The Times, They Are a-Changin'

With mixed emotions of congratulations and sadness, let me share an announcement made this morning by Notre Dame's Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Mark Roche. He wrote to the faculty of the Medieval Institute as follows:

I have just appointed Tom Noble as Chairperson of History. We have many reasons to be grateful for Tom's wonderful leadership of the Medieval Institute. Tom has done a superb job as Director, continuing to advance our premier graduate program, taking the lead on a major investment in Byzantine studies, and enhancing our undergraduate program, lifting it in the past three years from 5 undergraduate minors to 22 majors, including 1 honors major, 5 supplementary majors, and 29 minors. Even as Tom has invested his time in administration, he often taught an overload, and he received a Joyce Award for Undergraduate Teaching this past year. Tom has also remained very active as a scholar: his most recent book Images and the Carolingians: Tradition, Order, and Worship is forthcoming from the University of Pennsylvania Press; his edited volume, Early Medieval Christianities, 600-1100, Volume 3 of the Cambridge History of Christianity, will appear later this year; and his volume of translations, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious: Five Lives, will appear next year with Penn State University Press. The 5th edition of his co-authored textbook, Western Civilization, appeared last year. While we will miss Tom's leadership in the Institute, he will continue to be involved as a Faculty Fellow, and the College will greatly benefit from his new role.

I am hopeful that an acting director of the Institute will be appointed shortly. Formally, Tom will take over his new duties on July 1, but will continue to be available as we make the transition. I encourage those of you who know Tom as a colleague or teacher to send him a note of congratulations. His e-mail address is: tnoble@nd.edu.