East Asian languages
Yu taught at the University of Minnesota from 1976 to 1985, at Columbia University from 1985 to 1989, and was founding chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at the University of California, Irvine from 1989 to 1994. Yu was dean of humanities in the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Los Angeles and professor of East Asian languages and cultures from 1994 to 2003.