Professor of Music Kay K. Shelemay, who willassume the position of department chair thissummer, said students have already expressedenthusiasm both for the proposed core class andfor Kelly himself.

"We're all absolutely thrilled that he's comingand that we'll have some one who will continue ourdepth of scholarship in medieval studies,"Shelemay added. "Tom Kelly is a wonderful teacherand extremely valuable because he's someone whocan like across disciplinary boundaries."

Intellectual diversity may be the naturalresult of Kelly's background, which is litteredwith academic appointments and internationalscholarship.

Kelly is a self-proclaimed "faculty-brat" whogrew up in the vicinity of the University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill and studies there as anundergraduate.

After college he studies medieval music at theUniversity of Paris on a Fulbright scholarship,and later went on to study in Rome.

Before Kelly went to Oberlin he had been on thefaculty of Wellesley College and later directedthe early music program at the "Five Colleges"(Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire andUMass-Amherst) in Western Masachusetts.

Kelly has equal experience as a performer. Hecurrently serves as president of Early MusicAmerica, a national performance, organization.Other career highlights include directing theCastle Hill Music festival in Ipswich, Mass, forten years and briefly directing the CambridgeSociety for Early Music.

"After all the time I spent working withperformers in the Boston area I'm really lookingforward to coming back and renewing oldacquaintances," Kelly said.

Kelly's appointment brings the department'stotal number of tenured professors to nine.

"All of the great composers wrote ninesymphonies," department chair Brinkmann said. "Sohow we are complete.