From 2013-2022, Nicholas P. Jones served as Penn State University's Executive Vice President and Provost. As Provost, Dr. Jones was the University's chief academic officer, responsible for the administration of Penn State's broad educational and research programs. His work drove the success of thousands of faculty members and more than 90,000 students at Penn State's 24 campuses and the University's online World Campus.

Prior to that role, Dr. Jones served as the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering and previously as Professor and Chairman of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He also served for two years as Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In January 2023 he returned to Illinois where he was appointed as the Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of Illinois System.

Dr. Jones holds an M.S and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and previously earned his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Consideration for this award is given to University faculty members who exhibit the attributes that Dr. Jones brought to his role as Executive Vice President and Provost for the University: Integrity; Loyalty; Human-centered leadership; Academic excellence; and/or Impact.

All nominees must have spent a minimum of 5 years as a faculty member at Penn State prior to receiving consideration for this award. The award is $1000 and will be provided to the winner to use as funding in their work.

Candidates for this award are nominated by a Dean, Chancellor, or their designee. The nominator must identify at least three of the attributes listed above which are visibly present in the nominee. The nominator will also submit a digital copy of the nominee's CV and the email addresses of 2 additional individuals who can speak to the presence of the attributes in the nominee. Each year, each college or campus is able to nominate one person.