Dr. Nam’s research rethinks civic education—often fragmented and polarized along partisan lines today—through a holistic and transformative approach. She focuses on ensuring students make not only culturally relevant/sustaining and socially bridging choices but also tactically effective ones for civic engagement in a diverse democracy.
She has been deeply involved in experiential civics, engaging with a broad range of pedagogical models that emphasize hands-on experiences, real-world connections, and active inquiry. In particular, before joining UMSL in 2022, she played a central role in developing educational resources, professional development, and assessment tools for student-led civics—a key component of Massachusetts’ recent civics mandate—at the Democratic Knowledge Project at Harvard, where she also contributed to curriculum development, professional development, and research. Additionally, she researched online public participation in regulatory processes with the Cornell eRulemaking Initiative (CeRI) at Cornell Law School. Throughout her career, she has worked with diverse communities and schools across social, cultural, economic, and geographic domains, with a particular focus on historically disenfranchised communities.
At UMSL, she researches shifting state policies on civic education in Missouri and their impact on educators, administrators, and parents. She also co-designed the Grade 3 Missouri History Unit—We the Missourians: Diverse Changemakers—in collaboration with the School District of University City, aligning it with the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap and state standards.
Dr. Nam serves as Principal Investigator on major educational grants, including the Spencer Small Research Grant and the Educating for American Democracy Implementation Grant. Her interdisciplinary research spans social studies, law, political science, information technology, and library science, bringing civic education into broader conversations across multiple fields.
Dr. Nam earned her BA and MA in Social Studies Education from Seoul National University in Korea and taught middle school social studies in Seoul. She later obtained a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in civic education.