Bell, who recently won the Avery Fisher Prize, will join the school as a senior lecturer in the String Department; his work there begins in 2008-2009 with two week-long residencies.

"I can think of no greater place than the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music ... to accept a faculty position," Bell said in a statement. "This continues an association that began back in 1980 when I first became a student of the legendary Josef Gingold, who had a profound impact on me as a musician and as a human being. I would only hope that I can impart even a fraction of his love of music and his wisdom to the students with whom I come in contact."

Bell's distinguished colleagues at the Jacobs School include conductor Leonard Slatkin, pianists Andr_ Watts and Arnaldo Cohen, violinists Mark Kaplan, Alexander Kerr and Jaime Laredo, cellist Sharon Robinson and singers Carol Vaness and Sylvia McNair.

"Josh is one of the most excellent performers on the stage today," said Kerr. "For students to have access to a performer of his caliber is unbelievable and almost unprecedented. It's very rare, in this day and age, for a musician of this magnitude to be giving back to students."