The 4th annual Health and Human Development Affiliate Program Group Golf Challenge, held at Penn State Golf Courses last fall, raised more than $10,000 for the Marshall Raffel and Stanley P. Mayers Undergraduate Student Learning Fund. This 2021 event was coordinated by the Health Policy and Administration Affiliate Program Group.
The tournament consisted of 60 golfers across 15 teams with members from a variety of alumni Affiliate Program Groups across the College of Health and Human Development, including Health Policy and Administration, Kinesiology, Biobehavioral Health, Penn State Hotel and Restaurant Society, and Professional Golf Management. Key sponsors for the event included Aetna, Magellan Health, Geisinger, the Quell Foundation and Neuroflow. In addition, students from the college had the opportunity to volunteer at the event and network with alumni from various businesses and organizations.
The Marshall Raffel and Stanley P. Mayers Undergraduate Student Learning Fund supports co-curricular student activities outside of the classroom including case competitions, health care conferences, and engaged learning and professional development activities for undergraduate students.
The fund was established in memory of Marshall Raffel and Stanley P. Mayers.
Raffel, who died in 2017, was invited to Penn State in 1968 to serve as director of the Division of Biological Health in the then College of Human Development with responsibilities for Nutrition and Nursing, and to develop a new program in Health Planning and Administration (later, Health Policy and Administration) recruiting faculty and developing the curriculum. He secured a five-year training grant to seed the development of this new program. In 1972, he assumed full-time responsibilities for teaching and research in Department of Health Policy and Administration. His research focused on the health services of the United States, and later on the health services of other countries.
Mayers was co-founder of Penn State’s undergraduate program in HPA, along with Raffel. He retired after a distinguished 26-year career with Penn State. Mayers served as the head of the Department of Health Policy and Administration for nine years and in roles as associate dean for undergraduate studies and associate dean for academic studies in the College of Health and Human Development.
Learn more about the Health and Human Development Affiliate Program Groups.
Support for the Marshall Raffel and Stanley P. Mayers Undergraduate Student Learning Fund will advance "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence," a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections. With the support of alumni and friends, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.