COSTA MESA : 3 Graduates to Join OCC’s Hall of Fame

Orange Coast College will induct three former students into its Alumni Hall of Fame on Friday.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Jill Angel, Irvine Police Chief Leo Peart and Thomas C.K. Yuen, co-founder of AST Research Inc., were chosen for the honor by a faculty-staff-alumni committee that reviewed more than 150 nominees, said Douglas C. Bennett of the school’s Alumni Assn.

Nominees must have completed at least 15 units at OCC, Bennett said. The panel also considered achievements and community involvement.

Angel enrolled at OCC in 1974, competed for two years on its women’s softball and basketball teams and went on to Cal Poly Pomona. She taught for four years and was athletic director at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente and coached women’s sports at Fullerton College for two seasons.

Angel graduated from the CHP Academy in 1983 and became the agency’s first female traffic reporter in 1985. Her daily reports are broadcast on KCBS-TV and KNX radio. She is involved in Mothers Against Drunk Driving and lectures at OCC on alcohol abuse.

Peart graduated from OCC in 1963 and went on to earn a degree in criminology from Cal State Long Beach. He later earned a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from San Jose State University and has nearly 30 years of experience in the field.

Peart, who has been Irvine’s police chief for the 17 years--the longest term of any police chief in the county--became the youngest police chief in the state when he was named to head the Los Banos department in 1973. He plans to retire in December.

He was named Citizen of the Year in 1990 by the Irvine Chamber of Commerce.

Yuen, born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, came to the United States in 1969. He graduated from OCC in 1972 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UC Irvine. He directs worldwide sales and marketing for AST Research and manages its manufacturing strategies and implementation.

Yuen received UCI’s Distinguished Alumnus Award five years ago and was presented the prestigious UCI Medal last year. He is a member of UCI’s Board of Overseers and the Chancellor’s Club, and serves on the board of directors of the Historical and Cultural Foundation of Orange County.

The Hall of Fame is in the Norman E. Watson Library. The inductions will begin at 5 p.m. in the college’s Fine Arts Hall. Plaques bearing each inductee’s likeness will be unveiled in the library at 7 p.m. A reception will follow.