It’s difficult to know exactly how students feel when they open a financial aid letter. Relief? Validation? Joy? Possibly…disbelief? No matter the reaction, when a scholarship is added into the mix, that sense of excitement is amplified tenfold. 

For Nanci Benedetti Cirone, '70, there is no greater delight than rewarding students who have worked diligently to make their college dreams a reality. 

From 1980 to her retirement in 2007, Cirone worked at Dartmouth Medical School (now the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College) as the director of financial aid. She worked tirelessly to support students by determining their eligibility for loans, scholarships, and financial assistance. 

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Photo of donor Nanci Cirone '70
Nanci Cirone '70

 

Today, Cirone is continuing to cultivate philanthropic support at her alma mater in the form of a planned estate gift. Along with her husband, the Honorable Albert "Al" Cirone, to whom she has been married for more than fifty-one years, Cirone has endowed a scholarship to support students studying early childhood education. Primary consideration is given to first-generation students with demonstrated financial need from designated communities in northern Berkshire County. 

"College provided us with all the opportunities we have today," said Cirone. "We both feel very strongly about providing access to education for those who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise." 

The Cirones are both first-generation college students. Nanci grew up in the small city of North Adams, Massachusetts, with Al only a few miles south in the town of Adams. Cirone was the youngest of four siblings. She recalls her parents being cautiously optimistic when it came time to broach the topic of higher education. 

"We had very little, as far as finances were concerned," she said. "But, I remember my mother and father saying, 'where there’s a will, there’s a way.'" 

"I loved every minute of it." —Nanci Cirone, on her career in financial aid

Coming from a relatively small community, Cirone immediately found her niche at UMass Amherst. She joined Alpha Chi Omega sorority, where, along with other like-minded young women, she pursued her passion for education and athletics. She graduated with more than a degree in health and physical education; she left Amherst with an abiding sense of community. 

"I’m still in touch with them," Cirone says of her AXO sisters. "Bringing a big university down to a small group, it really added to my experience at UMass." 

Get Up and Move

Sports were the central motif of Cirone's life for the better part of a decade. Following commencement in 1970, she began working as a health and physical education teacher, first in Virginia while Al attended law school, and then in New Hampshire. She coached women's field hockey and boys' and girls' gymnastics, while also introducing K–12 students to lifetime recreation. At the peak of her teaching career she worked with almost 1,000 K–12 students in her school district each week.   

"If you can get moving, no matter what you like to do, it will help with your daily stresses in your personal and professional life," said Cirone. "I was always trying so hard to work with kids who really weren't interested in the idea of moving." 

Transitioning from teaching to financial aid was a tough decision, Cirone said, but she appreciated how she could still make a transformative impact on students' lives. 

Speaking with the Cirones, it's immediately clear that the couple is on the same page when it comes to philanthropic giving, as they seamlessly build on each other's thoughts in the course of a conversation.  

"We think the College of Education at UMass is a tremendous facility," said Al. "You need to get good, qualified people in there to be exposed to the faculty and staff. Teachers are going to have some tremendous rewards, some disappointments, but I believe the rewards will far exceed the disappointments. You're making the world a better place."