The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announces the launch of the Peer Mentoring Center (PMC). The center, staffed entirely by current undergraduate students in the Siebel School, was created to help build community and a supportive environment among student peers.
Opening Monday, October 6, 2025, and running Mondays and Tuesdays, 5-8 pm, and Wednesdays, 6-8 pm, the PMC mentors will help prepare students to approach course staff, identify student organizations that may be of interest, and share personal experience regarding internships, undergraduate research, and other out-of-classroom experiences. Mentors will also provide direction to other school and campus resources.
Creators Nancy Amato, Siebel School director, and Yael Gertner, teaching associate professor and iCAN associate director, saw a need to fill this crucial gap at the school.
We want our students to have a space where they feel supported and can learn about resources via their peers that they may not be aware of.
—Nancy Amato director of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
Amato and Gertner stress that the PMC is not a tutoring program and that the mentors do not provide the same assistance students would get from a CA or TA. They add that the PMC does not replace the official advice of advisors at the Siebel School.