A Place for Connection and Community
The Roz and Gene Chaiken Center for Student Success is a welcoming and inclusive space for all Liberal Arts students to work, study, and connect with peers and support staff. Learn more about college and University resources or further your academic, personal, and professional goals. The center also serves as a one stop shop for information and questions.
Services include:
- Open study
- College and campus resource connection
- Peer success coaching drop-ins and appointments
- Student success workshops and programming
The Chaiken Center for Student Success, in partnership with our college and University resources, provides undergraduate students with a supportive place to be guided as they navigate their college journey. We empower students to utilize resources, connect with peers and campus communities, cultivate strengths and interests, and advocate for themselves, so they can achieve their individual goals for academic, personal, and professional success.
- 138 and 139 Sparks Building
- chaikencenter@psu.edu
Chaiken Scholars
First-Generation Support
Explore Resources
Peer Mentoring and Coaching
Students can meet with a peer mentor or success coach through the Chaiken Center to get help navigating college and University resources. Our mentors and coaches are experienced Penn State students who help current students, as well as incoming first-year, transfer, and change-of-campus students, connect with the campus community.
When you meet with a peer mentor, they’ll tell you what’s worked for them and impart their wisdom on you. It’s about learning from their experiences. These are meant to be one-off meetings to help you get to know the center and available resources. While peer mentoring is open to all Liberal Arts students, Chaiken Scholars are assigned a peer mentor as part of the Chaiken Scholar First-Year Seminar.
Peer success coaches act as guides, listeners, and motivational partners to undergraduate students in the College of the Liberal Arts. Peer success coaching helps you think about your goals and motivations and provides you with techniques so you can be in the driver’s seat.
Meet with a peer success coach weekly or biweekly during the fall and spring semesters for personalized action plans on these topics and more.
- Goal setting
- Motivational techniques
- Stress management
- Studying strategies
- Time management
Victor Frolenko
Victor is a fourth-year student double majoring in Spanish and Nutritional Sciences with a minor in Neuroscience. He’s a member of the Culinary Medicine Club and Social Dance Club at Penn State.
“I’ve come to love helping everyone with questions because I’ve asked a billion more during my time and really learned a lot. I’m really looking forward to building lasting relationships and having regular meetings with the students I coach.”
Diana Lopez
Diana is a second-year student majoring in Psychology and double minoring in Spanish and Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies. Diana is a McNair Scholar, hotline counselor at Centre Helps, and ESL tutor volunteer at Mid-State Literacy Council.
“My first year in college as a first-generation student was extremely overwhelming. It was difficult navigating academics, involvement, and socialization all on my own. I can understand what it is like to feel when you are struggling and do not know where to go. Students should not have to navigate these issues and struggle by themselves. As a peer success coach, I help students in all aspects of student life.”
Laci Moore
Laci is a third-year student double majoring in Criminology and Psychology. Laci is involved in the Legal Empowerment Brigade within Penn State Global Brigades and Blue & White Society.
“I was deeply impacted by my peer mentor. She was a great support system since my first year. She inspired me to apply for this job so I can help others. I enjoy being part of students’ support system and guiding them to success within the college.”
Abby Fusaro
Abby is a third-year student majoring in Criminology and minoring in Psychological Science. Abby is a member of the Justice Association.
“I love helping other people and coming up with ways to make their lives a little less stressful. I enjoy showing students a new technique or skill that could benefit them in their daily lives.”
Alena Kolesar
Alena is a second-year student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Journalism. Alena is a member of the Student Programming Association (SPA) and Art Club at Penn State, as well as a teaching assistant for PSYCH 100 and an orientation leader for New Student Orientation.
“I became a peer mentor to help students gain the best experience out of college and develop skills and habits that will help them throughout their whole life. I enjoy helping students grow and become the best versions of themselves.”
Igor Latsanych
Igor is a fourth-year student majoring in International Politics and minoring in Business and the Liberal Arts. He’s president of the Ukrainian Student Society, vice president of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), director of outreach for the Association of Residence Hall Students (ARHS), treasurer of the Rifle Club, and a member of Pi Sigma Alpha at Penn State.
“Since my years in high school, I dedicated much of my time to speaking and helping others through academic and motivational troubles. While I am still learning, I have accumulated a lot over the years, which I hope to utilize when building a support network for anyone who enters 139 Sparks Building. I can’t wait to begin our journey to achieve YOUR definition of success!”
Cameryn Allen
Cameryn is a fourth-year student majoring in Psychology. Cameryn is an undergraduate research ambassador, the student liaison on the Liberal Arts Alumni Society Board of Directors, and a Liberal Arts First-Generation Committee member.
“I chose to become a peer mentor to help students find resources that I wish I knew of earlier in my college career. I look forward to connecting with students one-on-one to offer emotional and academic assistance.”
Sammy Vaillancourt
Sammy (she/her) is a fourth-year student majoring in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship and triple minoring in Psychology, Art, and Sustainability Leadership. Sammy is an active member of Queer Business Leaders, Penn State Outing Club, Fashion Society at Penn State, and Student Farm at Penn State.
“I chose to become a peer success coach so that I could help others toward personal and academic success. That ‘ah ha’ moment of helping a peer solve or find a new solution to a pressing problem is my favorite.”
Camren Boyogueno
Camren is a third-year student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biology. Camren is the co-pageant director of the Caribbean Student Association.
“I chose to become a peer mentor because my peer mentor through my first and second year of college was so helpful in all aspects of what college life is. I enjoy being the same type of guiding light for my mentees.”
A Collaborative and Innovative Space
First-Generation Support
What is a First-Generation Student? Being a first-gen student means that your parent(s) did not complete a 4-year college or university degree, regardless of other family member’s level of education. If you have more questions about whether you may be a First-Generation student, check out Are You A First-Generation Student?
The Chaiken Center hosts celebrations for National First-Generation College Celebration week, workshops, alumni speakers, and cultivates leadership and community through our First-Generation College Committee.
Other ways we support our first-generation students are with a First-Generation graduation stoles and funding opportunities for internships, education abroad, undergraduate research, and professional development and graduate school application and preparation fees. Contact Patty Klug, Director, at pfk5256@psu.edu for more information.
Chaiken Scholars
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.
Who are Gene and Roz Chaiken?
Gene (class of 1962) and Roz Chaiken’s love story began when they met at summer camp in 1959. They married in 1963 and have been supporting Penn State ever since, becoming the largest scholarship donors—and second-most generous benefactors overall—in University history along the way.
Their first major gift was in 1989, when they joined forces with Gene’s brother, Sheldon, and his wife, Gail, to endow the Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies in the College of the Liberal Arts. They followed that gift with other philanthropic contributions to the Jewish Studies program, often encouraging other Liberal Arts benefactors to join them.
Perhaps their most significant contributions came when Roz, concerned with the rising cost of Penn State tuition, said she wanted to do something that would directly benefit students. The Penn State Trustee Scholarship Program offered the perfect solution; they decided to establish the Gene and Roz Chaiken Trustee Scholarship in 2008, followed in 2013 by the Chaiken Family Trustee Scholarship. In 2021, they created the Roz and Gene Chaiken Center for Student Success in the College of the Liberal Arts—a center designed to provide students with the resources, programming, and other support needed to help them succeed in their studies. A subsequent gift in 2024 led to the naming of four additional Chaiken Centers across the University.
Gene is a former member of the Penn State Board of Trustees and the Liberal Arts Development Council. He has received several honors from the University and the college for his leadership, philanthropy, and service. In honor of their legacy at Penn State and inspiring students to lead meaningful, generous lives, Gene and Roz were named Penn State Philanthropists of the Year in 2021. In recognition of their transformational 2021 gift that cemented their legacy as the largest scholarships donors in Penn State history, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved Gene and Roz’s request to name the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building (which opened in January 2025) in honor of their friend who served as dean of the College of the Liberal Arts from 1991 to 2019.