He was a professor of Asian American studies and English at San Francisco State University for 38 years until his retirement in 2005.

Chan was born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrants and graduated from Harry Ells High School intending to pursue medicine.

An Anthology of Asian-American Writers, which helped introduce Asian American authors as worthy of serious study.

This quartet had formed the Combined Asian Resources Project (CARP) to accomplish this task, which helped reintroduce and posthumously republish older works by Asian American authors, such as John Okada's No-No Boy and Louis Chu's Eat a Bowl of Tea, for which Chan penned a forward (foreword).

Chan also wrote a comedic play, "Bunnyhop", which was produced by East West Players during their 1977–1978 season.