Family Honors Retired OSU Professor with $250K Professorship A recent retiree in Oklahoma State University’s Leisure Studies unit, Dr. Christine Cashel received the surprise of a lifetime when her mother, Marie Grant, endowed a College of Education (COE) professorship in her honor in April 2006.  The professorship, valued at $250,000, will ensure Cashel’s passion for educating students continues long after she retires.  “My hope is that the professorship will always be filled by someone who loves students the way Chris does and is as good of a teacher,” Grant said.  “This is a lasting memory for her and for future generations.  Her story will continue through this professorship.”

Dr. Chris Cashel celebrated her retirement with former students Candace Thrasher (COE 2004), Maggie Sasse (A&S 1989), Chris Reding (A&S 1986), Patrick Phelan (A&S 1991), Sherry Troglin (COE 2003) and Tracy Ervin (COE 2004).

Inspired by Cashel’s commitment to education, colleagues and former students in the leisure studies unit also began contributing funds to endow a $20,000 scholarship in her honor.  When fully funded, the Christine Cashel Endowed Professional Scholarship will benefit a student studying leisure studies at OSU. 

“During my undergraduate years at OSU, Dr. Cashel proved to be a great inspiration to me,” alumna Candace Thrasher (B.S. ‘04) said.  “She remained a constant supporter not only to my education, but also on a personal level.  I value the opportunity to have learned from such a wonderful professor.”

Though not an OSU alum herself, Cashel’s twenty-plus year career at the university instilled Cowboy pride rivaling any Oklahoma State graduate.  Cashel received a master’s degree in health education from Russell Sage College in New York, her undergraduate alma mater, and earned a doctorate in recreation and leisure studies from Philadelphia’s Temple University. 

“I think I landed on the planet teaching,” Cashel said.  “I learned a lot about teaching from little kids, but I really love working with college students.  I’m the lucky one to spend time with them.”

During her time at Oklahoma State, Cashel served in many capacities within the Leisure Studies unit and the COE.  She taught undergraduate and graduate-level leisure studies courses, coordinated degree programs and mentored hundreds of masters and doctoral candidates.  Widely known on a national level, Cashel says the most significant moments of her career come from the students she educates, not the awards she receives.  

“I’ve done my job every time I see a kid succeed, when they struggle through school and then ‘get it.’” Cashel said.  “But I am most successful when my students pass me in their knowledge and capability.  It’s then that I am most proud, and it’s happened a lot!”     

Grant says each visit to Chris prompted discussions of honoring their daughter in an enduring way.  Chris’s father, Bill, passed away in 2000, but Grant knew her daughter’s retirement was the perfect occasion to make the commitment. 

“Every time her father and I visited Chris, we talked about doing something to honor her career,” Grant said.  “We truly admired her for being a wonderful teacher.”

Cashel learned of the professorship only hours before her retirement reception.  Former students and colleagues traveled worldwide to honor their mentor, teacher and friend at the special ceremony in April.  

“When I found out about the professorship, I was stunned to say the least,” Cashel said.  “It is really quite an honor.  There is a monetary value, but it really is so much more.” 

Like the Dr. Christine Cashel Professorship in Leisure Studies, endowed professorships at Oklahoma State University enhance the university’s ability to attract exceptional educators.  Gifts given toward professorships are matched by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education – further extending its educational impact.

“The College of Education has benefited from the knowledge and expertise that Dr. Chris Cashel has provided for the past 21 years,” said Dr. Pamela Fry, Dean of the College of Education.  “We are delighted that her family, friends, students and colleagues have chosen to continue her legacy by creating the Christine Cashel Professorship and Scholarship in Leisure Studies.” 

A Pennsylvania native who now calls Oklahoma home, Cashel plans to remain in Stillwater and participate in OSU activities.  Although she will no longer be teaching, Cashel is confident that her mission and passion will carry on through the students she encountered along the way.                                                

“My success points are through the people I have taught who do great things.  I look at it not that they’re better because of me, but that for a short time I had something to do with their journey to greatness.”

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