JUNE 2017 22 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM JI MI CHOI Ji Mi Choi works long hours across the country — by choice. She’s driven not only by a desire to improve higher education at Arizona State University, but to “pay it forward” to dedicated students. When her father died during her sophomore year of college, she received a grant from an anonymous donor that allowed her to continue her studies and graduate. She views her contributions to higher learning as her way of giving back, after the assistance she received. As an associate vice president at the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development at ASU, she spends hours reading and writing grant proposals, and spends even more of her day meeting with ASU faculty members and partners, occasionally spending her evenings attending events. She jokes that a successful week means she’s been in every Arizona municipality at least once, but her reach extends far beyond the state. She travels nationally and internationally to extend the university’s scope and to create and foster partnerships. Her role on paper is to advance corporate engagement and economic development through strategic partnerships and help foster the sense of entrepreneurship and innovation that ASU has become known for. Essentially, this position allows her to work with people by building partnerships and creating opportunities for ASU’s students. She keeps up her industrious schedule because she enjoys the part of her job that allows her to work with people, especially those who are looking to better themselves and their lives. Choi is {leadership} OFFICE DOORS Jamie Killin | CONTRIBUTING WRITER PUTTING ASU STUDENTS ON ENTREPRENEURIAL PATHS

JUNE 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 23 inspired by those who are impacted by the programs and initiatives she’s helped put into place. “No one is coming here thinking ‘How can I be more mediocre tomorrow than I am today?’” she said. “This is an environment where everyone is trying to move forward with optimism and community.” Choi, who has over two decades of experience in higher education, previously worked at some of the most formidable universities in the nation, New York University and Columbia University. She admires ASU’s strong ties to Arizona, and its ability to become greater through its connection to the environment and community. “ASU is not trying to be Yale in Arizona, it’s trying to be ASU in Arizona,” she said. “We’re taking advantage of who we are and where we are. ASU doesn’t try to build skyscrapers where there are none.” Choi also notes the university’s welcoming environment and its space for growth and new ideas. “We all want to be here and choose to be here,” she said of ASU’s faculty. “There’s a sense of intimacy for an organization so large. We have a well-rounded sense of who we are and what we do.” A large part of ASU’s impact has been built through partnerships, like the university’s partnership with Starbucks, which gives its employees the opportunity OFFICE DOORS CONTINUED Photo credit: Jamie Killin