Making an IMPACT: IEM professor leaves a lasting legacy
Friday, November 1, 2024
Media Contact: Kristi Wheeler | Manager, CEAT Marketing and Communications | 405-755-5831 | kristi.wheeler@okstate.edu
On May 2, 2024, Mayor Will Joyce declared “Kenneth E. Case Day” for Stillwater, Oklahoma.
The announcement was made during a special event hosted by the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at Oklahoma State University to honor and recognize Dr. Case for the time, energy and passion he invested in the discipline of industrial engineering, specifically at OSU.
Attendees included college leadership and guests whom Case had taught, mentored, collaborated and worked with.
The event announced the establishment of the Kenneth E. Case Society and recognized his sustaining support and gifts to IEM, OSU and the industrial engineering discipline. The society will serve as a foundation for alumni and friends to enhance their support for IEM scholarships, research and faculty excellence; foster philanthropic activities to support IEM academic and research programs; and to fulfill OSU’s land-grant mission.
“I look at the accomplishments of our students and see what all they have accomplished and where they have risen to and think, I must have done something right, and I was just a part of it.”
“The School of Industrial Engineering and Management wanted to establish a giving society and name it after someone who has made significant contributions to OSU, Oklahoma, the nation and their people,” said Dr. Guiping Hu, IEM department head. “The decision quickly boiled down to Ken. He has given so much to our school. He has been active in IEM and industry — locally, nationally and internationally. He has impacted so many people, students and colleagues, and we decided naming the society after him was the right thing to do.”
Case, a regent’s professor emeritus, is widely regarded as one of the top industrial engineers in the world. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, his master’s and doctoral degrees in IEM — all from OSU.
After completing his Ph.D., Case and his wife, Lynn, moved to Blacksburg, Virginia, where he taught at Virginia Tech for five years. In 1975, they returned to Stillwater, where Case joined the IEM faculty as an associate professor and was asked to become the school department head in 1980. He quickly learned that teaching and mentoring students was his passion and returned to the faculty after serving as the head for three years.
His crowning achievement is his visionary leadership in developing OSU’s Master of Science in engineering and technology management degree program, a new and first-of-its-kind fully online program geared for working engineers. The program was packed with eager students ready to learn in its opening semester.
In addition to teaching and research, Case consulted extensively. He is a fellow and served as president of both the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers and the American Society for Quality, receiving the highest recognition from each. He is a National Academy of Engineering member, one of only three from OSU and 21 from Oklahoma.
He was also an active Academician Emeritus in the International Academy for Quality, a worldwide group limited to 100 quality experts. He served on the panel of judges for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Case was named the Outstanding Engineer in Oklahoma in 1987. He holds five ASQ certifications and is a Six Sigma Black Belt. He received the Quality Oklahoma Award from Gov. Brad Henry in 2003 and the Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in College/University Teaching from the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence in 2005. He received the Melvin R. Lohmann Medal from CEAT in 2013 and was inducted into the CEAT Hall of Fame in 2015. Case has received over 25 recognitions for teaching, including multiple from the National Technological University’s Outstanding (Satellite) Teacher Award.
Case retired from OSU in 2005 but continued consulting and stayed actively engaged with the OSU community and industry. In August 2024, Case retired from the Board of Directors for Webco Industries after serving for over 29 years.
Ken and Lynn have strongly supported OSU over the years, impacting hundreds of IEM alumni and colleagues worldwide. In 2022, they established the Ken and Lynn Case Scholarship for $25,000 (for graduate and undergraduate students) and the Ken and Lynn Case Endowed Chair in IEM was established at a value of $1 million.
“You can clearly see with anyone he interacts with, whether you are a colleague, a
student or staff member, that he is a genuine person,” Hu said. “He is passionate
about the discipline of Industrial Engineering, IEM and OSU.”
Reflecting on his career, Case has no regrets.
“There are a lot of universities out there, and I have to say, I got so much out of Oklahoma State and its people,” he said. “I look at the accomplishments of our students and see what all they have accomplished and where they have risen to and think, I must have done something right, and I was just a part of it.
“So many teachers and mentors here at this university, in the college, such as Sunderesh Heragu, Joe Mize, both giants in the field, and so many more, have made huge impacts on generations of students.”
Photos: Kristi Wheeler
Story by: Kristi Wheeler | IMPACT Magazine