Joe Guistina is in his first year as Assistant Media Relations Director at USC Upstate.

Guistina comes to USC Upstate from Michigan State, where he served as an intern during the 2006-07 school year. At MSU, he handled all public relations efforts for the perennial top 25 women's basketball program, the Big Ten champion women's golf program and the women's soccer team. He also served as a game-day media relations assistant for the national champion ice hockey program, as well as for the men's basketball and football programs. During his one year at Michigan State, he promoted six All-Big Ten athletes, three Freshman All-Big Ten honorees and two Freshman All-Americans.

Before Michigan State, Guistina spent two years as a graduate assistant at the University at Buffalo, where he worked with the women's soccer, wrestling and baseball programs for the Mid-American Conference school. He coordinated media relations efforts at Buffalo for the school's highest-ranked wrestler in school history (Kyle Cerminara, who was a No. 2 seed at the 2006 NCAA Championships) as well as the school's first baseball draft pick since 1987 (Joe Mihalics in 2005).

A 2004 graduate of Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., Guistina was a three-year letterwinner as a pitcher on the Crusaders' baseball team. He also worked in the school's Sports Information Office for four years and was an editor on the school's newspaper staff for three years, serving as the sports editor as a junior. For his work with the school's media outlets, he earned the school's Top Student in Journalism as a senior.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Guistina is a 2000 graduate of Spencerport High School. He earned his bachelor of arts in journalism from Susquehanna in 2004 and his master of arts in informatics from Buffalo in 2006. He resides in Spartanburg.