Acknowledgments

The National Victim Assistance Academy is a result of the vision, leadership, and support of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. Special thanks are extended to OVC Director John Gillis, Deputy Director Carolyn Hightower, and Federal Project Monitor Laura Ivkovich. It has been and continues to be an honor and privilege to assist OVC in this training and educational endeavor.

Tremendous effort has been devoted to planning and implementing the National Victim Assistance Academy. A committed and talented Project Team—comprised of experts in victim services and criminal justice practitioners from nonprofit organizations and academic institutions—contributed to conducting research, developing curriculum, detailed planning, and logistical arrangements. An array of academics, practitioners, and victim advocacy professionals in the field of victim assistance have served as faculty members for the 1995-2002 Academies and have dedicated large amounts of time to educating and mentoring National Victim Assistance Academy participants. We are grateful for their contributions.

The Project Team conveys our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Federal Project Monitor Laura Ivkovich who, over the course of the past eight years, has assisted the Academy in every way possible. Her ongoing support has been instrumental in the continual development, improvement and advancement of the Academy Project.

We offer our deepest respect and admiration for the Academy students, past and present, who have demonstrated their commitment to improving their ability to assist and support victims of crime by participating in the National Victim Assistance Academy. We are grateful to have the opportunity to share information, knowledge, and experience with the over 1,600 Academy participants who have graduated from the Academy to date, and to in turn learn from them and witness their remarkable and everyday contributions to the field of victim assistance. Their feedback has been invaluable in improving and refining the entire Academy Curriculum, as well as in developing the National Victim Assistance Academy, Advanced Topic Series.

Finally, and most importantly, we at the National Victim Assistance Academy are grateful to the millions of crime victims around the world for their courage and willingness to guide us in transforming their personal tragedies into hope, action, and positive change. We honor them as we approach the eighth National Victim Assistance Academy and reaffirm our commitment to the discipline of victim assistance and to continuing our efforts to secure better and more comprehensive rights and services for all victims of crime.

Morna A. Murray, J.D.
Project Director
National Victim Assistance Academy