Claire Whang

Claire Whang serves as a professor at California State Polytechnic University Pomona, having started as an assistant professor in the summer of 2018. Her expertise centers on apparel and fashion consumer behavior and marketing, and her PhD dissertation examined how voice assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home affect consumer decision-making and purchase processes, a topic she notes connects to current developments in generative AI. Prior to her academic career, she worked in marketing roles at a clothing company called Avista in Korea, Samsung in the Benelux region near the Netherlands, HP Korea, and Jaguar Land Rover. She earned her bachelor's degree in clothing and textiles from Yonsei University, a master's degree from Korea, and her PhD from the University of Minnesota with a minor in psychology. Claire Whang maintains active memberships in the International Textiles and Apparel Association since her graduate school years, the ACRA retail-focused association, and the Korean Apparel and Fashion Association. In her teaching role at the hands-on, teaching-oriented institution, she leads a senior capstone course in which students design, create, produce with local vendors, and sell products on and off campus to gain practical business experience.