Three-year initiative will equip 17 institutions to better serve neurodivergent students, including those with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia
Atlanta, GA – Sept 1, 2026 – The Associated Colleges of the South (ACS), a consortium of 17 liberal arts colleges and universities across the South, today announced a $447,350 grant from ECMC Foundation to launch a three-year initiative building institutional capacity and evidence-based practices to support neurodivergent learners. The project begins this fall.
The initiative responds to opportunities raised by ACS academic and student affairs leaders. National data show rising numbers of students with autism, ADHD, and other learning differences such as dyslexia enrolling in college, and ACS member campuses are seeing the same trend. Two member institutions, Rollins College (Winter Park, F.L.), and Furman University (Greenville, S.C.), have already developed programs to support neurodivergent learners on their campuses.
“Students are coming to college with a wider range of learning needs, and our colleges want to meet them well,” said Anna Drake Warshaw, President of ACS. “Small liberal arts colleges are built for exactly this kind of personalized support. This grant lets us build that capacity together, faster and more effectively than any one campus could on its own.”
Through the grant, ACS will:
- Deliver a virtual training series in partnership with The Neurodiversity Alliance and the University of Denver’s Learning Effectiveness Program, covering neurodiversity awareness, Universal Design for Learning, inclusive pedagogy, and executive functioning support for faculty and staff across the consortium.
- Fund campus implementation projects through a competitive process, helping member colleges test new approaches or scale proven models, including Furman’s FIND program and Rollins’ NeuroNavigators.
- Develop shared resources, including an online training module for faculty and staff orientation and an open-access toolkit that small colleges everywhere can use to support neurodivergent students.
- Convene a culminating summit bringing together faculty, staff, and student leaders from across the consortium to share findings and resources with the broader higher education field.
All ACS institutions will participate in the training and capacity-building work, with half expected to pursue campus-based pilot projects. ACS will share the tools and lessons from this work with partner consortia and higher education associations nationwide.
“Educating the whole person means paying attention to how each student learns, not just what we teach them,” said Karen Petersen, President of Hendrix College and Chair of the ACS Board. “This initiative reflects what ACS does particularly well: bringing institutions together to learn from one another, strengthen our practices, and better serve the students on our campuses.”
“We are pleased to support ACS in this important work as they equip member institutions to better serve neurodivergent students,” said Sabrina Berg, associate program officer at ECMC Foundation.
About the Associated Colleges of the South
The Associated Colleges of the South is a consortium of 17 nationally recognized colleges and universities working together to advance residential liberal arts education through collaboration and collective innovation in teaching, learning, and student success. ACS members include Agnes Scott College, Berea College, Centenary College of Louisiana, Centre College, Davidson College, Furman University, Hendrix College, Millsaps College, Morehouse College, Rhodes College, Rollins College, Sewanee: The University of the South, Southwestern University, Spelman College, Trinity University, University of Richmond, and Washington and Lee University. Learn more at acsouth.edu.
About ECMC Foundation
ECMC Foundation is a national foundation whose mission is to improve higher education for career success among underserved populations through evidence-based innovation. Its North Star goal is to eliminate gaps in postsecondary completion by 2040. The Foundation pursues this goal through strategic grantmaking and program-related investments focused on removing barriers to postsecondary completion, building the capacity of organizations, institutions and systems, and transforming the postsecondary ecosystem. Learn more at ecmcfoundation.org.