November 17, 2025
As famed Pittsburgher Fred Rogers once said, “All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world.”
At SCI, this ethos rings true through the SCI Mentorship Program, created by the SCI Alumni Board in 2022 to help students build networks and receive career guidance, and to provide alumni with an opportunity to give back.
“Mentors have often gone through the same obstacles as current students, including the same coursework, navigating stressful application processes, and finding their place in the technological world,” said Jonathan Hanobik (CS ’18, ’23G), a software engineer at DICK’s Sporting Goods and chair of the SCI Alumni Board mentorship committee.
The cycle of the mentorship program is meant to be mutually beneficial: alumni assist current students in bringing their talents to the world and preparing for careers after college, and students are able to seek advice, ask questions, and expand their professional networks, all in an accepting environment that welcomes curiosity and prioritizes both professional and personal growth.
“By increasing the depth of their network, SCI students increase their odds of success both during their time at Pitt and beyond,” Hanobik said, acknowledging that in an ever-changing technological landscape, relationship building is crucial to student success.
The SCI Mentorship Program is relatively young – after its launch in 2022, the program was led by SCI Alumni Board members Chris Caruso (CS ’81) and Amelius Carillo (IS ’13). Each year, the program continues to grow and build upon previous iterations.
“One way in which the program has grown is strictly in the number of mentees and mentors: the 2025-2026 SCI Mentorship Program boasts 102 pairings consisting of 164 total members!” Hanobik said. “In the past, students have asked for mentors who can help them on both their academic and career journeys. This is why 50% of the current mentor pool consists of graduates from the current decade.”
Another instance of the program’s evolution comes from embracing the Pitt Commons platform, which allowed the SCI Alumni Board to highlight the mentorship program as an enriching resource with a clear framework of goals and objectives.
Mentors in the program represent every aspect of SCI, from software engineers and data scientists to library services managers and business consultants, showcasing the variety of pathways in the computing, library, and information fields to current students still early in their academic and professional careers.
Some of SCI's corporate partners are also represented in the mentorship program, including Deloitte, DICK’s Sporting Goods, and UPMC, as well as other organizations like Amazon/AWS.
“The cross-section of careers and companies should hopefully attract any student looking to connect based on their desired academic journey,” Hanobik encourages.
As a mentor in the inaugural version of the SCI Mentorship Program, Hanobik knows both sides of the experience well. As he puts it, “I find mentorship rewarding because it allows me to provide guidance and confidence in students. Having been a student just a few years ago, I know the benefits a mentor provides while navigating classes and careers in college.”
Hanobik also notes how the mentorship program is a perfect encapsulation of SCI’s vision: Together transforming lives for a better digital future, from our community to the world.
“[The program utilizes] the talents and perspectives of the alumni to better serve each new generation of technologists at Pitt. Each student who graduates from SCI goes into the world to tackle interesting, challenging, and transformative problems,” he said.
In recognizing common threads between SCI graduates, the mentorship program truly brings the past and present of SCI together. Hanobik also is confident in the role alumni play in the future of SCI.
“Working together, alumni can help guide and transform the journeys of current students as they prepare to make their mark on the world shortly after graduating,” Hanobik said, maintaining that initiatives like mentorship programs drive these changes.
To learn more about the SCI Mentorship Program, visit the program page through Pitt Commons. The application window for mentors is June through September; the window for student mentees is August through September.