Dr. Chris Peterson P2 Leader of Character Award
The Dr. Chris Peterson Leader of Character Award honors one exceptional leader each year who exemplifies The Positivity Project’s focus on character and relationships. Inspired by Dr. Chris Peterson’s legacy, awardees show what leadership grounded in character can achieve.
About the Award
Established in 2024, the Dr. Chris Peterson Leader of Character Award annually recognizes one outstanding leader who exemplifies Dr. Peterson’s focus on character and relationships.
These exceptional leaders cultivate schools rooted in trust, integrity, and compassion. They improve student behavior, strengthen school culture, and help spread the P2 movement to more students, schools, and communities. Most importantly, they model what it means to lead with character and relationships.
Dr. Chris Peterson’s Legacy
Dr. Chris Peterson was a world-renowned psychologist, a pioneer in the field of positive psychology, and a beloved professor at the University of Michigan. He led a 40-person research team that classified the 24 character strengths, co-authoring the landmark book Character Strengths and Virtues with Dr. Martin Seligman. His groundbreaking work shifted psychology’s focus — from what’s wrong with people to what’s right with them — laying the scientific foundation for The Positivity Project.
In addition to his groundbreaking research, Dr. Peterson was a gifted teacher and mentor. In 2010, he received the University of Michigan’s Golden Apple Award, given annually to one professor who “treats each lecture as if it were his last.”
But more than a scholar, Dr. Peterson was a man of deep humanity. He believed character wasn’t just personal — it was relational. That our well-being depends on how we treat others. That positive psychology is fundamentally about relationships.
His final article, written just four days before his passing in 2012, reflected his heartfelt belief:
I thought of my own mortality. What would I leave behind? Whatever legacy I might leave and however short or long it might last, I hoped it would be one that included what I shared with other people as well as what I uniquely contributed.
We are proud to carry on his legacy — and honor the leaders who embody it — through the Dr. Chris Peterson P2 Leader of Character Award.
I can sum up positive psychology in just three words – Other People Matter. Period.
– Dr. Chris Peterson
Award Recipients
2025 Recipient: Dr. Mabel Franks
Director, Welty Center at Fresno State
A beloved leader across California’s Central Valley, Dr. Franks has dedicated over 40 years to education — serving as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and now a leadership coach to school and district leaders.
Her reach is enormous, yet her focus remains simple:
“Is it good for kids?”
Whether walking through school hallways or entering a superintendent’s office, Dr. Franks is met with respect, gratitude, and admiration — the result of the thousands of lives she’s impacted through her unwavering integrity, gratitude, and belief that all students deserve to be seen, valued, and supported.
2024 Recipient: Dr. Virginia Hill
Principal, Westinghouse 6–12, Pittsburgh Public Schools
Dr. Hill was one of P2’s earliest champions, launching P2 at Lincoln Elementary in 2016. Under her leadership, Lincoln experienced a dramatic cultural impact, reducing total days suspended from 149 to just 9 in just two years.
But her most significant impact wasn’t in the numbers — it was in the hallways and classrooms, where relationships, joy, and safety flourished.
With a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and over three decades in education, Dr. Hill continues to lead with heart and purpose, embodying what it means to lead with love. She is also a proud mother of four and grandmother of three.
Honoring a Legacy. Inspiring the Future.
The Dr. Chris Peterson Leader of Character Award is more than a recognition. It’s a reminder of what truly matters: character and relationships.
Each year, as we honor a new recipient, we reaffirm our commitment to Dr. Peterson’s enduring message: Other people matter.