Irene Lange, chair and professor of marketing at Cal State Fullerton, was recently honored by the U.S. Department of Commerce in recognition of 50 years of service to business education.
The organization awarded the veteran educator with the International Trade Administration’s Certificate of Appreciation during an October conference in Costa Mesa.
Born in Lithuania during World War II, Lange immigrated to the U.S. in 1951 and earned her undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois. Lange joined Cal State Fullerton in 1965, less than a decade after the University’s founding. She has served as department chair since 1977.
In addition to her University service, Lange has served fellowships as a trade and economics analyst for eastern European countries with the U.S. Department of Commerce, and with NASA, where she studied procurement practices during the Apollo project and the diffusion of solar energy for commercial purposes. She served more than 20 years as the executive director of the International Marketing Association and has worked with Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, serving on its advisory board to establish the business school. She also helped develop an international agreement for student and faculty exchanges between Kaunas and Cal State Fullerton.
In recognition for her service she was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from Kaunas, which also named a hall in her honor.