Washington State University will honor former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, who will receive this year’s Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service.
A WSU Insider post Wednesday announced that Panetta will be honored at a dinner ceremony April 24 at Gonzaga University in Spokane. He will deliver the keynote speech during the Foley Institute fundraiser event.
Panetta is a long-time politician and government official.
He worked as the director of the Office of Civil Rights in 1969 for former President Richard Nixon.
He was elected to the U.S. Congress to represent California’s 16th congressional district in 1976 and served until 1993.
Former President Bill Clinton appointed Panetta as the White House’s chief of staff in 1994, and he held the position until 1997.
Panetta was nominated to be director of the CIA in 2009 by former President Barack Obama. He served the role until being appointed as secretary of defense from 2011-13.
He has served as chairperson for the Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University, Monterey Bay since 2013.
The annual Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service is bestowed by WSU’s Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service. It recognizes individuals who have demonstrated ethical leadership and integrity, commitment to democratic values and a belief in bipartisanship.
The WSU institute was established in 1995 to honor Thomas S. Foley, a Spokane native who represented Washington’s 5th congressional district for 30 years and served as the 49th Speaker of the House of Representatives. Foley is the highest elected official to come from Washington State.
The event is sponsored by Edmund and Beatriz Schweitzer, the Spokesman Review and Avista.
