Maria Zofia Koc (born 22 August 1964, in

Prudnik Prudnik (, szl, Prudnik, Prōmnik, german: Neustadt in Oberschlesien, Neustadt an der Prudnik, la, Prudnicium) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the ...

) is a Polish politician. She has served in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

since 2014, and as a Deputy Marshal of the Senate since 2015.

Biography

Maria Koc was brought up in Karolewo, near

Węgrów Węgrów is a town in eastern Poland with 12,561 inhabitants (31 December 2003). Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), it is the capital of Węgrów County. History First mentioned in historical records in 1414, Węgrów receive ...

, where she graduated from high school. She holds a degree in

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portma ...

from the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. She has been involved with the Węgrów Cultural Center, and also the Sokolowski Cultural Center in

Sokolow Podlaski As a surname, Sokolow may refer to: * Nahum Sokolow (1859-1936), Jewish Hebrew language writer and Zionist leader * Americans: ** Anna Sokolow (1910 – 2000), dancer and choreographer ** Tobi Sokolow Tobi Sokolow (born July 15, 1942) is an Ameri ...

, of which she served as director between 2001 and 2007. She served as Deputy Mayor of Węgrów between 2007 and 2008. She later served on the Mazowieckie regional council as a representative of the Law and Justice party. In 2011, she unsuccessfully ran for a parliamentary seat in the Siedlce district. In September 2014, she was elected Senator following a by-election in District 47 representing the PiS party, receiving the support of 58% of voters. In 2015, she ran successfully ran for a second term. In November 12 2015, she was elected Deputy Marshal of the Senate. She received the Benemerenti medal.

References

Law and Justice politicians 1964 births Living people People from Prudnik Recipients of the Benemerenti medal Members of the Senate of Poland 2011–2015 Members of the Senate of Poland 2015–2019 Members of the Senate of Poland 2019–2023 Recipients of the Pro Memoria Medal Women members of the Senate of Poland Polish people of Czech descent {{Poland-politician-stub