In 2006, Seungahn Nah joined the faculty in the Department of Community and Leadership Development at the University of Kentucky as an assistant professor in community communications. He received his doctorate in mass communications from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also minored in political sociology. His dissertation investigated the relationships among local news media, the Internet, and nonprofit organizations in a Midwestern community, paying particular attention to the roles of media in a civil society context.

Nah’s research interests center on the roles of media, especially the Internet, in community processes, social movements, and social capital formation such as trust and civic engagement. His research has been published in scholarly journals, such as Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, Global Media Journal, Journal of Communication, Media & Society, and Media, Society, Culture. In line with his research, his teaching interests focus on the democratic roles of media in community, civil society, and citizenship. He teaches courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels on community processes and communications; sociology of journalism and community; and the Internet, community, and democracy.

Nah has received fellowships from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2002-2003) and the Marie Christine Kohler Fellowship through the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005-2006). He also has been a recipient of The Korean Honor Scholarship in Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States of America (2003-2004). In addition, he has received top paper awards from the World Association of Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) in 2002 and the International Communication Association (ICA) in 2005 and 2006.