Cassandra Cole

Cassandra Cole seeks the answers to challenging questions.

Are people adequately preparing for retirement? Is building reinsurance in the global market safe? And if not, what is the trickle-down effect on U.S. firms?

Cole, an associate professor in risk management and insurance, pursues several research areas simultaneously. “I like solving problems, being able to investigate things that are interesting to me."

Much of her studies focus on employee benefits, a subject she teaches at the graduate level. She’s written about pension protection and retirement savings. Other topics studied include possible solutions to the problem of uninsured motorists, legislation concerning stranger-oriented insurance and subsidies in Florida’s property insurance marketplace.

Her article, “A Reexamination of the Corporate Demand for Reinsurance,” co-authored with Kathleen McCullough, fellow faculty member, made publisher Wiley-Blackwell’s top 10 list of downloaded articles for 2007.

“I really like the research, and I wanted to be somewhere that would be valued,” Cole said. She found that fit at Florida State University’s College of Business. She said she’s drawn to studying risk management and insurance because it’s “just so practical.”

“Really it’s something that makes a lot of things possible and offers financial security,” Cole said.