The Steven Sotloff Memorial Endowed Fund will provide scholarship support to UCF students majoring in journalism as well as funding for symposia, lectures and other programming to advance journalism and journalism education.
Steven was a journalist who felt compelled to travel to war zones like Libya and Syria. He wanted to give a voice to the voiceless. Steven had a passion for his work. His warm heart, inclusive spirit and unbounded generosity took him to places where few went.
While Steven was in captivity he managed to smuggle out a letter to us stating he wanted to give back. We would like to continue Steven's legacy for generations to come by working with UCF to establish a fund in Steven's honor.
Thank you for your generosity.
Warmest regards,Shirley & Arthur Sotloff
Journalism does not pursue truth in an absolute or philsophical sense, but it can — and must — pursue it in a practical sense, in a way that assembles and verifies facts and where accuracy matters in the inevitable debate and dialogue that characterize a healthy and modern society.
Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. Steven Sotloff was a man who searched for truth and facts in a world with conflicting intellectual, political, social and cultural understandings of the human condition.
His search took him far from his home in south Florida so that he might see, question, understand and ultimately explain to others some of the most complex questions that confront a 21st century journalist.
His untimely death is mourned by his home country and by the UCF community with who he once studied, a community that seeks to honor his courage, his example, and his commitment to the profession of journalism with a named endowed fund in his honor.