Donna Kwon, Ph.D.

Donna Lee Kwon is Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky and was awarded the distinction of University Research Professor from 2025-2026. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (Ethnomusicology), a MA in World Music/Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and a BA/BM (Women’s Studies/Piano Performance) from Oberlin College. She is the author of Music in Korea: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture, published as part of the Global Music Series on Oxford University Press (2011). Her research interests include North and South Korean music, East Asian and Asian American popular and creative music, gender and the body, issues of space and place, and ecomusicology. Many of these interests are addressed in her second book that stems from her dissertation research, entitled Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance (Wesleyan University Press, 2024). She is the recipient of multiple research grants and fellowships, including from the American Council of Learned Societies (2015-2016), the Korea Foundation, and the Fulbright IIE. In terms of service, Donna has served as President of the Association for Korean Music Research, the Society for Ethnomusicology Council, the Board of the Society for Ethnomusicology as Treasurer, MIDSEM President, and Recording Reviews editor of the Ethnomusicology journal. She also has a YouTube channel with her cousin James Bai discussing Korean popular culture topics at https://www.youtube.com/@hallyulikethat.