Barbara A. Mandel, P’73

Barbara Mandel, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, attended Harvard University’s Radcliffe College and Flora Stone Mather College of Case Western Reserve University, from which she received a BA.

She was elected to the Brandeis University Board of Trustees in 2005. She is currently a vice chair of the board; a co-chair of the Institutional Advancement Committee; and a member of the Nominating and Governance, and Coordination committees.

Her leadership within national and international organizations is wide-ranging. At the National Council of Jewish Women, she has been both president of the Cleveland section and national president. She has served as chair of leadership development at Project Renewal and campaign co-chair at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

In addition, Mandel has been president of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, and honorary chair and deputy chair of the board of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from which she has received an honorary degree. She has also been the national vice president of the Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal, and was formerly chair of the board of trustees of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum.

She has received the Hannah G. Solomon Award from the National Council of Jewish Women and has been inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

Brandeis’ Mandel Center for the Humanities, which deepens the university’s humanities scholarship, and strengthens students’ knowledge and critical thinking across many disciplines, was established by a generous gift from Morton and Barbara Mandel. The Mandel Center auditorium is dedicated in her honor.