Sheedy Award for Excellence in Teaching
The Sheedy Award for Excellence in Teaching is presented annually to an outstanding teacher in the College of Arts & Letters.
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.
Faculty can be nominated for the award by peers and students.
Submit nominations by April 13, 2026
2026 Award Recipient
Jennifer Newsome Martin
John J. Cavanaugh Associate Professor of the Humanities, Program of Liberal Studies and the Department of Theology
Jennifer Newsome Martin, who holds a joint appointment in her two departments and is also director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, teaches widely in both subject matter and across types of programs. She leads highly regarded seminars and tutorials in PLS that cover literature, philosophy, and political theory, as well as undergraduate and graduate courses that draw on her research interests in systematic theology, especially her scholarship on St. John Henry Newman.
Her enthusiasm for engaging with students in the classroom extends beyond her traditional courseload, as well — she teaches in the Moreau First-Year Seminar, which she helped design as a member of its steering committee; in the Inspired Leadership Initiative, a discernment program for senior professionals; and she offers an intensive summer seminar for high school students in the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum in Chicago.
Martin will receive the Sheedy Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Sheedy Award Presentation on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, at 3:30 p.m. in 216/216 McKenna Hall, with a reception to follow.
“Jenny just has a way of making everyone comfortable, to the point of allowing one’s creativity and voice to emerge without constraint. … She has shown me, time and again, how hospitality is perhaps the most beautiful virtue for a professor.” — Nomination letter from a former student
Previous Award Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Media | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2025 |
Mark Roche | Video, Speech, News story | German, Slavic, and Eurasian Studies |
|
2024 |
Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C. | Video, Speech, News story | Theology |
|
2023 |
Eric Sims | Video, Speech, News story | Economics |
| 2022 | John Duffy | Video, Speech, News story | English |
| 2021 | Kathleen Sprows Cummings | Video, Speech, News story | American Studies and History |
| 2020 | Pamela Wojcik | Video, Speech, News story | Film, Television, and Theatre |
| 2019 | Jason Ruiz | Video, Speech, News story | American Studies |
| 2018 | Ernesto Verdeja | Video, Speech, News story | Political Science |
| 2017 | Jessica Collett | Video, Speech, News story | Sociology |
| 2016 | Marisel Moreno | Video, Speech, News story | Romance Languages and Literatures |
| 2015 | Robert Sedlack | Video | Art, Art History, and Design |
| 2014 | John Sitter | Video, Speech | English |
| 2013 | Julia Douthwaite | Video | Romance Languages and Literatures |
| 2012 | Peter Holland | Video, Speech | Film, Television, and Theatre |
| 2011 | Thomas F.X. Noble | Speech | History |
| 2010 | James Collins | Speech | Film, Television, and Theatre |
| 2009 | Richard Pierce | Speech | Africana Studies |
| 2008 | James McKenna | Speech | Anthropology |
| 2007 | Daniel Myers | Speech | Sociology |
| 2006 | Christian Moevs | Speech | Romance Languages and Literatures |
| 2005 | Gail Bederman (co-recipient) | Speech | History |
| 2005 | William Ramsey (co-recipient) | Speech | Philosophy |
| 2004 | William H. Leahy (co-recipient) | Speech | Economics and Policy Studies |
| 2004 | A. Peter Walshe (co-recipient) | Speech | Political Science |
| 2003 | Valerie Sayers | Speech | English |
| 2002 | Andrew Weigert | Student reflections: Christopher Broughton, Eugene Kang, and Sarah MacMillen | Sociology |
| 2001 | Stephen M. Fallon (co-recipient) | Speech | Program of Liberal Studies |
| 2001 | Wilson “Bill” Miscamble, C.S.C. (co-recipient) | Speech | History |
| 2000 | Reginald F. Bain | Speech | Film, Television, and Theatre |
| 1999 | Douglas Kinsey | Speech | Art, Art History, and Design |
| 1998 | Erskine Peters | English | |
| 1997 | Frederick J. Crosson | Program of Liberal Studies | |
| 1996 | Catherine LaCugna | Theology | |
| 1995 | A. James McAdams | Government and Int’l Relations | |
| 1994 | Rev. Robert Kerby | History | |
| 1993 | Jeanne Day (co-recipient) | Psychology | |
| 1993 | Timothy Scully (co-recipient) | Government and Int’l Relations | |
| 1992 | Thomas Swartz | Economics | |
| 1991 | William Krier | English | |
| 1990 | Sonia G. Gernes | English | |
| 1989 | Richard F. Foley | Philosophy | |
| 1988 | Rev. George Minamiki, S.J. | Modern & Classical Languages | |
| 1987 | Cornelius Delaney | Philosophy | |
| 1986 | James O. Bellis | Anthropology | |
| 1985 | M. Katherine Tillman | Program of Liberal Studies | |
| 1984 | Frank Bonello | Economics | |
| 1983 | John Roos | Government and Int’l Relations | |
| 1983 | Paul Rathburn | English | |
| 1982 | Sheilah Brennan | Philosophy | |
| 1981 | Thomas Werge | English | |
| 1980 | Donald Sniegowski | English | |
| 1979 | Rev. Thomas Blantz, C.S.C. | History | |
| 1978 | Rev. John Dunne, C.S.C. | Theology | |
| 1977 | Edward Cronin | Program of Liberal Studies | |
| 1976 | Ernest Sandeen | English | |
| 1975 | Matthew Fitzsimons | History | |
| 1974 | Michael Loux | Philosophy | |
| 1973 | Robert Vacca | Modern & Classical Languages | |
| 1972 | William Storey | Theology | |
| 1971 | Frank O’Malley | English | |
| 1970 | Joseph Evans | Philosophy |