Since then, she has made advocating for her husband her full-time job by using the vacation time she has accumulated over the past 10 years at Harvard.

Fu said if she used all her vacation time, she wouldn’t have to return to work until early December.

But Fu said she plans to return to HMS shortly after Jiang’s visit.

“I don’t think there is much more for me to do after the end of October,” said Fu, who is “not optimistic” that Yang will be released.

“I was told that if it would happen, it would have already happened,” she said.

But for now, Fu is making every effort to win her husband’s release.

Fu is spending the week with her sister-in-law in Washington and plans to meet with officials at the National Security Council and staff in the office of Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy ’54-’56 (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.).

She plans to fly to Houston on Tuesday, where Jiang will be staying for two days before travelling to Crawford, to protest with Amnesty International against Jiang’s visit and pressure Bush to ask for her husband’s release.

Her seven-year-old son, Aaron, who travelled with her to Washington, will also accompany her to Houston. But Fu said she won’t let geopolitics interfere with the life of a 10-year-old.

“I let my daughter Anita stay home,” Fu said. “She is in the fifth grade and cannot miss school.”

—Staff writer Amit R. Paley can be reached at paley@fas.harvard.edu.