Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry will receive the prestigious Thayer Award in a ceremony at West Point hosted by the U.S. Military Academy's Association of Graduates on Oct. 16.

Perry is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor at Stanford, with a joint appointment in the School of Engineering and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He also is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-director of the Preventive Defense Project.

Perry was the 19th Secretary of Defense for the United States, serving from February 1994 until January 1997. He also served as deputy secretary of defense from 1993 to 1994 and under secretary of defense for research and engineering from 1977 until 1981.

The Thayer Award, established in honor of Col. Sylvanus Thayer, "Father of the Military Academy," is presented to an outstanding citizen whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify the Military Academy motto, "Duty, Honor, Country." The Association of Graduates has presented the award annually since 1958.

Past recipients of the Thayer Award include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Bob Hope, Neil Armstrong, George Bush, Barbara Jordon, Sandra Day O'Connor, Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Colin Powell and Henry Kissinger. Last year's recipient was Retired Gen. Frederick J. Kroesen, Jr.