MUNCIE, Ind. -- Award-winning pianist and teacher Robert Palmer has been named Ball State University’s Ruth Weldy Mauzy and Mary Weldy Porter Distinguished Professor of Music.

Palmer, a member of the Ball State School of Music faculty since 1986, was chosen for the new professorship because of his achievements in teaching and creative endeavors.

"He has demonstrated an ability to recruit strong students, many of whom have gone on to win prizes in state, regional, national and international competitions," said Robert Kvam, interim dean of Ball State’s College of Fine Arts.

Palmer received the first College of Fine Arts Dean’s Teaching Award in 1993 and was named the state’s 1998 Teacher of the Year by the Indiana Music Teachers Association. His students have come from across the United States plus Argentina, China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

An international Steinway artist, Palmer’s career as a pianist has spanned three continents with solo, orchestral and chamber music performances at important venues throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Palmer made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1979 and has since performed in more than 30 states. His seven tours of the Far East have included performances and master classes in major centers ranging from Osaka, Seoul and Shanghai to Taipei and Tokyo.

He also has appeared on National Public Radio and public television in the United States and on radio and television broadcasts in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Spain.

As a chamber musician, Palmer has performed with musicians from the Paris Conservatoire, Metropolitan Opera Company and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. This season he became a member of Ball State’s acclaimed American Piano Trio.

Palmer’s awards include prizes in the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition and the U.S. Information Agency National Piano Competition, and the New York Times praised him as a "splendid player."

He has premiered several new works and has been an artist-in-residence at universities in Kansas, North Dakota and Texas. He is in demand nationally to conduct clinics and judge music competitions.

At Ball State, Palmer has helped to arrange residencies for visiting scholars from China and Korea, performs frequently at presidential and other key events and has served the university through committee membership at all levels. He is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Minnesota.