The former strategic-projects director in ASU’s Office of the President is taking her experience in education to the next level.

Mariko Silver, who had worked for President Michael Crow since 2002, was recently hired as Gov. Janet Napolitano’s policy adviser for higher education, innovation and economic development.

“The education infrastructure of a state or region is critical to economic and social success,” Silver said. “Ensuring higher education is important for our state to compete in global market.”

Silver said she’d work toward Napolitano’s goal of doubling the number of bachelor’s degrees in the state by 2020. She said this could be a byproduct of building a better partnership between community colleges and universities, another area she’ll work on at the governor’s office.

“The more closely connected, the easier it is to transfer to a university,” Silver said.

At ASU, she worked on accessibility and transparency. Silver was the director of the Arizona Indicators Project, a collaboration between ASU, The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Department of Commerce to provide data on the factors driving the state’s economy.

Economics and geography senior Kyle Whitman worked with Silver on the project.

“I spent five months of intense work on the project. She is a very approachable person and a tireless worker, juggling a variety of different projects at a time,” Whitman said. “She is personally invested in her student workers. She wants them to succeed.”

Rob Melnick, director of ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, also worked with Silver on the Arizona Indicators Project, which is now completely overseen by the Morrison Institute. Melnick said Silver’s experiences at ASU would help at the governor’s office. Her creativity and innovativeness, and her ability to process information and multi-task will serve her well, Melnick said.

“Simply put, she is one of the smartest people I know,” Melnick said. “It’s a loss to ASU but a gain to Arizona. She’s going get a lot done. I feel fortunate that a person of her caliber is at the governor’s office to influence public policy.”

Silver received her undergraduate degree in history at Yale University and her master’s in science and technology policy at the University of Sussex at Brighton in the United Kingdom. Silver said her mother produced children’s shows and then later worked in arts administration. Her father was a filmmaker most noted for the critically acclaimed film, “Style Wars,” which documents the New York City’s graffiti subculture in the early 1980s.

“My parents openly encouraged me to think of my assumptions, to look at world through multiple lenses, to take on someone else’s perspective,” Silver said.

Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.