October 19-20, 2025
Dignity Leadership Summit
Building a Dignity Culture
Attend to be inspired.
Then become the inspiration…
… by building a dignity culture that eases divisions, prevents violence, and solves problems.
Your Invitation from Tim Shriver, co-creator of The Dignity Index
On behalf of the Dignity Index, I invite you to be a part of our inaugural summit. We’re building a new culture based on honoring each person’s dignity — each person’s inherent worth. We welcome you to join our movement. Our summit is a unique opportunity to connect as a community and accelerate the work of honoring each other’s dignity, easing divisions, preventing violence, and solving problems.
-Tim Shriver
Registration is now closed.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact dignityindexsummit@unite.us
The inaugural event our movement has been longing for!
Join leaders in the Dignity movement, including subject matter experts and people in different fields who’ve begun to apply the Dignity Index in their work and life — sometimes with our support, often on their own. We’ll come together to share our stories, connect with others, and form the first official cohort of the Dignity Network, a circle of dignity-focused professionals and friends. We’ll all leave with new ideas and plans for the movement — and new partners to support us in the work!
Network, Reflect, and Collaborate.
Whether through mainstage moments, breakout events, or casual conversations, there will be many ways to connect. All meals are included, and on the night of the 19th, we’ll host a Dignity Mixer, an informal opportunity for mingling and networking. We believe we need to find moments and places to meet, talk, and plan if we’re going to build something new and lasting together.
If you could help ease divisions in America, would you do it?
Our summit is the next step in building momentum for the dignity movement, emphasizing collaboration, practical outcomes, and community-building.
It’s a working retreat that’s part planning session, part movement update, and part pep rally.
And it’s just the beginning.
COME JOIN US
Hilton Salt Lake City Center
Dignity Summit Schedule
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7:30am - Breakfast, Morning Networking, Registration
8:30am - Welcome—Dr. Tim Shriver
8:50am - Donna Introduction—Tom Rosshirt
9:00am - Keynote Speaker—Dr. Donna Hicks
10:00am - Break
10:15am - General Session: Dignity Index Training Session—Tami Pyfer, Meghan Monroe, Preston Brightwell
11:15am - General Session: University of Utah—Leading the Way in Bringing Dignity into Higher Education
Moderator: Tami Pyfer
Panelists: Natalie Gochnour, Jesse Graham, Frankie Laanan12:00pm - Lunch and Dignity Awards
12:45pm - General Session: Amplifying Messages of Dignity—Stephanie Wallace, Susan Saulny, Marty Carpenter
1:15pm - General Session: Dignity Reflections—Tom Rosshirt
1:30pm - Break & Transition to Breakout
1:45pm - Breakout I
Community—Tom Rosshirt
K-12—Kori Sanchez Smith, Karren Pyfer-Minalga, Meghan Monroe
Politics—Tami Pyfer & Preston Brightwell
Workplace—Gerri Slater & Alicia Burke
Digital Dignity—Stephanie Wallace & Alexa Merrill2:35pm - Break & Transition to New Breakout
2:45pm - Breakout II
Community—Tom Rosshirt
K-12—Kori Sanchez Smith, Karren Pyfer-Minalga, Meghan Monroe
Politics—Tami Pyfer & Preston Brightwell
Workplace—Gerri Slater & Alicia Burke
Digital Dignity—Stephanie Wallace & Alexa Merrill3:35pm - Break & Transition to Main Room
3:45pm - General Session: Dignity Dialogue Plenary—Dignity Index Team
4:30pm - Unity Gospel Choir International
4:45pm - Building the Dignity Movement—Call to Action—Dr. Tim Shriver
More About The Dignity Index
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In 2021, we began developing the Dignity Index, an eight-point scale for measuring what we do when we disagree, ranging from ONE, which sees no dignity at all in the other side – to EIGHT, which sees the dignity in everyone, no matter what. The higher our language moves on the scale, the more we ease divisions, prevent violence, and solve problems.
Our faith in the Index is grounded in a few core beliefs:
Contempt causes division; dignity eases division.
If we put a spotlight on dignity and contempt, we will use more dignity and less contempt.
When we use more dignity, we begin to expect it from the people around us – friends, family, and the people who inform us, entertain us, and represent us.
This begins to create a constituency for dignity, and that’s how a culture can start to change.
The Dignity Index was created in partnership with leaders in the field of behavioral science, politics, and communications. It was tested and refined by researchers at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, David Eccles School of Business, and Hinckley Institute of Politics.
Our three Dignity Index co-creators are Tami Pyfer, Tom Rosshirt, and Timothy Shriver.
Timothy Shriver is also the founder of UNITE, the non-partisan, non-profit organization that incubated the Index and continues to fuel its accomplishments. Outside of his work with the Dignity Index, Mr. Shriver is chairman of Special Olympics.
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Since we launched the Index in 2022, we have used the Dignity Index to train thousands of educators, K-12 and college students, Fortune 500 professionals, civic and elected leaders, and many others who want to make the world a more peaceful, productive place.
We offer presentations from coast-to-coast, a K-12 curriculum, an online course through Coursera, free training materials, and will be publishing an inaugural report “Dignity in America” in the next year. We are also developing an AI scoring tool that people can use as an app to flag contempt in their own emails and suggest language that’s higher in dignity. Finally, we are highlighting the work of people and groups who are using the Index to build dignity cultures. These examples are inspiring others to join – and that's how the culture is going to change.
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PBS Educator works to restore dignity to political disagreements
SUNDAY PAPER Tim Shriver: “Treating People With Dignity Makes Life Better for Everyone”
USA TODAY/ DESERET NEWS Utah’s Tami Pyfer recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Year
DESERET NEWS OPINION Tom Rosshirt: “How respect and dignity can slow the spread of political violence”
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For questions about the Dignity Leadership Summit contact us at dignityindexsummit@unite.us