Seok Kang, Ph.D.
Professor, Director of Digital Initiatives, Communication
Contact
- MH 4.01.48
- 210-863-3384
- seok.kang@utsa.edu
- Curriculum Vitae
Bio
Seok Kang is Professor in Digital Media with an emphasis on Artificial Intelligence, data science, digital journalism, social media effects, and digital media production. He was the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA), which houses nine Departments. He is currently the Director of Digital Initiatives at COLFA. Seok Kang received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, his M.A. from Illinois State University, an M.A. from Sogang University, Seoul, Korea, and his B.A. from Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
His teaching and research areas focus on new communication technologies, mobile communication, m-marketing, social media, communication research methods, theory, digital journalism, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, data science, and digital message design. He has received several university teaching awards from UTSA for his commitment to teaching development. He was voted Professor of the Semester for teaching excellence in the fall of 2007 by the Phi Mu Fraternity Honor Society at UTSA. He received a teaching award in 2010 from the UTSA Provost office. He was selected as a Star Platinum Award winner for teaching excellence in 2013 by the Department of Communication. He is a certified web developer for Python, R, websites, CSS, HTML, content management system, audio, video production, and data science.
Dr. Kang has published 76 refereed journal articles, books, and book chapters. He published eight single-authored books: Digital Experiential Journalism in 2023, Collaborative Digital Journalism with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in 2022, Disruptive Digital Innovation: The Fourth Wave of Communication Media in August 2018, Digital Media Analytics, 2017, Communication and Capital in August 2016, Digital Message Design: The Path to Multimedia Production in March 2013, Handbook of Digital Media Production in July 2009, and Motivational Use of Web News in April 2010. His articles have appeared in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Asian Journal of Communication, The International Journal of Mobile Communications, Disability & Society, Newspaper Research Journal, International Journal of Communication, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, CyberPsychology and Behavior, Public Relations Review, Health Communication, Mass Communication and Society, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, International Journal of Instructional Media, The Community Mental Health Journal, and among others. He has presented over 90 refereed papers at national and international conferences since 1997. He has published numerous columns and interviews in major news media. He received 15 top faculty paper awards and more than 13 second/third place paper awards at conferences.
Dr. Kang was awarded multiple grants from state, national, and international research funders. His recent grant awards include the digital journalists’ stress and coping research project from The Korea Press Foundation ($3,000) in 2024, renewed visit intention to Korea from The Academy of Korean Studies in 2024 ($7,710), college athletes’ road to success from The American Athletics Conference ($15,000) in 2023, data curation for the Institute of Texan Cultures from the Institute of Museum and Library Services ($480,884) in 2022, the data visualization project from The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ($33,470) in 2022, digital journalist training for Korean journalists from The Korea Press Foundation ($24,845) in 2022.
He serves as associate editor for Frontiers in Psychology: Media Psychology and on the editorial board of the refereed national journal Mass Communication and Society, and Asian Communication Research. He is a journal manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Communication Research, Health Communication, and many others. He has been working as a conference paper reviewer for the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and Broadcast Education Association (BEA). He has served as a panelist and conference division chair for ICA, AEJMC, NCA, and BEA.
Teaching
- Conduct of Communication Inquiry
- Social Interaction: Social Media
- Writing for New Media
- Digital Media Production
- New Media Design and Production II
- Theory and Practice
Research Interests
- User experience (UX) of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
- Digital media market
- Media Framing
- Social Media
- Digital Health
- Mobile Communication
- Text Mining
- Machine Learning
- Artificial Intelligence
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Telecommunication, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA (2001)
- M.A. in Mass Communication, Illinois State University, Normal, IL (1998)
- M.A. in Mass Communication, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea (1997)
- B.A. in Sociology, SungKyunKwan University, Seoul, Korea (1994)
