P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund (IPS) was established in 1949 to provide scholarships for international women students to pursue graduate study in the United States and Canada.  Listed below is a timetable of the history of IPS.

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A Brief History of the IPS Fund

1919 At Convention of Supreme Chapter in Denver, Colorado, Franc Roads Elliot introduces a peace resolution stating "We P.E.O. women would join hands in any movement looking toward the abolishment of war."

1942 P.E.O.’s United Victory Fund is created for the Red Cross during World War II.

1943 A four-member committee is appointed to study financially assisting foreign students in the form of a P.E.O. project.

1945-47 At the Convention of Supreme Chapter, Emily Baldwin recommends that the existing Education Fund include loans to foreign students for study in the U.S. and Canada and that foreign students at Cottey be considered for Cottey Scholarships. Three loans are awarded to foreign women – one from China, one from Yugoslavia and a Japanese student from Hawaii. This is the advent of awards to International women from P.E.O.

1949 First international scholarships are awarded to Kristi Jaantilla of Finland and Margretta Alder of Switzerland using money from the P.E.O. Victory Fund, which later becomes IPS .

1950 Six scholarships are granted to foreign students.

1951 Cottey College welcomes its first IPS recipient, Emily Boumeester of The Netherlands. Scholarships are still awarded through the United Victory Fund.

1951-53 Number of awards granted increases to 50.

1951-54 International Scholarships are renamed International Peace Scholarships.

1959 At the Convention of Supreme Chapter, the International Peace Scholarships program is granted status as a project, and its name becomes the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund. The United Victory Fund is terminated.

1961 IPS reaches the same status as other projects when the Constitution is amended to provide for a board of trustees to oversee the fund.

1968 Designated awards are created, bringing P.E.O.s closer to the spirit of IPS.

1979 Paula "PJ" Jorgenson, W, Virginia designs and introduces the first IPS logo.

2001 Named International Peace Scholarship is created. This is a one-time scholarship given to a top student from gifts of individuals, chapters or collected contributions equaling the amount of an IPS scholarship. Cottey College graduates are allowed to apply for one additional IPS Scholarship during graduate study.

2005 International Peace Scholarship is increased to $8000 for international graduate students and $4000 for international Cottey students.

2007 A record amount given of $1,754,000 is awarded to 232 students, the sixth year in a row that awards totaled over one million dollars.

2008 Amount of award is increased to $10,000 for the award year 2009-2010. $500 is the new amount for sponsorship of a Designated Award student. New logo design introduced by International and banners distributed to each state/province/district for use as convention displays.

2009 60th Anniversary of IPS is celebrated with a commemorative booklet given out at Convention of International Chapter in San Diego.

2013 Designated Awards becomes the Partners in Peace Program. Cottey IPS scholarships are increased to $5000.

2015 To date, IPS has awarded $34,974,613 to 7217 women from around the world.

Oct 2015