ASSP honors Dr. Leslie Rex Stockel for lifetime career achievement
Monday, June 2, 2025
Media Contact: Kristi Wheeler | Manager, CEAT Marketing and Communications | 405-744-5831 | kristi.wheeler@okstate.edu
The American Society of Safety Professionals has named Dr. Leslie Rex Stockel a 2025 ASSP Fellow for her lifelong dedication to workplace safety and health.
She is one of only five Fellows named for 2025 and one of only 152 Fellows named since ASSP’s founding in 1911. Today, ASSP is a global organization for occupational safety and health professionals, with over 38,000 members worldwide.
Stockel is an associate professor of professional practice in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology’s Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology program at Oklahoma State University.
Stockel has been an ASSP member since she was a student at OSU in the mid-1980s. She has served as a faculty advisor for the OSU ASSP student section since joining the OSU faculty in 2016. She speaks at local, regional and national safety and health conferences and has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Her 40 years of experience in both industrial and academic settings have influenced the safety profession in many ways, including contributions in manufacturing, petrochemical, pulp and paper industries, as well as public utilities and government service. Stockel has supervised numerous undergraduate research projects related to safety and health topics, encouraging students to explore innovative ways to understand and improve worker safety and health issues.
Stockel received her doctorate in technical communication and rhetoric from Texas Tech University, her master’s degree in engineering and technology management, and her bachelor’s degree in fire protection and safety engineering technology from OSU. She holds the Certified Safety Professional and Safety Management Professional certifications from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. She has been a Professional Member of the American Society of Safety Professionals since 1993, serving in numerous chapter and regional leadership positions.
In 2016, she was named Safety Professional of the Year for the Oklahoma City Chapter and subsequently received the Region III Safety Professional of the Year award in 2017. In 2023, she was elected president of the Board of Directors for the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and served as a Board Director for six years. In 2024, she was named the ASSP William E. Tarrants Outstanding Safety Educator.
“Our Fellows are an elite group of influential safety leaders who are the architects of safer tomorrows,” said ASSP president Pam Walaski, CSP, FASSP. “They are highly respected experts who have broadly improved work environments to save lives while fundamentally advancing the safety and health profession.”
“It was my greatest pleasure to lead the effort to sponsor Leslie in the nomination for this honor,” said Bruce Lyon, CSP, PE, SMP, ARM, CHMM, FASSP, vice president at Brown & Brown. “Leslie’s achievements are many during her 40 years of service. She has done it all. But, I believe Leslie’s best contributions have come from her wisdom, strong sense of ethics and her amazing way of collaborating with others to solve problems. Leslie represents the best of us in the profession and serves as a role model for all of us to emulate and work towards.”
“I am deeply honored and humbled by this recognition,” Stockel said. “Throughout my career, my guiding principle has always been to do my best to take care of people and solve problems that could get workers hurt or killed. I have been fortunate enough to learn from and work with some of the very best people in the industry, all of whom are dedicated to protecting people, property and the environment. That they would think me worthy of this high honor is genuinely extraordinary.”
The new Fellows will be honored at ASSP’s Safety 2025 Professional Development Conference and Exposition, held July 22-24 in Orlando, Florida. The honor of Fellow recognizes a member’s lifetime commitment, achievement and leadership in preventing injuries, illnesses and fatalities on the job.
Find a complete list of Society Fellows on the ASSP website.