Carleton University student May Chazan is one of 15 doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences to be awarded a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship worth up to $200,000 each. While the focus of the Scholars research varies widely – from homelessness, to post- 9/11 international law to photography and culture in native communities – each supports the Foundation’s goal of providing citizens of Canada and the world with a deeper experience of, and commitment to, democracy.
“Each year we search for young, influential minds capable of generating public discussion on important Canadian and global topics in a fresh way,” said Roy L. Heenan, Chairman of the Board of the Trudeau Foundation. “This new class of extraordinary Trudeau Scholars is destined for great things,and we are proud to support them in their diverse and fascinating pursuits.”
Chazan is undertaking her PhD in Geography and her research on South Africa examines the dynamics between Canadian agencies and local women’s responses to AIDS. She just returned from five weeks in South Africa last night.
Her commitment to working for social justice is reflected in her long history of activism, teaching, and research. At five she boycotted factory-farmed meat; at 15 she launched a student newspaper. She has facilitated leadership groups with street kids, participated in cancer, mental illness, and AIDS support groups, and taught at-risk students.
In 2004, The Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa hosted May as a visiting scholar. After this experience, she said: “The AIDS epidemic in southern Africa is not a random event. It is a result of historical, social, economic and political factors. Six million people are predicted to die in the next two years in the region. If this were happening in Canada, the U.S., or Europe, would the international community not do something more quickly and more directly?”
“I am extremely honoured to be awarded one of this year’s scholarships. Being part of the Foundation will bring visibility to the issue I am working on, which I feel is such an important matter of global concern, and one which still does not receive the attention it requires.”
“The 2006 Trudeau Scholars are pre-eminent young thinkers and scholars in the human sciences, and they are all at the top of their game,” said Professor Stephen J. Toope, President of the Trudeau Foundation. “Through this scholarship programme, our goal is to encourage some of the world’s most promising future leaders to contemplate and address the bigger issues affecting our society and our future.”
Created in 2003, the Trudeau Foundation Scholarship programme awards the largest scholarships in Canada for doctoral studies in the social sciences and humanities. The Foundation annually awards up to 15 exceptional students $35,000 per year for up to four years, plus up to an additional $15,000 annually each to support research-related travel.
About the Trudeau Foundation
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation establishes a unique dialogue between outstanding scholars in the social sciences and humanities, and creative individuals with an interest in issues of public policy in government, the professions, business, the arts, and the voluntary sector.
Well beyond funding research, the Foundation’s goal is to generate and enhance public debate on society’s major issues and to provide citizens of Canada and the world with a deeper experience of, and commitment to, democracy.
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For more information:
May Chazan
mchazan@connect.carleton.ca
Lin Moody
Media Relations
Carleton University
(613) 520-2600 ext. 8705
Tuesday, June 6, 2006 in News Releases
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