UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Jason Kaye, distinguished professor of soil biogeochemistry in the College of Agricultural Sciences and chair of the Ecology Intercollege Graduate Degree Program, is the 2026 recipient of the Graduate School Alumni Society Graduate Program Chair Leadership Award.
The award honors faculty members for exemplary leadership that benefits graduate students and faculty in an existing graduate program at the University.
Nominators said Kaye has had a remarkable impact on graduate education at Penn State. They said his leadership over the ecology program has been consistently creative, innovative and deeply supportive of graduate student development.
Kaye increased graduate enrollment by more than 50% from pre-2020 levels while also maintaining the same high standards for students, nominators said.
“Despite representing only one% of Penn State’s Ph.D. population, ecology students consistently achieve extraordinary success including: five Alumni Association Dissertation Awards since 2018, twenty-two NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards in the past decade — fully 60 percent of Huck’s IGDP recipients — and 12 to 14 percent of NSF recognitions in the past two academic years,” a nominator said. “These results are a clear testament to his ability to cultivate excellence in his students and faculty alike.”
One area of growth is in underrepresented students. He’s increased enrollment of students who identify as members of underrepresented groups to 20%. Nominators said this growth is attributed to Kaye’s innovative recruitment strategies, which foster a sense of belonging and mentorship. Kaye has turned aspirational goals into an integral part of the program’s culture, a nominator said.
Kaye goes above and beyond to create a welcoming environment within the graduate program, nominators said. He organizes dinners at his home, leads a mini-symposium to celebrate graduate student accomplishments and participates in the annual ecology camping retreat. He also backs student-led initiatives, such as the Ecology Graduate Student Organization and their seminar series.
“Students consistently describe him as compassionate, humble and tireless in his advocacy for their well-being, qualities that are deeply evident in the culture of the program,” a nominator said. “The sense of community and empowerment in ecology under Kaye’s leadership stands out as truly exceptional.”
To help with the transition to graduate school, Kaye organizes annual meetings with first-year students to give them opportunities to talk about their experiences and successes and to offer solutions for challenges they face.
“Students attending this year’s event reported that despite the various challenges stemming from changes at the federal level, they felt supported by both the ecology community and by the University,” a nominator said.