Music’s Moon-Sook Park Receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award

Moon-Sook Park, an associate professor of music and voice in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, has been recently selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for the 2024-2025 academic year in Germany.

The Fulbright fellowships, awarded by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Program, provide recipients like Park with opportunities to teach and conduct research abroad while fostering long-term relationships between the U.S. and other nations.

Park’s project, titled “The Efficacy of Using Singing as a Learning Tool in Foreign Language Acquisition,” aims to enhance Korean language learning and cultural understanding through an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates neurological research, vocology tools, and the International Phonetic Alphabet.

“When I received the letter notifying me of this competitive honor, I couldn’t believe it,” Park said, noting that there were very few art or music scholars in her application cohort, but the support from her mentors and university leaders inspired her to keep going.

Park expressed gratitude to Provost Terry Martin, Dean Brian Raines, former Dean Kathy Sloan, and Department Chair Alan Gossman for their thoughtful support in committing to her Fulbright residency in Germany.  She offered special thanks to her long-term mentor, Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College and a professor of history, for her unwavering support and encouragement through the process. 

Coon likewise celebrated the achievements of her colleague, connecting Park’s research to a rich history of musical pedagogy. 

“While the idea of using music as a tool for language learning is not new, the multidisciplinary approach that incorporates vocal and cultural theory, musical performance and cognitive science is truly pioneering,” Coon said. “As a medievalist, I’ve seen similar scholarly work related to monastic chant, but the advantages of Park’s project are evident. It not only enhances linguistic training but also provides immersion in the culture and history of Korea. I think the methodology is brilliant.”

As part of her Fulbright award, Park has been invited to lead an undergraduate lecture and a graduate seminar at Freie Universität Berlin’s Institute of Korean Studies. She will also deliver several invited lectures and recitals of Korean art songs at institutions, including the University of Helsinki in Finland and York St. John University in the U.K. 

“As a Korean American, I am deeply proud of my heritage,” Park said. “My goal is to provide students majoring in Korean Studies at Freie Universität Berlin with a profound understanding of the language, enhancing their pronunciation and cultural awareness through the use of singing as a pedagogical tool.”

Park joined the U of A in 2012, and spent her early career performing as a soloist and recitalist at prestigious venues such as across the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Ireland, United Kingdom, Mexico, and Korea. Her career was marked by a U.S. debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 2001, making the United States her second home. She is also the co-author of two anthologies of Korean art songs, the first publications of their kind in the U.S. 

“I am excited to participate in the cultural exchange that this program offers and to represent the U of A abroad,” Park added.

The Fullbright Program’s distinguished alumni include 62 Nobel Prize winners, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows and thousands of leaders and experts across academia and many other fields across the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Park is the only professor of music among the eight U.S. professors selected as Fullbright awardees for Germany in 2024-2025. 

Park holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in voice performance and vocal pedagogy from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, as well as graduate degrees (Aufbaustudium) from the music conservatoires in Freiburg, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart,  Germany. She also earned a “privata diploma” from the Academia di Canto F. Cavalli of Milan, Italy, and a Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University. Park has received numerous accolades, including the K.A.A.D award from a German educational organization and the Bayreuth Stipend Award for rising artists from the Bayreuth Festival in Germany. She is also serving as an active board member of the Korean American University Professors Association (KAUPA) and International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). 

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.