As director of Kenyon's Chamber Singers, the Community Choir, and the Knox County Symphony, Ben Locke has a limited amount of free time. But he still finds enough to invite all 53 members of the Chamber Singers to his home for dinner in groups of six, a practice inspired by his own choir director at Oberlin College.

"I approached everything differently after that," Locke says of the dinner at his director's home. "After seeing him in his home, I no longer felt like a cog in a wheel. Having students in my home in small groups provides an interaction they don't get in a rehearsal or a larger function."

Locke, known to students in the Department of Music as "Doc Locke," is often given credit for re-invigorating Kenyon's music program since his arrival in 1984. A 1992 recipient of the College's Trustee Award for Distinguished Teaching, Locke has made his name synonymous with music-and dedication to students.

"I'm convinced that my students have to come first," says Locke, who recently spent time in South Africa observing a mixed-race choral ensemble and collecting choral music for the Kenyon choirs. "I've devoted my career to that concept."