Chef Spotlight

Margaret Steiskal, PhD, CCE

In October 2006, Columbus State Community College announced the appointment Margaret "Mokie" Steiskal, PhD, CCE, as chair of the newly restructured Department of Hospitality, Massage Therapy, Sport & Exercise Studies, capping an association of more than 25 years with the college.

Dr. Steiskal began her career in hospitality and food service after receiving a degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional management from Michigan State University. Following graduation, she joined Bill Knapp's Restaurants as Director of Service Training for the state of Michigan. At the time, Knapp's was a prominent chain of family-oriented restaurants in Michigan and Ohio and the responsibility for training new store employees (and retraining those at existing stores) was a significant one for a young college graduate.

After a short stint in the restaurant business, Dr. Steiskal shifted her focus to institutional food service, first at Mount Carmel Medical Center, then at Riverside Methodist Hospital, both in Columbus. At Mount Carmel, she served as a dietician supervising cafeteria and catering operations. As Food Production and Cafeteria Manager at Riverside, she had ultimate responsibility for a food service operation that, at the time, served upwards of 3,000 meals a day to patients, staff, and visitors. Altogether, Dr. Steiskal spent ten years managing hospital food service operations.

During her tenure at Riverside, Dr. Steiskal took a part-time position as an adjunct instructor in the Hospitality Management department at Columbus State Community College, thus beginning her long and productive association with that institution. Eventually, she left the hospital to become a full time instructor (later professor) at CSCC. It was during this time that Dr. Steiskal earned a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Dayton and a PhD in Higher Education Administration from Ohio University.

In 2006, Carol Kizer, the long-time chair of the CSCC Hospitality Department retired, leaving both a vacancy and some uncertainty as to how the department would move into the future. Ultimately the college decided to realign Hospitality, Massage Therapy, and Sport & Exercise Studies into a new department and chose Dr. Steiskal to head it.

Dr. Steiskal has been an active member of the American Culinary Federation Columbus Chapter for many years and has served in several capacities on the chapter's Board of Directors. She is prominently involved in "Taste The Future," an annual fund-raising event for CSCC produced with significant help from the ACF. Besides her work with the local chapter, she serves on the ACF Accrediting Commission.