Oral History Program Kim Chiu Interviewed by Dayton Martindale 29 January 2018 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Kim Chiu Interviewed by Dayton Martindale 29 January 2018 Copyright © 2023 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. 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These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Chiu, Kim, an oral history by Dayton Martindale, 29 January 2018, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections and University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Kim Chiu, conducted on January 29, 2018 at Utah Valley University, by Dayton Martindale. Kim discusses her life and experiences as a minority leader in Northern Utah. DM: Alright Kim, thanks again for agreeing to interview today. We’re really excited. If you want to just go ahead and start by telling me your full name and what your position is here at Utah Valley University. KC: Okay, I’m Kim Chiu. I’m the career and technical education director here at the campus. DM: Cool, could you tell me what some of your main responsibilities are in this role? KC: Well at our office here, we receive a federal grant, and the distribution of grant funds is part of my responsibility. Also, determining economic development gaps. Maybe what programs we should be doing for industry and what programs we need to develop for that. I also lead the pathway initiative, where we get high school students into different pathways, into our programs. Also, with the federal funds, we purchase equipment, offer professional development for our faculty, and do outreach in our office as well—where we try to build our programs and build the enrollment within our programs. DM: Thank you. Now, could we maybe talk about your past leading up to this position? This would include any of your background including childhood, teen years, where you grew up, hobbies that you’ve had that led to this, what you like to do, and then perhaps even some family values and education? KC: Okay, when I was younger—in my 20’s—I actually came to UVU when it was Utah Technical College. I got a 2-year AAS in Fashion Merchandising because I 1 wanted to be in retail. I actually wanted to be a buyer. I worked in retail for 25 years or whatever. I worked in different various management positions there. I managed some smaller stores and was in mid-management in some larger stores and I had a big career in retail management. Then I, at 40 years old, found myself divorced with two twin boys that were babies at the time. I couldn’t handle a retail schedule. I knew I needed to go back to school and get some kind of degree that would allow me to enter a different type of career field. Because when you’re in retail, you work every holiday, every weekend, and nights and it’s not conducive to family life—especially as a single parent. I couldn’t be out of the home that much. I came back to UVU, I got a 4-year degree in business and IT. It was a dual type of degree—integrated type of degree. While I was going to school here on campus I got part-time jobs. I actually started on campus in the parking department. I sold parking passes and then also took money for people that got tickets. I dealt with a lot of angry customers. Anyway, I kind of worked my way up the ladder. When I got my 4-year degree I got an admin job for a couple AVP’s on campus. Then, I went to work for the Assistant to the President, who is a VP now—Cameron Martin. Then I ended up applying for a coordinator job in career and technical education. It always was an interest to me because that’s where kind of my roots were. I understood those programs and I understood the mission behind it and everything. I got a job as a coordinator here, I got promoted to Assistant Director and a couple years ago the director went into teaching full-time. Then, I was put 2 in as a chairman there currently as the director. I kind of just worked my way up. I really didn’t necessarily think I’d end up here at UVU when I started school here, but I have found opportunities and just took advantage of those opportunities and worked my way up. I was very driven, being a single parent, I had to make more money so I was very driven to move up the ladder. DM: Thank you. Now maybe talk about some of your hobbies that you enjoy. Hobbies and some of your family values that you’ve had over the years. KC: Well one reason I did want to get out of retail was because—I enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel like it was a real fulfilling career. So when I decided to change careers, I wanted to get into something that had more meaning and purpose. I think having this type of job where we can help people find jobs and get back on track, or helping people that might have high barriers, it’s more conducive to something that I consider important. I feel like I’m doing an important work. It’s a better fit for my internal value system. I love to travel. I used to travel a lot. I haven’t traveled much recently while I’ve been raising my family, but I traveled a lot in my youth. I traveled the orient, I traveled through Europe, I just really enjoy traveling. I guess that’s a big thing that I enjoy. I enjoy being home with my family. Family time is really important and that’s one reason I like working for UVU is because my schedule is flexible and I can spend a lot of time with my family. DM: Thank you, Kim. Now, what are some specific experiences that you had during your childhood, teen years, adult years? Any kind of experience that led you to believe that you were, or could be a leader? 3 KC: Well, I’ve worked enough in my life, where I’ve started at entry level positions. A lot of times, there may not be a leadership position open at the time, but I know just from past experience, that if I can get in the door, I can work my way up pretty fast. A lot of times it is just getting in and then proving yourself and working hard. I did that a lot in retail and within a year or two I was always in management, even if I came in at the sales level. Then I moved up quickly once I came here to UVU. I think that hard work is a key to it—getting in and working hard. A lot of it is making your boss happy and a lot of times I’m like the “go-to” person for problem solving. If there is a problem, I am often times assigned the problem to deal with it. Then if I can fix the situation, it shows—you know those above me, that I can make things happen and follow through. Follow through is really big. Just making sure that they look good. If you can make your bosses look good, you will move up the ladder pretty quickly. DM: We kind of talked about this in the first couple of questions I asked you, but what are your personal core values? KC: Hard work, is really a core value of mine. I believe I achieved what I have because of hard work. I also feel balance in life is also important—being a single parent I have to have balance in my life. When I am at work, I work hard. But then I also like to spend time at home too with my family. But the fact that my family relies on me has pushed me to work hard. Also, honesty and integrity I think are really important—professionalism I feel like is really important. I feel like the higher you move up, you get into really political types of discussions and things like that you have to learn how to work 4 with people in a professional manner. Even though you might be mad at somebody, or you’re frustrated, or things like that. You have to just make sure that you are on your part being professional. I feel like, and that’s being nice too. There are so many people that go around and they’re grumpy or they’re negative. I believe in being positive and being more upbeat. I think you can get more done that way, rather than going around and mumbling all the time and grumbling. You know pessimistic and negative I don’t— I believe in being positive and realistic. I believe in being realistic so you don’t set your sights too high and then you’re disappointed. But if you are realistic with your goals and you know that you’ve done what you can do to get the things you want accomplished. So positive, honest, have integrity, being upbeat, being professional you know that type of thing. I think a “people person” can get a lot done. If you are good with people—because people can help you get done what you need to do and if they’re are on your side you can get more things done. DM: That makes sense. Thanks for sharing that. So with those core values you already really kind of answered this next question I have—Are there any other ways you feel like these core values have influenced your leadership experiences and abilities? Again, you have already kind of shared a lot of those but are there any other think you can think of—how these core values have influenced your leadership? KC: I feel like a boss or somebody is kind of like a parent. So you come into the office and you kind of set the mood for the office. You can get your people motivated in 5 a positive way or just be mean. I try to influence the people in my office or around me in a positive way so they’re motivated out of a higher level than just, “Oh my boss is going to get mad at me.” Or just even peers that way. I believe that if you come in and you’re positive in the office, that’s kind of the tone that you set. Sometimes you have to turn people’s moods around in the office so they’re not getting everybody all negative and everything. You might have somebody in the office who isn’t happy or that type of thing, and you need to work with that person to bring them around. If you want to motivate people I think you need to give them positive feedback, constructive feedback, spend time with them, explain things to them so they understand why they are doing what they are doing and get that buy in. Even working with other areas of the institution or even out in the community or whatever you are doing. If you kind of explain to people and educate them on what you are trying to accomplish so they can feel like they have buy in, and a say—then they will be more apt to work with you and to get things done. DM: Thank you for sharing that. Now to the next question. Name a person in your life who has been a tremendous impact to you as a leader. Perhaps, this is someone who has been a mentor to you or a past boss. Is there someone in your life who has been a mentor to you? KC: You know, I’ve actually been asked this question before and I don’t really have—I think I take things from individuals. I look and say, “Okay this individual, these are the positive things I like about them and I’m going to take that away from them. But then these are negative things about them and I’m going to try not do these 6 things. Because that was a negative impact on me.” I don’t think I’ve ever had a boss that was just so perfect and so you know everything, but I definitely learn from the bosses that I’ve had or that type of thing. I don’t know that I’ve really had a mentor that wasn’t really like a boss or something like that. But I always say, “You know, this boss was really good and this and that, but I didn’t really like how they did this or that.” I kind of gear what I do from the experience that I had with that particular boss. DM: Cool. Can you think of any maybe specific leadership abilities that you have seen or anything that you’ve found in someone that you’ve worked with that has impacted you more than others? KC: Well my boss before me—actually a couple bosses before me, they were really good at visionary—seeing the big picture. The higher you get up in an organization; you have to look at the big picture. You have to see what you’re doing, but how it affects everything. I think someone who is a leader has to be able to see the big picture. They can’t just say, “Oh this is my world and I don’t care about anyone else, and I’m just going to do my part.” They don’t look at what does your part to impact, like what does our little department do to impact the whole university, the community, and the state. What does the state do as far as in the nation goes? You have to be able to kind of see how you fit into things. Not everybody can do that. And I actually have had a couple bosses that have been really good at it. That’s one thing that I’ve learned about different leaders that I’ve worked with, is seeing that big picture. 7 I think you have to be able to tell your story too. You have to be able to. If you want to be recognized, or if you want to move up, or if you want to have whatever you’re doing have an impact, you have to kind of be able to tell your story. What you’re doing gets more attention and then it also has a bigger impact because more people know about it, and your part in that. A lot of people that rise up, do that very well. I don’t know if I’m so good and that, but I know that people move-up because they know how to do that. They know how to tell their story, they know how to get out there, they know how to get the publicity, they know how to get as much mileage out of that as they can of their accomplishments. That’s something that I’ve learned from other leaders that I feel like I need to work on, but I think that there’s people around me that do that really well and they’re successful because they know how to do that. I think surrounding yourself with good people is really something that I’ve learned from people around me or other leaders. You’re only as good as the people that work for or that you work with. You know we work a lot with people across campus, and in industry, and those types of things and keeping good relationships. Everybody is important, you can’t belittle anybody. “Oh, that person doesn’t have a big enough job.” Or, “Their business isn’t big enough or whatever.” Everybody can contribute and everybody can play a role. I think you have to respect others and what they can bring to the table. And that is what a good leader does. They bring people to the table and they respect everybody and everybody’s opinion at that table. 8 DM: Cool, thank you for sharing that, Kim. That kind of leads to this next portion of our questions that we have. The question is what do you see as the biggest challenges of being a woman and/or a minority leader in Utah? KC: I think with me that balance—I feel like I could do more and achieve more if I put more time into work. But I’m kind of at a point where I don’t need to spend as much time at home, but I think that women sometimes are at a disadvantage because they need to be at home more. And you just have a lot of responsibilities at home on top of your work responsibilities, and just having enough time to get it all done. I don’t have someone at home I can rely on to run the home while I go off to work, I do both. I don’t know, maybe when my kids are fully grown I can just devote more to work. But being a single parent it’s really hard and it’s limiting. I mean there was a lot of years where I didn’t have those limitations, but there’s been a lot of years where I have had those limitations. But I choose to have those limitations. I could just work all the time and ignore home, but I won’t do that…and my values system. My family is my highest value. My children are my greatest achievement, no matter what I do at work. But one reason I work so hard is so my children can have what they need. It builds on both ways. I enjoy what I do, and I think it’s important what I do, but it’s not my whole life. I have other things that I do in my personal life that you know. I do feel like what I do is important and I feel like here at campus and I like to do well but you know I’ve got to have that balance in my life. 9 DM: Yeah, that makes absolute sense. Thank you for sharing that as well. With that challenge of always trying to have that balance, what has been the best way for you to overcome that challenge of making sure there’s balance in your life? What has been a good? I guess what is a helpful tip for yourself or something that you’ve learned? KC: One reason I stayed in this career and this type of job, was because of the flexibility. Working for the state isn’t the highest paying job, I could probably make more out in industry. But working for the state, I was able to take more time off to be at my children’s functions and things like that. Even working at UVU that was part of the reason why I stayed at UVU, and didn’t go out into private industry. Even though I might have been able to make more money, but then I would have given up the time for the more money. That’s one reason why I stayed. But I feel like sometimes the flexibility is like—sometimes I’ve been able to work from home or I can shift my hours around a little bit depending on the need. I’m kind of looking back at when my kids were in school and stuff. Sometimes I was able to bring my kids to some of the events and things that I had to do at night or on the weekend and things like that. Because UVU is a very family-oriented institution and so a lot of times I could bring my kids, where I did a lot of outreach events and that type of thing, I was able to involve my kids with it and bring them to something. Or I was able just make up the work at night or whatever, as long as the job is getting done. Then there’s those times where I have meetings or I have to be on campus for certain things, but you can kind of be able to work your schedule accordingly to what you need to do. That’s kind of 10 how I got through it raising my kids, that’s kind of how I got through it without letting the work suffer. In the beginning, I was going to school too. You have to be able to prioritize. You have to be able to know what is most important to get done and what can take longer. You have to be able to adjust schedules. You have to be able to keep track of what’s going on. This department is very diverse in our job responsibilities. So sometimes you’re at meetings, sometimes you’re at your desk, sometimes there’s always different things going on and you have to know deadlines. You have to know when you’re busy and make sure that you’re getting the job done at that time. Most people take time off in the summer. I know that summer is critical for us, because it’s year-end, it’s starting out the new year and we have to be here and take care of that where a lot of the faculty and stuff are taking off. As long as you know your priorities and you are taking care of those priorities, and then maybe you take off time when you don’t have all those deadlines. Just knowing timelines, knowing deadlines, you know making sure your projects are getting done and all of those types of things. Now that we have these… we’re never really off. But in a way, it’s good because then I know something is pending, something urgent, or it can wait. DM: Those are great tips. Thank you for sharing that. So last couple of questions here—what advice would you give, Kim, to emerging young women or minority leaders in order for them to be successful? 11 KC: I think that to be successful, like I said, hard work, integrity. I think education of course is important. But to really take advantage of the time you’re at work. Work hard while you’re at work—and professionalism. But have good follow through. Don’t let things just hang out there. Make your boss look good. If you’re making your boss look good people will notice, and then they’ll want you on their team. If you are making sure things are getting done, if you’re proving yourself that you can take care of problems and be a critical thinker. If you have good planning you can have balance. You don’t have to have one or the other. You can have good balance. Take advantage of the energy when you’re young. That’s what I’m always telling you guys is take advantage of it while you’re young, and get your schooling while you’re young, and put in those long hours and stuff while you’re young, and then it will pay off. There’re things that you can do. I think as long as you are doing your job and doing your job well I don’t think it’s a problem if you are a woman or an under represented person, I think you’ll be recognized. I think there are times where you hit ceilings. I mean here at the university, you don’t have as many women deans at the higher levels. But if you go up into the state offices or the state employees there’s a lot of women at the state level, more so than here at the university. I don’t know if that’s necessarily intentional, because you can only hire people who apply. We have had women leaders before, but you have to kind of pull from the pool that’s out there too. I don’t know if it’s necessarily intentional that that’s what happens, because you have to hire from those that apply. Especially in 12 higher ed, I don’t think that there’s a lot. I don’t know if I have seen any bias against women in higher ed. There’s certainly a lot of department chairs and faculty that are women, I don’t know why it’s different at the dean level when there’s not as good of representation, or the Vice President level. I do believe that there’s caps where women may hit a ceiling and then they can’t go farther, but I don’t know. I mean, I’ve experienced some of that in my life but not really, I don’t think I’ve really experienced that here at UVU. But I’m not a Vice President either, at that level either. There’s plenty of Associate Vice Presidents that are women on campus. There’s a lot of Associate Vice Presidents so I think there’s a lot of opportunity for women on campus and in the higher ed like at USHE or the Utah State Board of Education. I think that if women just work hard and have good follow through and make their bosses look good, they can move up. I’ve seen young women move up. I think you also need to be able to communicate and sell yourself. I mean that’s part of telling your story. What I’ve done, what I’ve accomplished, you know, and changes happen because what I’ve done. And the better you are at telling your story the easier it is for you to move up—and that’s not necessarily bragging, but it’s like getting yourself out there. Letting people know what you’ve accomplished. A lot of people tend to, “Oh, I don’t want to do that, you know, I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging.” But people need to tell their story and that’s one way that they get recognition and move up, and you can’t be shy about stuff like that. But you can present yourself in a way that you say, “Oh I worked hard on this. You know these other people helped me and we as a team we got 13 this done and accomplished.” You can make it sound where you’re not just bragging or something like that. But yeah, find those things that you’ve done and let people know about it and that way I think you can move up. DM: Great, that’s great advice and great insight. As kind of a last question, is there anything else that you’d like to share, as far as insight goes, about being a women leader in Utah? KC: I think to just come across professional—come across as a positive person. I think women tend to try to please everybody, you know. But I think sometimes you realize that you’re not going to please everybody. Just try to do what you do well, and then hopefully the right people will be pleased. Women tend to pleasers and they want everybody to be happy, but sometimes you can’t make everybody happy. You can still be professional, you can be positive, you can get out there in front so people can see you and realize your accomplishments. I think being positive and being professional are really, really important, and not go out with that feeling “oh it’s because I’m a woman.” I think if you reflect that it won’t bode well, rather than just being positive and said, “Oh you know what? We did that on our campus and it really was helpful and great.” That type of thing. Something like that is going to go a lot farther than trying to find excuses. DM: Great. Kim, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate your responses and thanks again. 14