Rachel Rui creates an endowment in memory of her late husband.
Rachel Rui (’09, ’14), assistant to the chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, recently created the Harrison Pang and Rachel Rui International Excellence Endowment to honor the memory of her late husband Harrison Pang (’10, ’11), a former UT employee, an accomplished business analyst, an artist, and a strong supporter of local arts and culture.
“We came to UT and Knoxville 12 years ago,” Rui said. “Faculty, students, and staff welcomed us with open arms. We would like to do the same thing to give back to UT and the Knoxville community. I could not think of a better way to pass on Harrison’s legacy.”
The endowment will support the UT Center for International Education, providing undergraduate scholarships or graduate fellowships for students to study abroad and for UT’s international recruitment efforts.
“In the past 15 years we have been together, Harrison has been my home, my inspiration, and my adventures all at once.” Rui said. “I will make sure to carry on his legacy in the hope to inspire more young people to pursue their American dreams, to achieve greater things, and to promote cultural diversity by supporting students to go out and experience the world themselves.”
The couple met in their second year at the Communication University of China and commenced a life of remarkable achievement together.
While in school, Pang and Rui both worked for the Associated Press TV News in Beijing. In 2007 they both earned Bachelor of Science degrees—his in digital art with a concentration in digital video technology and hers in international journalism.
I will make sure to carry on his legacy in the hope to inspire more young people to pursue their American dreams, to achieve greater things, and to promote cultural diversity.
– Rachel Rui (’09, ’14), created the Harrison Pang and Rachel Rui International Excellence Endowment
They then came to UT for graduate school, with an interlude in summer 2008 returning to the AP in Beijing to report the Olympic Games. After Rui earned her Master of Science in journalism and electronic media in 2009, they were married in the UT Gardens. Soon after, she joined the Department of Chemistry as a communications, recruiting, and development coordinator, while continuing to pursue a doctoral degree in communication and information.
Pang earned his Master of Fine Arts in film production in 2010 and Master of Science in information sciences and computer science minor in 2011. As a UT data analyst for the next five years, he built and deployed database warehouses and created custom business analytical tools, including a teaching evaluation system, for which he later signed a licensing agreement with the UT Research Foundation. That became the basis of his business venture.
During his tenure with UT, Pang revamped the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment website. The database-driven website won Southern Association for Institutional Research Best Website for two consecutive years. He also designed the couple’s dream home with AutoCAD. When Rui completed her doctoral degree in March 2014, they built the house together on a hillside in Louisville, Tennessee.
Besides his many talents and career achievements, Pang was also an accomplished martial artist with a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo. He was also a true Volunteer. As active members of the Asian community, the couple participated in organizing the Knoxville Asian Festival. Their contributions directly led to the festival growing from 3,000 visitors in 2014 to 40,000 visitors in 2018. In December 2018, Pang produced a video for the Knoxville Asian Festival that received the First Tennessee Foundation award.
In 2014 and 2015, the couple was featured on Chinese Central TV station, with a 1.2 billion-viewer base, as the young faces of China overseas.
Pang welcomed a career change in January 2017 and left UT to become director of information technology for Vanquish World Wide. He later started his own business, focusing on business analytics. Pang passed away suddenly December 30, 2018, at age 34. He is survived by his wife, Rui, and his parents, who are both retired scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In January 2018, Rui took a multifaceted job as assistant to the UT Knoxville chancellor and is still actively volunteering in the Knoxville community, serving as the director of communications and marketing on the Board of Directors of the Asian Culture Center of Tennessee.
