Purpose: The Keith G. Provan Award was established by the members of the Public and Nonprofit Division (PNP) of the Academy of Management in 2015 to posthumously honor the legacy of excellence that Keith brought to the field. Throughout his career, Keith contributed high level theory that innovated existing fields, and broke open emergent fields in management and public administration. The hallmark of Keith’s work was undoubtedly his contribution to theory building through empirical investigation. His methods were varied and suited the question at hand, but his work always spoke to theory. Additionally, Keith reached into the best available literature to inform his work, not limiting himself to his trained discipline (management) or his adopted one (public administration)—but rather finding insight from an eclectic set of literature and bringing the best knowledge to bear onto his problem of interest. Future recipients’ work should embody these ideals and contribution.
Selection criteria: Recipients should be distinguished contributors to the field of Public Administration and their contribution should:
- Be interdisciplinary in integrating literature from across perspectives
- Contribute substantially to both theory and empirical approaches
- Make a unique and identifiable contribution to knowledge in public administration research
Nomination and selection process: All nominations should be emailed directly to the committee chair, Robin LeMaire at rlemaire@lsu.edu by February 29, 2024. Nominations should include a copy of the nominated individuals’ vita and a statement from the nominator. Self nominations will not be accepted. All nominations will be reviewed by the award committee. The committee will review the nominated individuals’ work to assess their contribution to theory, empiricism, interdisciplinarity, impact of work, and stature in the field.
Award: The award will be given at the Business meeting of the Public and Nonprofit Division at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. The Division is not compelled to make the award every year if a suitable candidate is not available.
Past recipients: Mary Guy, University of Colorado Denver; Martha Feldman, UC Irvine; Rosemary O’Leary, University of Kansas; Hal Rainey, University of Georgia; John Bryson and Barbara Crosby, University of Minnesota; James Perry, Indiana University.