Stewart I. Donaldson

Stewart I. Donaldson is a distinguished university professor, the executive director of the university’s Claremont Evaluation Center (CEC), and executive director of The Evaluators’ Institute (TEI). He is deeply committed to improving lives through research, evaluation, and education. Professor Donaldson works with students on a wide range of topics across several fields and programs at CGU, including evaluation theory and practice; the science of well-being and positive psychology; positive organizational and sports psychology; positive youth development and education; and community/global health program design, monitoring, and evaluation. As an immigrant born overseas and now a naturalized US citizen, Professor Donaldson has traveled extensively and especially enjoys working on cross-cultural and international topics with students who have diverse backgrounds and perspectives from all across the globe. He has been honored with the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) Inspiring Mentor Career Achievement Award (2019) and is serving as Faculty Advisor of the IPPA Student Division (2019-present). From 2011-2017, he was director and faculty mentor for approximately 50 underrepresented minority graduate students from across more than 30 different universities participating in the American Evaluation Association’s esteemed and internationally recognized Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program. Professor Donaldson has served as chair or member on more than 100 doctoral dissertation committees at CGU since 1995, and more than 200 master’s theses and online certificate students’ culminating research and evaluation projects.

Donaldson previously provided more than 16 years of leadership and service to the School of Social Science, Policy, & Evaluation (SSSPE), where he was the founding dean from 2013 to 2017; the School of Community & Global Health (SCGH), where he was dean from 2013 to 2017; the School of Politics & Economics, where he was dean from 2012 to 2013; and the School of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (SBOS), where he was dean from 2001 to 2013. Donaldson’s portfolio in the social and health sciences during the final three years of his concurrent deanships (2014-2017) included providing academic leadership for more than 100 core and supporting graduate faculty, overseeing the education of more than 650 degree-seeking graduate students, and securing grants, contracts, and gifts to support SSSPE and SCGH research and students. Among many other accomplishments, Donaldson led the effort to develop the first research-oriented positive psychology programs in the world, launch the doctorate of public health program at CGU (DrPH), and dramatically expanded the portfolio of evaluation and applied research programs.

In 2007, Donaldson (in collaboration with professors Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura) developed the first research-focused PhD and MA programs in positive psychology. He currently provides paid employment and supervises numerous students specializing in positive organizational psychology, the science of well-being, and evaluation science. Many of his students are active in his positive psychology and evaluation labs and work on a wide range of research, program design, and evaluation science projects.  Professor Donaldson actively recruits new students at the beginning of the fall, spring, and summer semesters.

Donaldson has built a career rich in both academic and professional experience. He is past president of the American Evaluation Association (2015) and has served on numerous boards, including those of the International Positive Psychology Association, Western Psychological Association, Western Positive Psychology Association (co-founder), American Evaluation Association, Centre for Program Evaluation at the University of Melbourne, The Faster Forward Fund, Southern California Evaluation Association (co-founder), University of Massachusetts Center for Program Evaluation, EvalPartners, and the Council of the International Evaluation Academy (IEAc). He currently serves as editor of the Evaluation and Society and Positive Psychology and Well-being book series, and as a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, American Journal of Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation, and Evaluation & Program Planning. He is also a fellow, Annual Conference Program Chair (2025), and on the council of representatives for the Western Psychological Association.

Donaldson has been honored with a plethora of prestigious international, national, and regional career achievement awards, including the Early Career Achievement Awards from the American Evaluation Association (1996) and the Western Psychological Association (2001). In 2013, he was presented with the American Evaluation Association’s (AEA) Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the highest honors in the field of evaluation, and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award for sustained lifetime written contributions to the advancement of evaluation theory. “As an author and full-time evaluation professional, I have learned a great deal in preparing this justification statement,” wrote one of his lead nominators, “and I come away convinced that Stewart Donaldson is probably our field’s most prolific theorist.”

Donaldson was also honored with the AEA’s 2017 Robert Ingle Service Award for his important contributions to the field of evaluation and the American Evaluation Association (AEA) over a long period of time. That recognition includes his serving as president of the AEA during the International Year of Evaluation in 2015, for six years of recent AEA Board Service, as director of the AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program, as chair of the Program Theory and Theory-Driven Evaluation Topical Interest Group, and for his various leadership appointments and many evaluation training, mentoring, evaluation practice, and scholarly contributions.

In 2018, The Western Psychological Association (WPA) bestowed upon Donaldson the prestigious WPA Social Responsibility Award for his efforts to promote and increase social justice at the societal and individual levels. The WPA award selection committee unanimously chose Donaldson based on his record of research and publications, theory-based evaluations, and grants that are oriented toward social equality and boosting positive psychological outcomes.

He was also selected as the recipient of the AEA’s Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award in 2018, which is presented to an evaluator who exemplifies outstanding evaluation practice and whose contributions to the field of evaluation have been substantial, sustained over a number of years, cumulative, and whose work is consistent with the AEA Guiding Principles for Evaluators. Outstanding evaluation practice is defined as leading or conducting evaluations of the highest possible quality and utility, as demonstrated through publications, documented stakeholder feedback, and other forms of evidence of influencing the field in which evaluations are performed. His nomination letter stated “he has served the AEA and the broader field of evaluation as a major thought leader as well as a practitioner [who] has done more to create the conditions for practice excellence in the United States and around the world than any other person.”

At International Positive Psychology Association’s (IPPA) World Congress of Positive Psychology in Melbourne Australia (July 2019), Professor Donaldson was honored with two career achievement awards. The 2019 IPPA Work and Organizations Division “Exemplary Research to Practice Award” was presented to Donaldson for many years of exemplary research and teaching, as well as a robust cumulative contribution to evidence-based practice related to fostering positive work and organizations. He was also awarded the IPPA 2019 “Inspiring Mentor Award.” The student division of IPPA recognizes one outstanding mentor in the field of positive psychology who provides continued commitment and support to students that foster professional and academic development. Professor Donaldson was given this honor to acknowledge his many years of outstanding teaching and mentoring, and for inspiring the next generation of diverse psychological scientists to make meaningful contributions to societies across the globe. Professor Donaldson was also bestowed the status of Fellow in IPPA at the 2021 World Congress.

Professor Donaldson works collaboratively with his students and colleagues to publish findings from his extensive portfolio of extramurally funded research and evaluation projects. His work has been cited widely, including numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles, chapters, and evaluation reports. He has published or has forthcoming 25 books, including Flow 2.0: Optimal experience in a complex world. Honoring Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Legacy (2025); PERMA+4: Building blocks for human flourishing (2025); Empowering others to flourish: A professors’ search for well-being and positive impact (2025); Improving evaluations with appreciative inquiry and positive psychology: Toward a balanced, evidence-informed evaluation practice (2025); Positive organizational psychology: Theory, research, & application (2025); Research handbook on positive psychology in the workplace (2025); Well-being and success for university students (2024); Introduction to theory-driven program evaluation: Culturally responsive and strengths-focused applications (2022); Positive psychological science: Improving everyday life, well-being, work, education, and societies across the globe (2020); Evaluation for an Equitable Society (2016); and Credible and Actionable Evidence: The Foundation for Rigorous and Influential Evaluations (2015).

Stewart I. Donaldson Publications on Google Scholar