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Frank A. Cassell
Frank A. Cassell (born February 23, 1941) is an American historian, university administrator, and professor and the author of six books including Suncoast Empire:  Bertha Honoré Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota. (Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, 2017, the winner of the 2017 Silver Medal in Nonfiction from the Florida Book Awards. Other books are Josie and Salem: An Indiana Love Story (Createspace, 2011); We Made No Little Plans: A Memoir (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, 2007); Seeds of Crisis: Public Schooling in Milwaukee since 1920. John L. Rury and Frank A. Cassell, eds. (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1993). Winner of the Gambrinus Prize, Milwaukee Historical Society, as best book on Milwaukee History published in 1993; The University of Wisconsin‑Milwaukee: A Historical Profile (Milwaukee, 1992). Frank A. Cassell, J. Martin Klotsche, and Frederick 1. Olson; and Merchant Congressman in the Young Republic: Samuel Smith of Maryland, 1752‑1839 (Madison:  University of Wisconsin Press, 1971).

His administrative career spanned 24 years at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and included service as Assistant Chancellor for University Relations, Chair of the History Department, Director of the Urban Social Institutions Doctoral Program, Director of the Urban Studies Programs, and Interim Dean of the School of Social Welfare. He was Vice Provost and Dean of the Alfred A. Robin Campus of Roosevelt University from 1991 to 1997, and then served ten years as President of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

Early life and education
Frank A. Cassell grew up in Crown Point, Indiana and Winnetka, Illinois. He graduated from Wabash College with a B.A. in History, and earned an M. A. and Ph. D. from Northwestern University. His father, Frank H. Cassell, also a Wabash College graduate, was an executive with Inland Steel who headed the U. S. Employment Service and then became a Professor of Industrial Relations at the Kellogg School of Business of Northwestern University. His mother, Marguerite F. Cassell, was a tireless volunteer for the public good, including years on the Board of the YWCA of Chicago and Docent of the Northwestern Guild’s Collection. In 1964 she participated in the Wednesdays in Mississippi efforts to support Head Start Programs in that state.

Career
2007-Present

President and Professor of History Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

1997-2007

President and Professor of History, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

1991-1997

Vice Provost and Dean and Professor of History Albert A. Robin Campus of Roosevelt University.

1989-1991

Interim Dean of the School of Social Welfare and Professor of History, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

1987- 1989

Director, Urban Studies Programs, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

1982-1985

Director, Urban Social Institutions Doctoral Program, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

1981-1989

Chair, Department of History, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

1975-1980

Assistant Chancellor for University Relations, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

1967-1991

Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor of History, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Personal Life
Frank A. Cassell married Elizabeth Anne Weber in 1961, a medical administrator and educator. They have two sons, David Daniel Cassell, an attorney, and Jonathan Frank Cassell, a journalist, six grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

Since retiring to live in Florida in 2007, Frank A. Cassell has volunteered with numerous organizations supporting historical preservation and interpretation including the Friends of the Sarasota County History Center. He served on the Historical Commission of Sarasota County   and the Board of the History and Preservation Coalition of Sarasota County. In 2018 he became the chair of the Sarasota County Centennial Celebration Steering Committee, a volunteer group coordinating plans to celebrate the creation of Sarasota County in 2021. He has continued to write history, utilizing the local primary resources to study Sarasota History, and has written the history of the founding of Sarasota County that will be released April 1, 2021.

Awards
Through the years his publications garnered many awards including most recently the Silver Medal for Fiction awarded by the Florida Book Awards to Suncoast Empire:  Bertha Honoré Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota. His work as an administrator was recognized by the 1966 President’s Medal for Distinguished Service from Roosevelt University, and in 2012 The Board of Regents of the University of Pittsburgh named a new academic building on the Greensburg Campus in his honor.