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:
- urban school districts’ adoption of golf as a PE curriculum and the subsequent effect golf has on these K-12 students
- organizations’ employee crisis response strategies and how the Federal Government uses cell broadcast technologies to communicate imminent weather threats to the public
- 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