In 1993-94, the School of the Arts established the Arts Management minor as an interdisciplinary program in conjunction with the School of Business and Economics. In 1996-97, the Arts Management major became available to students. Karen Chandler began her tenure with the Arts Management Program in 1999 as co-director and expanded the program's curriculum. She has taught in the undergraduate program, Graduate Arts Management Certificate Program, and has taught arts management in the concentrations in the Masters of Public Administration and MFA in Creative Writing programs. Since 2014, she has served as the program's Director and Associate Professor of Arts Management. During this time, she launched a series of "firsts" for the program - established the first annual alumni gathering, hired the first tenure-track faculty members of the program (Dr. Kate Keeney and Dr. Jason White), and with Judith Allen, a benefactor and faculty member in the program, established the program's first endowment named in honor of Scott Shanklin-Peterson, former director of the program and currently its Senior Fellow, and former Senior Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior to her appointment at C of C, Chandler served as an Assistant Professor of Arts Management at American University in Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. in Studies in Arts and Humanities (New York University), M.A. in Music Education (Columbia University-Teachers College), and B.S. in Music Education (Hampton University).