Ya Yang, a visiting assistant professor at the Fuqua School of Business, died at Duke Hospital Sunday from injuries sustained Sept. 30 during a one-car accident. The promising scholar and beloved teacher was 27.
"She was a great friend and colleague. She touched many people," said Fuqua Professor Paul Zipkin, who worked closely with Yang and who hired her when he was dean of the faculty. "Everyone loved her, everyone who knew her just adored her."
Yang had worked in the operations management area of Fuqua since September 1998. Just out of a doctoral program in operations research at Columbia University, she taught Fuqua's core course in operations management and quickly became a favorite among business students.
"[Last year] was her very first year of teaching, and she was one of the most popular teachers at the school," said Zipkin, the operations management coordinator. "I used to tease her. I used to say, 'Can we find a way to bottle this and shake it on other people?'"
A memorial service will be held in her honor Friday, Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. in Fuqua's Geneen Auditorium.
"We are all very saddened at the loss of Professor Yang," said Fuqua Dean Rex Adams in a statement. "We have lost a beloved colleague, friend and teacher. Our hearts go out to her family and loved ones."
The accident occurred the evening of Sept. 30 as Yang drove home from school alone. No other cars were involved.
Zipkin said Yang swerved and lost control of her vehicle, hitting a tree. "There really is no explanation at all," he said.
He saw Yang just 20 minutes before the accident and she was fully awake and not impaired in any way. "It's a mystery," Zipkin said.
A group of Catholic students will hold a memorial service today at 12:15 p.m. in the Fuqua Atrium between the East and West Fuqua buildings.
"I think that a lot of the different student groups want to share their grief and celebrate her life in their different faith contexts," said Fuqua student Amy Raslevich, who is helping to organize the service.
Although she never had Yang as a professor, Raslevich said, "Fuqua is unique in that it's very tight, I think, because it's isolated from campus."
Zipkin said other student groups may also plan memorials, as will Yang's colleagues at Columbia.
In addition to her doctorate, Yang held a master's of science degree in operations research from Columbia. She received her undergraduate degree in computer science in 1993 from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.
As a scholar, she dealt primarily with scheduling, which optimizes efficiency for complex business functions like production schedules or timetables for airlines.
"She was very good at it, and no doubt she would have been a very prominent scholar," Zipkin said. "She had lots of promise, one of the most prominent young people in the field. It's a great loss."
Yang is survived by her parents, Gusheng and Shixing Yang of Guizhou, China, and by her sister, Ying Yang, who lives in New Jersey.
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