Letter From ACHF Chair Michael Huey, MD
Greetings College Health and Well-Being Colleagues:
As we enter into this season of giving thanks, I find myself reflecting on how fortunate we all are to be caregivers. We are part of the workforce that wakes up every morning and spends the day helping others. We join teachers, first responders, hospital staff, social services workers, scientists, service industry workers, and people in a myriad of other professions where the daily goal is not to simply accumulate wealth. Our goal is to use our knowledge and our gifts to make life better for the people around us. We each play a part, and we work hard every day to “pay it forward.” As a result, the benefits from our contributions to the well-being of others multiply and compound year over year.
As you will read in this edition of Impact, in October your American College Health Foundation received the largest single gift in its history. Our colleague, Stephan Weiss, PhD, and his Stephan D. Weiss Foundation have pledged in excess of $2 million over the next 10 years to ACHF to support college student mental health and well-being. There is also a legacy (planned) gift component. This level of generosity is both astonishing and humbling.
2025 has been quite a year for your Foundation. The $75,000 ACHF grant to the HBCU National College Health Assessment research consortium has begun to generate data, and our hope is to add additional schools in future years. The Annual ACHF Awards and Scholarships recognized and funded colleagues as they make important contributions to the field of college health and well-being. Once again, ACHF provided funding for the New Orleans annual meeting at the highest level of sponsorship (Premier Level).
Over the next six weeks, through Giving Tuesday and year-end giving, ACHF is challenging itself to raise an additional $13,000 to reach our 2025 individual donor fundraising goal. Why on earth, you say to yourself, do they need a gift from me in the face of such generosity from Dr. Weiss and other major donors? The answer is simple, although not necessarily obvious. ACHF is a member foundation, built upon the individual gifts from our ACHA community. ACHA now has 13,000 members, and if each member gave $1 before the end of the year, we would reach our 2025 individual donor goal. If each gave $6, we would have enough to fund a second round of the HBCU NCHA research project. If each gave $10 … well, you get the idea. Each individual gift, regardless of size, makes an impact, and each individual gift pays it forward
Have a lovely Thanksgiving and Holiday Season filled with family, friends and well-deserved rest.
Michael Huey, MD, FACHA
Chair, American College Health Foundation Board of Directors
Emory University School of Medicine and Student Health Services (retired)
Consultant, ACHA College Health and Wellness Consulting
mhuey@emory.edu
Donor Spotlight: 10 Questions with Stephan D. Weiss, PhD
Dr. Stephan D. Weiss is an ACHF board member and an avid supporter of the ACHF since his years as a graduate student. Most recently, he founded the Stephan D. Weiss, PhD, Mental Health Fund for Higher Education with ACHF, the Foundation’s largest individual gift in ACHF history. He also has two additional funds that support student mental health and well-being: The Stephan D. Weiss Student Mental Health Award and the Weiss Writing Prize. Learn more about what motivates Dr. Weiss deep commitment to philanthropy and the ACHF.
UW-Madison Pilot Uses ACHF Funds to Make Health and Wellness Education Accessible
In 2024, the ACHF TKoster’s Charitable Innovative Health Care Award helped provide crucial financial funding for University Health Services (UHS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to implement a peer-led pilot program aimed at expanding culturally-concordant care and counteracting structural inequities in campus healthcare. Read more about the impact the program is having and how ACHF support helped make it possible.
ACHF Now Accepting Applications for 2026 Scholarships and Awards
The ACHF Call for Applications for the 2026 awards cycle is open! Applications are due January 15, 2026.
Funding Eligibility: All ACHF funding opportunities are available exclusively to ACHA Institutional or Individual Members. Exceptions to this are applicants who work or attend an ACHA Member Institution and are sponsored by the Representative Member at that institution (RMIs).
The Legacy Society Welcomes New Members
The Foundation has received several generous estate gifts from long-time members who wish to perpetuate the Foundation’s mission. We acknowledge our Legacy Society members and welcome Gary MacLachlan and Stephan D. Weiss.
Leaving a legacy gift to ACHF is easy and you don’t have to be wealthy to do it. A gift through your will, trust, life insurance policy, or retirement account will keep our programs alive and show how much you care for the future college communities.
Planned giving is a way to make a meaningful contribution today without providing an immediate financial donation. This approach to giving is “planned” because the assets are generally transferred via a will or other written means.
A steady stream of planned gifts allows ACHF to confidently fund long-term initiatives, expand services, and pursue larger scale projects like the 2025 pilot research project in the amount of $75,000 to Historically Black Colleges and Universities Health Equity Data Consortium (HBCU HEDC) to assess health and wellness among students at participating HBCUs.
Our Legacy Society members are empowered to create a lasting legacy that reflects their values and passion for student health and well-being. To join the ACHF Legacy Society, please download the Declaration of Intent Form.
American College Health Foundation Receives Major Donation from the Stephan D. Weiss Foundation
The American College Health Foundation (ACHF) established the Stephan D. Weiss, PhD, Mental Health Fund for Higher Education, following a record $2+ million commitment from the Stephan D. Weiss Foundation over the next decade. The fund will support research and programming to improve student mental health and wellness in higher education. This is the largest individual gift in ACHF history.
Awardees of ACHF Grants Showcase Innovation in Vaccine Coverage on Campus
In August, American College Health Foundation selected eight campuses to receive funding through its Increasing Campus Vaccine Coverage (ICVC) initiative. Made possible through financial support from Pfizer, these campuses showcase creative, student-centered strategies to increase immunization rates, particularly for HPV and meningococcal vaccines, while reducing barriers and promoting long-term wellness.
Monthly Giving: Your Consistent Support, a Student’s Constant Well-Being
At the Foundation, we are focused on ensuring that we continue to fuel innovation and rectitude in student wellness—supporting transformative projects, mini-grants, educational programming, and professional development that shape the future of college health.
Are you aware that you can craft your own meaningful planned gift with us? Monthly, biweekly, quarterly and annual gifts afford you the opportunity to give more overtime. You allow the Foundation to receive reliable, predictable stream of funding that ensures ongoing, immediate support for our well-being outreach.
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