Joe Downing, Ph.D.

I am an Associate Professor of Corporate Communications at Penn State York. I earned my doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At Penn State, I teach courses in communication theory, conflict and negotiation, crisis management, group decision-making, and public relations.

My wife, Dr. Verónica Calvillo, is an Associate Professor of Spanish at Gettysburg College.

 

 

Verónica and I live in York, PA, with our dog, Jax. We enjoy spending our vacation time in Central Mexico. When possible, I volunteer at The First Tee of Baltimore. Recently, I was an appointed member of the City of York’s Historical Architectural Review Board.

I coach Penn State York’s new collegiate golf team.

My research focuses on three topics:

  1. urban school districts’ adoption of golf as a PE curriculum and the subsequent effect golf has on these K-12 students
  2. organizations’ employee crisis response strategies and how the Federal Government uses cell broadcast technologies to communicate imminent weather threats to the public
  3. core communication competencies of waiters at resort hotels.

My consulting practice focuses primarily on employee communication issues in organizations. Some of the large organizations that I have worked with include American Airlines, the British Met office, and General Electric Global Research. I have also partnered with a Japanese-owned Maquiladora in Mexico and two multinational call center providers.

Updated: August 29, 2022