The Perry Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2017 William J. Perry Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education. The Center will honor Dr. Marcos Pablo Moloeznik, Professor at the University of Guadalajara, and the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada of Bogotá, Colombia.
The Perry Award, named after former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. William J. Perry, is awarded annually to individuals and organizations in recognition of their significant educational contributions to the field of security and defense studies. Awardees were selected amongst a competitive pool of nominations, showcasing their commitment to and achievements in education, knowledge-sharing, and research on hemispheric security.
As an educator and a scholar at the University of Guadalajara, Dr. Marcos Pablo Moloeznik has dedicated his career to educating students around the world on the principles and practice of public security and human rights.
Throughout the past 35 years, the New Granada Military University (Universidad Militar Nueva Granada – UNMG) has been a leader in educating students with military, police, and civilian backgrounds on interagency and international cooperation to tackle shared regional challenges.
The ceremony will also recognize Mr. John “Jay” Cope, Founding Director of the Perry Center, who will be presented the 2017 William J. Perry Legacy Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education. Mr. Cope led a distinguished career in the United States Army for 30 years prior to retiring. In 1997, at the request of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he designed the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS), later renamed after Secretary of Defense William J. Perry. Since that time, Mr. Cope has continued convene dialogues among policymakers, practitioners, and academics, as well as research contemporary issues related to defense cooperation in the Americas.
The individual and institutional awardees, along with the legacy awardee, will be recognized at a ceremony on September 21, 2017 at 2:00PM at the Perry Center. This event will also be recorded and broadcast live (with simultaneous English / Spanish interpretation) on Livestream.
