Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy

Yulan Chung is the Executive Director of South Coast Chinese Cultural Center and Principal of Irvine Chinese School. She has been involved in Chinese language and cultural education in the US since 1999. She served as bilingual teacher, administrator, director and chief officer in various educational institutes and schools over the years. Yulan has received many recognitions and awards including City of Irvine Wall of Recognition in 2022, the fifth Overseas Teachers Award of Lifetime Achievement award from Overseas Compatriots Culture and Education Foundation in 2022. Yulan received her MA in Cultural Anthropology from Tsinghua University and completed doctoral courses in Bilingual Education and Multicultural Education at Lesley University.

Contact: ychung@iciacademy.org

James Guo is a Journalist with over 40 years’ professional experiences. Before his retirement, he was the President of World Journal LA for more than 14 years from 2005 to 2019. World Journal is the most well-known and largest Chinese American newspaper for almost 50 years in the US. James had worked as an Editor-in-Chief in 3 large cities including World Journal in LA, World Journal in NY and Min Sheng Daily in Taipei. His educational background includes a BA degree in Journalism from Chinese Culture University in Taiwan, a Master degree in Journalism and Communication from National Chen Chi University in Taiwan. James also served as SCCCA Board of Director in 2013-2018 and joined the Board in 2019 again. Now he has served as the President of SCCCA since 2021.

Contact: jguo@iciacademy.org

Dara Mullarkey is a proud K-12 graduate of Irvine public schools as well as Irvine Chinese School. After attending UC Davis, she moved back to Irvine to work for Kingston Technology for over 10 years until the birth of her daughter. In 2015, she spearheaded the mission of the Sun Family Foundation along with her husband and cousin. Today, the Sun Family Foundation supports organizations in Orange County that provide services to underserved individuals and communities. Dara is thrilled to be a part of the ICIA family as a board member as well as a parent of two ICIA students.

Contact: daramullarkey@iciacademy.org

Wendi Chen was born and raised in Hong Kong. She obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering at the California State University, Fullerton. She has extensive experiences in business administrations as well as investments in various real estate projects. She has volunteered with several nonprofit organizations over the years. She served as Vice President of Global Federation of Chinese Business Women Southern California Chapter (2013); Vice Chairwoman of Orange County Chinese American Chamber of Commerce Foundation (2014 – 2015); Founding President of South Coast Tai Chi Club (September 2019 – Present); Board of Director of South Coast Chinese Cultural Association since 2018.

Vincent Diau is currently the Vice President of Golden West Property Management, where he oversees the management of a portfolio of commercial and multifamily properties. He was the President of the Asian American Association (database marketing and telemarketing) from 1996 to 2000 and the City Editor at Chinese Daily News from 1990 to 1995. Vincent has also served as the Board Director for the Health and Life Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes health and wellness in the Chinese community. Vincent Diau joined SCCCA Board of Director in 2022.

Occupation: 20-Year Public School Administrator, ABC Unified School District

As a 20-year school administrator and a 40-year public school educator, Dr. PaoLing Guo is committed to ensuring education community in Irvin remains one of the premier Districts in the state. She is working hard to support more stable funding for the public education. She has much enthusiasm and energy to contribute to educating students and training future community leaders. Her educational background includes a BA degree in Political Science from National Normal University in Taiwan, a master’s degree in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University, and a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from USC.

Her professional background of more than 40 years of experiences in education, including as an elementary and high school teacher in Taiwan, New York, and California; assistant principal and principal in ABCUSD. Her leadership capacity included 2016-17 president for the Artesia Chamber of Commerce and 2017-19 State President for the California Adult Education Administrators’ Association. She was honored as the Woman of the Year by the State Assembly District 58 in 2015 and Senate District 28 in 2010. She was elected as the Administrator of the Year by the LA Office of the Vocational Education in 2019. This combination of experience, dedication and leadership skills will allow her to help build programs vital to the school’s success and to ensuring Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy becomes a great asset to our diverse community.

Stephen Hsu is a successful entrepreneur committed to the welfare of the overseas Chinese community in Los Angeles. As the owner of Hotel Indigo and Wyndham Hotel in Anaheim, Mr. Hsu uses customer-oriented management approach to lead his team. He currently is Senior Advisor of the Overseas Community Affairs Council. Mr. Hsu also serves as the honorary chairman and advisor in LA various groups such as Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce, Hotel & Motel Association of North America, and Associations of the Overseas Chinese organizations. For many years, Mr. Hsu has worked tirelessly to support the local Chinese

Contact Email address:  shsu@iciacademy.org

Amy is a Vice President, Wealth Management Advisor of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Bank of America Corporation. She has been working at Merrill Lynch for more than thirty-five years with experiences in the financial consulting and money management industry. She received her BA degree from National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan ROC, obtained a MS degree from Marywood College in Scranton, PA, and a MBA degree in finance from California State University Long Beach, California. She received all of her degrees with top honors. In addition to Amy’s career accomplishments, she is a leader in numerous professional societies and community arts and cultural organizations. She is the recipient of many distinguished professional awards, including the Community Achievement Award from Merrill Lynch

Dr. Shin Lin received Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from UCLA and was Professor and Chairman of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins for many years. He came to UC Irvine in 1997 and served as the Dean of the School of Biological Sciences and subsequently Associate Vice Chancellor for Biomedical Initiatives. He is currently a Professor in Cell Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Integrative Medicine at UC Irvine. For over a decade, his Research Laboratory for Mind-Body Signaling and Energy Research at UC Irvine has been focused on the use of hi-tech approaches to study physiological effects of Tai Chi/Qigong on mind-body functions, and the relationship of such effects with those produced by Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies. He was an appointee by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the National Advisory Council on Complementary Medicine and Integrative Health, and the Co-Creator of World Tai Chi and Qigong Day, and a member of the editorial boards of the journal Chinese Medicine and the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Dr. Lin has involved in local Chinese community for many years to share his expertise and passion in traditional Chinese culture.

Michael is a Senior Vice President at Newport Partners, a vertically-integrated owner, developer, and operator of affordable housing. He is actively involved in the investment and development process, as well as overall strategy and management across Newport’s platform and affiliated companies. Prior to joining Newport, Michael worked in investments at CIM Group in Los Angeles, and began his career in the investments group at The JBG Companies in Washington, D.C. A native of Southern California, Michael received his BA in Economics from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kenneth was a former US Navy officer with over 40 years and was an information technology services senior project manager for many years. Kenneth got BS and MA in Mathematics, University of Washington (Seattle). MS in Computer Science (San Diego), Project Management (General Dynamics / UCI). He has extensive experiences in local Chinese community. He was the President of SCCCA in 1992-1993; Irvine Evergreen Chinese Seniors Association board of directors and was the President of Orange County Chinese Artists Association in 2015.

Attorney Rose W. Tsai is the principal attorney of Law Offices of Rose W. Tsai & Associates. She has served the community for more than twenty years. Attorney Tsai is exceptionally experienced in law. She has successfully represented business and individual clients from different areas around the world. She has also served as the legal counsel to many international business enterprises and non-profit organizations. In addition, she served in varied community nonprofits as well as professional organizations, such as Legal Advisor of Culture Center of T.E.C.O. in Santa Ana; Trustee of World Affairs Council Orange County; Legal Chair of Orange County Chinese American Chamber of Commerce Foundation; Legal Chair of Orange County Chinese American Chamber of Commerce; Former Vice Chair of Corporate Development Committee for World Affairs Council Orange County; Former Vice Chair of Public Relation Committee for World Affairs Council Orange County; Former President (Year 2002) of Taiwanese American Lawyer Association; Former Legal Advisor to hotel associations; Recipient of Overseas Outstanding Young Person Award Recipient of Excellent Legal Professional Award and Business Leadership Awards. Rose served as SCCCA Board of Director in 2022.

Beatrice Tseng was born in Taiwan but grew up in Brazil, Colombia and Panama. She moved to California to obtain her BA and MA in Spanish and Portuguese Literature at UCLA. She has been teaching Spanish at Irvine Valley College since 1991, currently serving as Chair of the Languages Department. In the past, she was active in Academic Affairs, Online Education and Honors Program Advisory Committees among others. Prof. Tseng is the co-author of the “Instructors’ Resource Kit” that accompanies the college level Spanish textbook “Dos mundos” and have presented numerous workshops on Natural Approach in language teaching, the usage of technology in the foreign language classroom, and teaching Spanish online.

In the Irvine community, Beatrice was actively involved with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) from 2003-2019, chairing various committees and holding Executive Board positions including President, Vice-President, and Secretary at Northwood High School. She was also a member of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation (IPSF) Board of Trustees from 2011-2017 and served on the following Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) committees: IUSD Educational Advisory Committee (2014-2019 representing Lauren Brooks), IUSD School Boundary Committee (2013-2014 and 2017-2018), and District English Learner Advisory Committee (2007-2010). Beatrice served as a member of the SCCCA Board of Directors twice, 2012-2013 and 2014-2015. She helped create and organize the PACE program (Program to Advance Culture and Education), a three-day summer seminar on Chinese History and Culture for Irvine teachers and staff, from 2013 to 2019.

Alice Wang began her teaching career following her graduation from college in Taiwan. After 2 years teaching there, she made the decision to pursue further studies in education in the United States. She obtained graduate degrees from both Cal State Long Beach and UCLA. From 1992 to 1994 she taught in the Long Beach School District and followed by the Downey School District from 1994 to 1999. From 2000 onwards until her retirement in 2019, Alice taught special education in the Westminster School District where she received many commendations as a valuable asset to the District’s special education program.