Professor László Országh (1907-1984) has left many tracks in the profession. No student of English in this country can do without his bilingual dictionaries, which have become virtual bestsellers of Academy Press; his 437-page Az amerikai irodalom története (1967) continues to be a standard monograph; Hungarian Studies in English, the annual publication of the Department, which he launched in 1963 and edited for ten subsequent years, became a major export item of the University for the international community of the profession, reporting for over three decades on the state and quality of research done in English and American Studies at Kossuth University. In his will, he bequeathed his huge personal library to the University, and the “Országh Collection” has already been made accessible to students and researchers alike. One of Professor Országh’s lasting legacies is the human and scholarly impact he had on his students.
The Institute commemorated the ninetieth anniversary of László Országh’s birth in September 1997 at the international conference of ESSE/4 (the fourth biennial conference of the European Society for the Study of English) hosted by Kossuth University. At ESSE/4 a special round-table discussion was devoted to “The Life and Work of László Országh.” Those interested in finding out more about László Országh can read the edited text of the round-table discussion in the 1998 volume of HJEAS (Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies). The seminar room of the Institute of English and American Studies now bears the name of László Országh, and in September 1998 a marble plaque commemorating him was placed in the hallway of the Institute.
In 2007, on the centenary of his birth, a national commemorative session was called forth, with a great number of participants from all over the country, including some family members of his. This session, where several generations of experts in English and American Studies participated, was a moving event, not only because of launching some volumes inspired by Professor Országh, but also because professional presentations were mixed with the most personal memories of a man who is held in high respect beyond our borders as well. As a concluding event of the day, the "high street" of the main campus at the University of Debrecen was named after him at a ceremony. The "street sign" serves as an every-day reminder for all the citizens of the university: they had a professor who is known well beyond the bounds of academia.