The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) has honored George Mason University’s Margaret T. Jones with an Editorial Excellence Award for her invaluable contributions to the organization’s journal.
Jones, a professor of sport management within Mason’s College of Education and Human Development, Beck Foundation Faculty Fellow, and the director of the Patriot Performance Laboratory in the Frank Pettrone Center for Sports Performance, is one of two recipients of the NSCA’s The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (JSCR) Editorial Excellence Awards for 2022. She and colleague Michael Deschenes, professor and chair of kinesiology at the College of William and Mary, were formally recognized at the NSCA National Conference in New Orleans in July.
Jones has served as a senior associate editor for the journal since 2017, and plays a key role in reading and evaluating many prospective articles.
“It feels great,” Jones said of the honor. “It’s always nice to get a little recognition. Sometimes when we do the work, we do it quietly, we do it in the background. It’s good to know that our editor-in-chief recognizes it.”
Jones, whose previous work experience includes 15 years as the director for strength and conditioning for intercollegiate athletics at Springfield (Mass.) College, has worked for the journal for 25 years.
“Dr. Michael Deschenes and Dr. Margaret Jones have demonstrated a commitment to editorial excellence and their exceptional hard work and dedication have greatly contributed to the journal’s success,” said Nicholas Ratamess, the JSCR’s editor-in-chief.
An active member of the NSCA since 1995, Jones received the NSCA Educator of the Year Award in 2008 and became a Fellow of the NSCA in 2012. In 2016, she was the recipient of the NSCA’s Senior Investigator Grant in support of her work with cluster resistive exercise in resistance-trained women athletes. In addition to her role with the JSCR, Jones also currently serves as the associate editor-in-chief for the Strength and Conditioning Journal.
“This award means a lot to me because I was a practitioner in this field,” she said. “It feels good to be able to help provide evidence-based, noteworthy research to practitioners, strength and sport coaches, athletic trainers and others. I feel strongly about getting applied research out there where people can see it.”
Founded in 1978, NSCA, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the strength and conditioning and related sport science professions, has more than 60,000 members and certified professionals throughout the world.