About Us


LEADERSHIP

Victim Assistance Board
Victim Assistance is governed by a strong, community representative, policymaking board. Its members serve three year, staggering terms ensuring continuous vitality. Members represent the criminal justice system (county prosecutor, sheriff, police, judges at the Municipal and Common Pleas levels) a law director, a mayor, attorneys, business, academic (public and higher education), medical and social service leadership.

Board of Trustees

Brian W. Thomas, President
Akron Auto Club

Thomas Brandt, Vice President

Jason Tuma, CPA Treasurer
Brockman, Coats, Gedelian & Co.

Lisa Pardi, Secretary
Akron Children’s Hospital

Drew Alexander
Sheriff of Summit County

Michael J. Callahan, Esq.

Chief Paul Callahan
University of Akron Police Department

William E. Childers, J.D
Coleman Foundation

Larry Givens

Margaret Kanellis
Summit County Prosecutor’s Office

Nick Kostandaras
Summit County Council

Thom Mandel
WAKR, WQMX & WONE

Rev. Dr. Richard McCandless

Chief Gary Moneypenny
Summit County Sheriff

Don Primm

Dennis Prough
First Energy

Richard Reese

Mayor Don Robart
City of Cuyahoga Falls

Marianne Sweeney
Summit County Sheriff’s Department

Kevin Thompson
National City Bank

Capt. Sylvia Trundle
City of Akron Police Department

Judge Annalisa Williams
Akron Municipal Court

PAST PRESIDENTS
Phillip Bradley
Judge Patricia Cosgrove
John Cunningham
Judge Carol Dezso
James Dougherty, M.D.
Frank Harvey, Jr., Esq.
Alberta Hensley
Gary M. Rosen, Esq.
Judge Ted Schneiderman
Rev. Sandra Selby
Judge Marvin Shapiro
Joseph White, Jr.

EMERITI
Alice Jayne Ake
Robert Hamilton
Timothy Malloy
Rev. David Pumphrey
Bernard I. Rosen, Esq.  Deceased

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
One of the founders of Summit County’s Victim Assistance Program, Rev. Robert Denton, Ph.D., also serves as its Executive Director.

Dr. Denton earned his B.A. Degree in Philosophy & Religion from Asbury College, his M.A. in Theology from Wheaton Graduate School of Theology [Thesis: "It All Depends: An Analysis of Situation Ethics"], and his Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University [Dissertation: "What They Think, What They Do: Victim Perceptions and Service Utilization"].

He is a 1970 graduate from the Akron Police Academy and holds a commission with the Akron Police Department. He is an ordained minister and a Licensed Independent Social Worker under the state of Ohio. He has been a member of the Ohio Attorney General’s Victim Assistance Board, which dispenses VOCA and SVAA funds across the state since its inception in 1985. In 1994 he was honored as Outstanding Victim Advocate by the U.S. Attorney General and President Clinton and he received the Marjory Fry award for outstanding Victim Advocate from the National Organization for Victim Assistance in 1989.

Dr. Denton was one of the founders of Summit County’s Victim Assistance Program – one of the first in the nation which annually works with about 20,000 people. The program has grown under his direction to 17 full time and part time staff providing crisis intervention to crime scenes throughout the criminal justice system.

Dr. Denton was Founding President of the National Organization for Victim Assistance in Washington D.C., a member of the National Crisis Team and a member of the Justice Department funded revision of the National Community Crisis Response training curriculum. He has been team leader of national crisis responses to the Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Andrew, the Arkansas’ tornadoes, the Lucasville riot, the Gainesville murders, the Radcliff, Kentucky Bush Crash and the Palm Bay, Florida massacre. He was NOVA’s national liaison to Columbine and an early intervener after 9-11. He currently serves as chairperson of NOVA’s President’s Committee.

Dr. Denton began teaching in the Sociology Department at the University of Akron in 1972 and is currently Adjunct Professor of Sociology. He created and teaches the Victim In Society course (1976 – 1998) for the Sociology Department and obtained its adoption on the University’s curriculum. He created and teaches the Crisis Intervention and Advanced Crisis Intervention courses in the Social Work Department. All three classes are upper division/graduate level courses.

Recent Publications:
  • Crisis Intervention: A Descriptive Manual, text utilized for the crisis course in the Social Work Department.

  • Not Paid to Die: Managing After the Shot. A publication for officers dealing with the aftermath of a lethal force incident, 2003.

  • Crime Victimization appears in the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior published by Taylor and Francis, London/New York, 2001.

  • Elderly Victimization, Helping a Neighbor In Crisis, Tyndale; 1997.

  • Trauma and Meaning Systems, Community Crisis Response Training Manual, NOVA: 1997.

  • When A Bad Thing Happens To Faithful People: Crime Victims and God. Dealing with the spiritual aspects of victimization. Second printing, 1996.

  • Spirituality and Trauma, 2001 – The Next Century: Megatrends in the Victim Movement, Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt, 1994.

  • Personality Traits of Convicted Male Batterer’s, Journal of Family Violence, Vol.7, #2, 1992 (Bersani, Chen & Denton).

  • Social Structure of Community Crisis, paper presented, Ohio Victim Witness Association, London, 1991.

  • Vigilantism, Reviewed for publication, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, #4, 1990.

  • Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Court Ordered Abuser Treatment Program, Journal of Family Violence, Vol,3, #2 (Bersani, Chen, Myers and Denton).

  • Spouse Abuser’s and Court Mandated Treatment, Journal of Crime and Justice, Vol, 11, #1, 1989.


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Find out more about our:

 Mission

Leadership

• Victim
• Assistance
• Board

• Executive
• Director

History