Carol Seungwon Lee
While the Final Research Project marks the culmination of the Performing Arts Administration (PAA) graduate experience, for Carol Seungwon Lee (PAA ’24), a recent graduate and company manager of the Steinberg Center at Roundabout Theatre Company, it became the beginning of something more. After completing her Master’s degree, Carol refined her capstone major paper, “Utilization of Memorials as Performance Space for Performance of Cultural Trauma and Memory: Navigating the Role of Performing Arts Administrators as Curators and Witnesses,” and published it in the Journal of Arts Management (2024 Issues 3 and 4). Carol also presented her work at the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) 2025 Annual Conference where she connected with other researchers and arts administration educators.
Her project, developed with the mentorship of faculty during her final year in the program, has sparked broader conversations in the field and offered a practical blueprint for students seeking to translate academic work into professional and scholarly contributions.
Reflecting on her experience, Carol shared,
“As a theatre manager who strives to curate a performance space where the production company can feel comfortable, welcomed, and open for collective artistic collaboration, this research process introduced new practices and frameworks that I would like to examine further to create a more sustainable model for the arts administrators ourselves. With Dr. Maloney's guidance and Dr. Yu's mentorship, I was encouraged to consider the implications of my research and pursue ways to share my research findings in varying forms (journal articles, presentations, and more).
I hope to continue applying my research findings to daily operations as an active theatre administrator and devise practical strategies for applying the guiding principles framework. The unforgettable experience of presenting at a conference for the first time is one that I will carry with me as I expand my research and consider the potential implications of the digitization of memorials and AI on the performance of cultural trauma and performance curation. I plan to continue researching, writing, and hope to share my findings with a broad audience!”
Last spring semester, Carol returned to the classroom as a guest lecturer and provided current students with practical tips for navigating the research process and inspired them to consider what is possible after graduation.
Her story is a powerful reminder that academic work doesn’t have to end with a final paper submission—it can evolve, inspire further conversations among scholars and practitioners, and make an impact on one’s career.