Global Giving
Alumna’s gift exposes students to new cultures
Spring 2019
Krannert School of Management
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.”
She’s extended the same opportunity to students through the Nancy Handel Study Abroad Scholarship, a gift that has provided 170 study abroad opportunities to Krannert students in just three years. Recipients of the scholarship had the unique opportunity to meet their benefactor when Handel visited the Krannert School for an informal talk in early April.
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 136 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.