At AEI’s annual dinner, which was held on February 15 in Washington, D.C., the Institute honored its president, Christopher C. DeMuth, with the 2000 Francis Boyer Award.

AEI’s Council of Academic Advisers, chaired by the eminent political scientist James Q. Wilson, selects the recipient of the Boyer Award, which recognizes individuals who have made exceptional practical or scholarly contributions to improved government policy or social welfare. Previous winners include Gerald Ford, Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Sowell, and George Will. The pharmaceutical corporation SmithKline Beecham established the annual award in 1977 to honor a former chairman of the firm.