USA Today has recognized Utahn Tami Pyfer as one of their Women of the Year, a way to honor women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. USA Today notes that the 61 women honored this year are “breaking barriers and pushing for change. They are making our communities better.”
Pyfer was recognized for her work with The Dignity Index. “It’s a bit overwhelming to receive this kind of recognition. I feel as though it’s really The Dignity Index, and our team’s work to spark a dignity movement that’s in the spotlight. I’m just incredibly grateful to be a part of it all,”she reflected.
Pyfer has a long history of involvement in her community. She’s been active in Utah politics and Utah education for many years. She was elected to the city council in Logan, where she served for eight years. She was also on the Utah State Board of Education, served as a special education instructor for more than 10 years and served as former Gov. Gary Herbert’s education policy advisor. She also sang with The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for seven years, then served as the director of external relations for the choir for an additional two years.
Pyfer is now the chief of staff and director of operations for UNITE, the national organization behind The Dignity Index. The Dignity Index is all about decreasing contempt and learning how to talk about issues without devolving into personal attacks. Pyfer also just concluded a year as an Emerson Collective Fellow, where she researched the blunting effect contemptuous language had on women being willing to step into the public eye as political candidates.
Donna Hicks, who wrote “Dignity: Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict,” says that dignity is “the glue that holds all our relationships together,” and is the “mutual recognition of the desire to be seen, heard, listened to, and treated fairly; to be recognized, understood, and to feel safe in the world.”
The Dignity Index ranks political speech on a scale of 1-8, with one being the lowest. On the positive side, Level 6 finds speech indicating a desire to talk with people who have differing views. Level 7 wants to “fully engage” with the other side, and Level 8 says “I can see myself in every human being. Everyone has inherent worth.” Yes, even “those guys.”
On the other hand, Level 3 attacks the other side’s moral character: “We’re good, they’re bad.” Level 2 accuses the other side of not just “being bad,” but of promoting evil. Finally, Level 1 is both a feeling that “the other side” is less than human and a call for violence. For example, writing or saying something like, “They are destroying everything we value. It is our moral duty to destroy them first.”
Recently, the University of Utah joined UNITE’s efforts in one of the university’s first affiliation agreements. “Pyfer and Dignity Index co-creator Tom Rosshirt will be the UNITE leads on this new partnership, working with senior research associate and adjunct professor Samantha Ball, who will serve as the program’s research director. Ball has worked at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute for 10 years and was instrumental in pilot-testing the Dignity Index in 2022. She will lead the partnership’s research, measurement and evaluation activities,” according to a recent university press release.
The Dignity Index is now working in 23 states with a variety of organizations, from government to business to schools. Their goal, as listed on their website, is that within a decade, “‘dignity’ will be seen as a winning strategy in politics and policy-making, and how we treat each other will be seen as a mark of patriotism, a measure of our well-being, and a key indicator of the future.”
Pyfer reflected on the influence of her family in paving the way for her work today. Pyfer told David Nelson, editor of the Kitsap Sun, and writing for USA Today and the St. George Spectrum that she learned a lot from her grandmother. Her Grandma Gardner, she said, took on both traditional and nontraditional roles, first as a divorced woman in the 1940s, then as the wife of a dairy farmer who cooked meals for farmhands and sewed matching dresses for her granddaughters. She also worked as the postmaster for the local office. Pyfer remembers visiting her grandmother at the post office “where one minute she would be helping a customer with stamps and the next she would be stitching the border of a lone star quilt set up on stands that took up the majority of the back room of the post office.”
Her parents also set an example of civic engagement. Both “were deeply involved in their community, in their church assignments, with youth programs, and in finding ways to lift the burdens of others,” she said. “I always wanted to serve with that same commitment, and live my life in a way that would honor them and their legacy of service.”
The motto “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity” now guides her life in all her interactions, not just political ones.
Originally published in the Deseret News
