Nancy Handel's generous gift will help support Krannert's more than 100 approved study abroad programs, which include short term programs. semester-length programs and even year-long opportunities. (Photo provided)
Global Giving
Alumna’s gift will expose students to new cultures
Fall 2016
By Eric Nelson
In both her lifetime and a 34-year career as a finance executive, Nancy Handel (BSIM ’72) has traveled the globe.
“I had the opportunity to make my first trip abroad when I was 17, spending eight weeks in Italy as a Latin scholar through a statewide competition,” Handel says. “It changed my life and exposed me to another culture, another language and another history.”
Now, she’s extending the same opportunity to students through her recent establishment of the Nancy Handel Study Abroad Scholarship, a gift that will provide $50,000 in funding per year for a period of three years to support study abroad programs in the Krannert School.
Her gift comes from a still-fervent belief that people need to experience different ways of life. “The world is a small place shared by many diverse communities,” she says. “We can gain greater appreciation for both the diversity and the similarities through personal exposure to other countries and cultures.”
Handel has continued to travel — and learn — throughout her life.
“My work as a finance executive provided the opportunity to travel to Europe and Asia. My retirement has allowed me the opportunity to visit many more places,” says Handel, who continues to serve others through her involvement with numerous nonprofit and community- based organizations.
“I think the concept of a global village has never been truer than it is today. The goal of my financial support is to allow more young people to experience our global diversity firsthand.”
Handel spent the final 22 years of her career at Applied Materials Inc., where she rose to serve as chief financial officer of the $10 billion company.
She was responsible for such global functions as treasury, tax, new business development, corporate accounting, external financial reporting, financial aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, investor relations and operations finance, as well as product groups and regions worldwide.
Handel, who also endows an academic scholarship that has benefited more than 100 Krannert students, was named in 2006 as one of the “Best CFOs in America” by Institutional Investor magazine.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from Purdue’s Krannert School, an MBA from The Ohio State University and is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program.
Management students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher can apply for the Nancy Handel Study Abroad Scholarship through the Krannert Study Abroad office.
