Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success expands support for undergrads

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success, housed in Undergraduate Education, has expanded its mission and support for University Park’s undergraduates through academic coaching, a school supplies closet and first-generation community-building. 

The center helped thousands of Penn State undergraduates last academic year, including distribution of 1,500 basic school supplies to 450 students in the first year of the program. As the new home of the Learning Edge Academic Program, it helped to welcome more than 1,750 new Penn Staters to campus during Summer Session II. Its nine professional staff conducted more than 220 hours of coaching to students in need of academic support.  

Kelly Griffith, director of the Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success, said staff are tailoring programs to the evolving needs of college students in a rapidly changing landscape. 

“Penn State has been focused on the success of its students for a long time and as student needs evolve, so must our efforts to support them,” Griffith said. “Staff at the center are committed to responding to these evolving needs through individualized support, essential skill-building and advocacy. Collaboration and helping students connect with the University’s support services is an integral part of our work.” 

Any undergraduate at the University Park campus can visit the center for academic support, help finding University resources or help adjusting to college life. Students can schedule a meeting with a center team member or a peer success coach at success.psu.edu, or drop in to 325 Boucke Building from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Success from start to finish 

In 2024, the Student Success Center merged with the Office for Summer Session and was renamed the Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success in recognition of the contributions of Roz and Gene Chaiken. Since then, the center’s focus has been to provide proactive support and tailored interventions to help undergraduate students develop essential college success skills, navigate academic transition and foster a sense of connection and belonging.  

The center’s services are organized around helping students develop skills in these areas: 

• Time management and organization 
• Academic skills 
• Goal setting and follow-through 
• Motivation and procrastination 
• Balancing life and academics 
• Resource navigation 
• Confidence and mindset 
• Community belonging 
• Self-discovery 

A keystone program for the center is Academic Success Coaching, where undergraduates can meet one-on-one with certified academic life coaches. Coaches help students identify their strengths, establish positive systems and routines that will work for them, and address challenges they are facing on the path to holistic success. Any undergraduate at the University Park campus can schedule a meeting with a peer success coach, trained undergraduates who help with time management, navigating campus and transitioning to life as a college student.  

Academic and peer success coaching will feel familiar to students who attended the Learning Edge Academic Program (LEAP) the summer before the start of their first fall semester. LEAP marked 30 years in 2025 and has evolved to meet the changing needs of students, with a focus on helping incoming students develop the skills necessary for long-term success at Penn State. 

Izzy Tinney, a Penn State junior majoring in biomedical engineering, first received academic success coaching from the center during her sophomore year, as she was grappling with courses like CHEM 112 and navigating ADHD. Originally from New York, New York, Tinney went to a performing arts high school, and said she didn’t have much confidence in her STEM skills when starting at Penn State. A fusion of grit and the strategies learned from coaching helped her through a particularly tough semester. 

“It was the first time that I’ve ever been able to definitively say that I was proud of myself academically for what I've done, for the work that I put in,” Tinney said. “I still remember that finals week to this day, of me studying for CHEM 112 and how much sheer effort that I put into it.

“The entire center has really changed my academic career,” she added. “I literally I don't know where I would be. I don't know if I would still be in my major if it wasn't for them.” 

Now Tinney gets to teach the same strategies to other Penn State undergraduates as an academic success coach and a LEAP peer success coach. She said no one should feel embarrassed for seeking help, and those who have strong skills in some areas could still benefit from academic success coaching. 

“I would be very sad if I found out that somebody didn’t come to the Chaiken Center because they thought that they would be judged, or the advice that we would give them wouldn't work, or something like that," Tinney said.

Bringing the first-generation community together 

Each year, the Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success invites students, staff, faculty and alumni who were or will be the first college students in their family to the First-Generation College Celebration at Penn State. Partnering with groups like First-Gen Advocates, the center provides a community night open to the entire first-gen community, as well as a HUB-Robeson Center takeover and tabling event, this year during the week of Nov. 3-7. 

In the spring, the center organizes the University-wide First-Gen Student Support Summit, which brings together Penn State staff, educators and administrators to explore strategies on how to best serve the unique needs of the first-gen population.  

The center also supports the Eta Psi chapter of Tri-Alpha, a national honor society for first-generation students. At University Park, Tri-Alpha inducted its first class of 74 in April 2024 and another class of 93 in April 2025.  

Marola Anes, a fourth-year student majoring in biology with a minor in child maltreatment and advocacy studies, was one of the students inducted last spring. Anes is a first-generation student and previous LEAP student and LEAP peer success coach (formerly known as LEAP mentors). She is part of a flourishing community of first-gen students at the University Park campus who are eager to meet others facing similar circumstances and challenges. 

“It definitely helps connect you with so many people, and you can relate with them,” Anes said of the center. “And they also provide so many resources. They help connect you with anyone you want. And then, if you're struggling like they'll coach you and guide you to the right place.” 

How to support School Supplies for Student Success 

The popularity of School Supplies for Student Success means the center is constantly restocking the supply closet at 325 Boucke. Since the start of the fall semester, more than 400 students have visited the main supply location in Boucke. To learn more about how to support the center, visit success.psu.edu.