Earlier this month, on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 3, California State University, Stanislaus lost a member of its faculty. The passing of Dr. Alan Khade, Professor of Operations Management at CSU Stanislaus, has been felt throughout the university. He is mourned and missed by students here, by faculty across the United States, and by friends and family both in California and halfway around the world.
Professor Khade taught at CSU Stanislaus for more than twenty years. He was one of the founding members for our university’s College of Business. He spent most of those twenty years working double the hours most of us would consider full-time. He presented annually for the International Academy of Business and Economics (IABE), much of his time this month spent preparing for this year’s conference in Las Vegas, NV, beginning Oct. 14. Since 1990 Dr. Khade has been lecturing, mentoring, publishing and presenting on behalf of our school.
Dr. Khade played an influential role in the life of current CSU Stanislaus professor, Dr. Van Dewark.
“I met Dr. Khade upon entering graduate school in 2002,” Dewark explained. “He encouraged me to pursue a Ph. D., he wrote a letter of recommendation for me to use applying for a Ph. D. program, and he told me about the opening I applied for here at CSU Stanislaus. He’s the reason I’m teaching right now.”
Dr. Van Dewark  went on to mention other graduate students who received similar guidance from Professor Khade.
Professor Khade was likewise invaluable to current students.
“He was tough,” Tristin Clark (senior, Accounting) said. “But his class was one of those tough classes you don’t mind taking, because you learn so much in the process. His other students know what I’m talking about. The tough was worth it.”
But Alan Khade was not always an accomplished academic. His story is one of those heartwarming tales that inspire the hopeful and encourage the struggling. Beginning from poverty in India, Dr. Khade (not yet then a doctor) pulled himself upward through education. After earning a prestigious doctoral degree and establishing himself as a CSU professor, Dr. Khade continued to support family members back in his native India.
Dr. Khade has family here as well. He leaves behind four children and his wife, Julia, who loves him dearly. He leaves behind colleagues and friends who respect his opinions and remember fondly times spent together. Our university has lost a valued instructor. The Operations Management discipline has lost a respected colleague. But some members of our circle have lost a father, a husband, and a dearly beloved friend. We feel their loss sharply, and our hearts are with them in this time of sorrow.