Chaiken Scholars

The Chaiken Community

In 2008, Gene and Roz Chaiken established the Chaiken Scholars program. Every year, roughly 50 Liberal Arts students are selected as Chaiken Scholars based on their academic achievements in high school. Chaiken Scholars receive financial support and access to special resources and programming, including a mentor, workshops, and get-togethers with the Chaiken Scholar community. Chaiken Scholars also have the opportunity to participate in the First-Year Chaiken Scholar Learning Community course. 

160
+

total scholars

60
%

non-white underrepresented students

70
%

first-generation students 

Mission Statement

We provide students with financial scholarships and academic support and guidance, as well as access and funding for engaging out-of-the classroom experiences to prepare for post-graduate success. The program also strives to provide a sense of belonging by providing a built-in community to grow with and rely on for helping push through challenges that are essential to college success.

Being a Chaiken Scholar has welcomed me to an environment that equips me with resources that I never knew existed, nor knew I would have because I am a low-income and first-generation college student.
Garza_Michael
Michael Garza

Programming

  • Cohort learning community
  • LA 83 First-Year Seminar with other Chaiken Scholars and Patty Klug as the course instructor
  • Academic recovery and retention support mentoring (when students do not reach a cumulative 3.0 grade-point average)
  • Funding to support out-of-classroom experiences—internships, education abroad, and undergraduate research—as well as graduate school test preparation and application related fees
  • Community and social events with the Chaiken Center director and peer success coaches
  • Career and professional development workshops
  • Financial literacy workshops
  • Academic support workshops

Cohort Learning Community

  • Events specifically designed for scholars
  • Information on resources and opportunities relevant to cohort
  • Connection to a mentor
  • Connection to the Chaiken Center director
  • Invitation to participate in activities that enrich academic experiences and encourage personal and professional development
  • Connection to alumni
Campus LeaderChaiken ScholarEducation AbroadFirst-GenSpanish

Victor Frolenko

’25
Spanish
|
Nutritional Sciences
|
Neuroscience (minor)
Spanish
Nutritional Sciences
Neuroscience (minor)
Chaiken Scholar, Victor, connects with other students through his numerous extracurricular involvements, which combine his passions for dance, food and helping others. Originally, only planning to major in the sciences, Victor learned about the flexible curriculum offered by the College of the Liberal Arts from a career coach in the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network. He then added the Spanish major to his academic plan, and it took him beyond the confines of the classroom to Ronda, Spain, for an education abroad experience. There, Victor stayed with a host family in a full cultural immersion and attended classes on Spanish customs, history and language.
Victor Frolenko is a peer mentor in the Roz and Gene Chaiken Center for Student Success in the College of the Liberal Arts.
Chaiken ScholarEducation AbroadKoreanPsychology

Nije’e Patton-Johns

’25
Psychology
|
Korean Language (minor)
|
Human Development and Family Studies (minor)
Psychology
Korean Language (minor)
Human Development and Family Studies (minor)
Chaiken Scholar, Nije’e won a competitive Gilman Scholarship, which provides up to $5,000 for undergraduates to study abroad. She utilized the funds to travel to South Korea, where she continued taking psychology classes. She also practiced the Korean language—in which she hopes to eventually become fluent.
Nije’e Patton-Johns will graduate from Penn State in 2025.
Chaiken ScholarInternshipPsychology

Erick Alonso

’25
Psychology
Psychology
Fourth-year student and Chaiken Scholar, Erick, has taken his psychology knowledge from the classroom to his yearlong social services internship. He hopes that by sharing his professional experience, he can shed light on the stories of those with mental health disorders.
Erick Alonso will graduate from the College of the Liberal Arts in 2025.
Chaiken ScholarPsychologyWomen's Studies

Nia Smith

’24
Psychology
|
Women’s Studies
|
Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies minor
Psychology
Women’s Studies
Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies minor
Nia, a Chaiken Scholar and Schreyer Scholar, is a mental health and wellness coordinator for the University Park Undergraduate Association and president of Hope Here Hope Now, a human trafficking awareness organization at Penn State.
Nia Smith
Chaiken ScholarChapel Interns

Tia Drebot

’24
Labor and Human Resources
Labor and Human Resources
Tia is a Chaiken Scholar and a peer success coach in the Chaiken Center for Student Success. She completed a human resources benefits internship with Howmet Aerospace through the Chapel Executive Internship Program.
Tatiana Drebot
AnthropologyChaiken ScholarGeosciences

Jordan Chapman

’16
Anthropology
|
Geosciences
Anthropology
Geosciences
“I do not think I would have gotten through or finished at Penn State without being a part of the Chaiken or McNair scholar programs.” Jordan co-founded the Black Science Coalition and Institute and co-hosts the B-Scientists podcast. He is also a doctoral candidate at Baylor University.
Chapman_Jordan

Who are Gene and Roz Chaiken?

Through the philanthropic leadership of Gene and Roz Chaiken, who are cumulatively the most generous donors in the history of the College of the Liberal Arts, hundreds of undergraduates have been able to afford a Penn State education, and the college’s academic programs have been permanently enhanced.

A 1962 Business Administration graduate, Gene is chairman of the board for Almo Corporation, and Roz is executive vice president of the family business. Gene has served in many volunteer roles with his alma mater, and the Chaikens have been making philanthropic gifts to the University for decades. They chose the Liberal Arts as their initial philanthropic focus to help establish and sustain the Jewish Studies program, and their desire to ease the financial burden on students led them to establish the Gene and Roz Chaiken Trustee Scholarship in 2008, followed in 2013 by the Chaiken Family Trustee Scholarship.

To date, these endowments have resulted in more than 1,000 scholarships—amounting to nearly $6.2 million in student support. In 2019, the Chaikens cemented their position as the University’s largest Trustee Scholarship donors with substantial gifts to enhance their existing endowments. In 2021, the Chaikens established the Roz and Gene Chaiken Center for Student Success. That year, the couple was recognized as Penn State’s Philanthropists of the Year. In December 2021, the Chaikens announced their largest gift to date, a single commitment that dramatically increased the Chaiken Family Trustee Scholarship endowment and covered the balance of their pledges for other student-related funds including the Chaiken Center for Student Success endowment and the Chaiken Centennial Graduate Endowment. As a result of their gift, the Penn State Board of Trustees agreed to name the college’s currently under construction building the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building. 

Gene has been honored as a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus and Alumni Fellow, and in 2013, the college created and presented Roz and Gene with the inaugural Chaiken Leadership Award, which annually recognizes an individual or couple for outstanding generosity. The Chaikens’ genuine warmth and affection for the recipients of their support, as well as their extraordinary philanthropy, will have lasting impact in the College of the Liberal Arts and throughout the Penn State community. 

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Gene and Roz Chaiken with Children
Gene and Roz Chaiken with their children.
Gene and Roz Chaiken
Gene and Roz Chaiken
Gene Chaiken with the Chaiken Scholars
Gene Chaiken with the Chaiken Scholars
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