Irene Sotiroff Scholarship

This scholarship was launched in honour of Irene Sotiroff

Award Overview

Value of the award:
$1,500
Number of awards:
Variable
Award frequency:
Annual
Level or program of study:
Undergraduate
Application Type:
Online Scholarship and Bursaries portal, accessible via uoZone.
Application Deadline:
November 3
Renewable:
No

Purpose of this Award

To award a scholarship to an undergraduate student enrolled in the Faculty of Social Sciences or the Faculty of Education who has demonstrated community leadership and has contributed to issues involving social justice or peace.

Eligibility Criteria

The candidate must:

  1. be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a person with the protected/refugee status or an international student;
  2. be registered as a full-time or part-time student in an undergraduate program at the Faculty of Social Sciences or the Faculty of Education of the University of Ottawa;
  3. be in good academic standing;
  4. demonstrate a contribution to issues involving social justice or peace (through work, volunteering or studies related to poverty, the environment, health, labour movements, civil rights or anti-war protests); and
  5. demonstrate community leadership.

How to Apply

Submitted in the Online Scholarship and Bursaries portal, accessible via uoZone, and must include:

  1. the Curriculum Vitae on Online Scholarships and Bursaries; and
  2. a letter from the applicant (max. 500 words) summarizing their community leadership and contributions to issues involving social justice or peace*
  • through work, volunteering or studies related to poverty, the environment, health, labour movements, civil rights or anti-war protests.

About this Award

This scholarship was launched in honour of Irene Sotiroff by her son, George C. Sotiroff, her daughter, Dr. Svetlana Sotiroff MacDonald, and her four grandsons, University of Ottawa graduates Gregory (BSocSci ’96), Anthony (MD ’12), Stephen (BSocSci ’06) and Philip MacDonald (BEd ’12). Irene Torday Sotiroff was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1912. After studying languages to be a French teacher at Eötvös Loránd University (formerly Pázmány Péter University), she travelled throughout Europe. She was married in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1937, where her daughter Svetlana was born in 1943. In Switzerland, Irene encountered the Quaker Peace Testimony, a doctrine that would inform her personal code. In 1947, she moved to New York, where her husband had secured a position with the United Nations. Following the birth of her son George in 1949, her time in New York was short-lived. Given the family’s Eastern European roots, the political climate around the Korean War and McCarthyism, the family felt compelled to move to Canada in 1952. While living in Kitchener, Ontario, she became a founding member of the Kitchener Area Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Through it, Irene became active in peace work and conflict resolution, including involvement in the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC), the Quaker Committee on Jails and Justice (QCJJ) and the Grindstone Island Peace Centre.  Irene was active in her community and a role model for responsibility, stewardship and excellence in her daily life.