, and influences teaching and learning within the department, College, and University.
Roche’s interest in literature and philosophy began as undergraduate at Williams College, where he played water polo, majored in the History of Ideas, juggled in the band, and wrote a senior thesis on the poet Friedrich Hölderlin. After weighing Clown College versus a fellowship to Germany, Roche opted for the latter, earning a graduate degree with a thesis on the humorist Hegel. Roche then pursued a path that combined the neighboring fields of German literature and philosophy.
While teaching at Ohio State University for 12 years, Roche regularly taught film and, despite being a German professor, occasionally taught comedy. During his 11 years as the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame, where he juggled many obligations, he added higher education as a fourth area of teaching and scholarship.
As a faculty member in the Department of German, Slavic, and Eurasian Studies, he teaches courses including Faith, Doubt, and Reason; Self, Society, and the Sacred; and Philosophy and Film.
“Professor Roche taught me far more than content. He taught me how to think expansively, engage deeply with ideas, and remain intellectually curious in every setting. His classroom was, put simply, a place to become a full person.” — Nomination letter from a former student
He received a bachelor’s degree in the History of Ideas from Williams College in 1978, a master’s degree in Philosophy from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in Germany in 1980, and a doctorate in German Literature from Princeton University in 1984.
