Former Secretary of Defense and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon E. Panetta will receive this year’s Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service in a ceremony to be held in Spokane.
The annual award, bestowed by Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service, recognizes individuals who have demonstrated integrity and courage in their commitment to public service and whose body of work has had a lasting impact. The criteria for selection include the attributes of ethical leadership and integrity, a belief in bipartisanship and finding the common good, and a commitment to democratic values.
“Secretary Panetta has a long and distinguished history of public service, and has worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations,” said Cornell Clayton, director of the Foley Institute. “His illustrious career includes directorship of the Office for Civil Rights during the Nixon administration, 17 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, directorship of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and White House Chief of Staff for the Clinton administration.”
In 2009, he was nominated to be Director of the CIA by President Obama, where he served until 2011 when he was appointed as Secretary of Defense and confirmed by a unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate. Secretary Panetta has remained extremely active in public service and is currently Chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University, Monterey Bay.
The ceremony, set for April 24 at the John J. Hemmingson Center on the Gonzaga University campus in Spokane, also serves as a fundraiser for the Foley Institute. The exclusive premier sponsors of the event are Dr. Edmund O. Schweitzer and Mrs. Beatriz Schweitzer, with The Spokesman-Review serving as the media sponsor, and additional sponsorship provided by Avista.
The award ceremony will feature a seated dinner with options for the purchase of tickets and sponsoring tables. Secretary Panetta will provide a keynote speech, followed by a question and answer section.
The Foley Institute was established at WSU in 1995 to honor the lifetime of service by Thomas S. Foley. A Spokane native who represented the citizens of the 5th congressional district for 30 years, Foley served as the 49th Speaker of the House of Representatives and later served as U.S. ambassador to Japan. He remains the highest elected official ever to hail from Washington State. The institute’s mission is to recognize his extraordinary legacy of public service and his belief that democracy requires an educated and informed public. Since its inception, the institute has developed a reputation for quality educational programs and engaging young people in public service.
Please contact the Foley Institute for more information about the event, or to purchase tickets: tsfoley@wsu.edu | (509) 335 3477.
