Title: 1) Professor Emeritus; 2) Author
Company: San José State University
Location: Hollister, California, United States
Federico Varona, PhD, Professor Emeritus at San José State University and Author, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in Communications Education.
Dr. Varona has established a notable tenure in education that has spanned over five decades, marked by significant contributions to the field of communication studies and the development of the Appreciative Paradigm. Since 2022, he has held the title of professor emeritus of communication studies at San José State University in San Jose, California, where he continues to advance research and scholarship following his formal retirement from teaching. In this capacity, Dr. Varona has focused on promoting and deepening the theoretical and practical applications of the Appreciative Paradigm. This innovative framework redefines how human beings, society and nature are understood within the social sciences.
From 2002 to 2020, Dr. Varona taught undergraduate and graduate courses, mentored students and contributed to curriculum development at San José State University as a full professor. His expertise in organizational and intercultural communication positioned him as a leading authority in his department. Hired as a faculty member on campus in 1991, Dr. Varona began as an assistant professor of communication studies before earning a promotion to associate professor between 1997 and 2022. During these years, he developed and taught appreciative research courses for over a decade, laying the groundwork for his later theoretical advancements.
Also in 1991, Dr. Varona was an instructor at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. It was his first experience teaching in the United States, following his brief tenure as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Kansas in 1988, while pursuing advanced degrees.
Before relocating to the United States, Dr. Varona made significant contributions to higher education in Central America. From 1981 to 1986, he was the first chair and professor in the communication sciences career department at Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala City, Guatemala. There, he founded and directed the department, shaping its academic direction and establishing its reputation within the region. Earlier, between 1977 and 1981, Dr. Varona founded and served as the first chair and professor at the Central American Institute of Religious Sciences in Guatemala City, where he initially committed himself to advancing theological education in a higher education setting.
Dr. Varona’s teaching career began in 1967 at La Salle High Schools in León and Managua, Nicaragua, where he taught until 1972. These formative years provided him with foundational classroom experience and informed his later pedagogical approaches.
Possessing a rich educational background that reflects his commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship across continents, Dr. Varona completed coursework in psychology and theology at San Carlos University and Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala. He then received a diploma degree in psychology and a licentiate degree in theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain, both in 1976. From there, Dr. Varona studied in the United States at the University of Kansas, obtaining both a Master of Arts in communication studies in 1988 and a Doctor of Philosophy in communication studies with an emphasis in organizational and intercultural communication in 1991. He was named a Fulbright Scholar by the university in 1986. Dr. Varona’s credentials also include a diploma certificate in audiovisual communication from the Center for AudioVisual Research and Communication in France and a high school teaching credential from normal school in Antigua, Guatemala City.
Dr. Varona is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Iberoamerican Network of Paradigm Practitioners and Academics, the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. His affiliation has deepened his expertise in the field and has allowed him to network with like-minded individuals throughout his career.
Dr. Varona’s publications reflect both depth and breadth within his field. Among his most significant accomplishments was authoring five published books with editions available in Spain and Colombia. His foundational work, “Appreciative Paradigm: From Methodology to Paradigm. A New Paradigm for Social Sciences and Social Change,” published in 2025, encapsulates years of rigorous scholarship and synthesis. Dr. Varona regards this book, and the paradigm it presents, as the defining achievement of his academic career. Notably, the work has begun to resonate with scholars worldwide and is considered a genuine paradigm shift within the social sciences. In addition to his writing contributions, Dr. Varona is frequently invited as a guest speaker and presenter at conferences throughout Spain and Latin America.
Throughout his career, Dr. Varona has been recognized for his expertise in the Appreciative Paradigm, a comprehensive framework that extends beyond Appreciative Inquiry as a methodology for change. He is widely praised for elevating this approach into a macro-level paradigm that emphasizes strengths, possibilities and positive potential rather than focusing solely on problems. This paradigm integrates ontology, epistemology (research), praxis (methodology for change), axiology (systems of valuation) and appreciative language into an interdependent model for understanding human life.
Currently, Dr. Varona remains focused on promoting research into the Appreciative Paradigm as both a theoretical framework and a practical mode of communication capable of reaching diverse audiences worldwide. This mission continues to inspire broad enthusiasm among educators, scholars, practitioners and students alike. Drawing constant inspiration from his wife, who is also a university professor, Dr. Varona and his wife also remain dedicated to advancing appreciative education by introducing the Appreciative Paradigm into schools serving marginalized communities as well as university curricula across multiple countries, including initiatives at doctoral levels throughout Latin America and the United States. Their vision includes fostering appreciative children through educational programs that emphasize strengths-based learning rooted in possibility rather than deficit.
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