STAFF BIOS

The Rev. Thomas W. Goodhue, Executive Director
Before coming to the LICC in 1999, Tom pastored churches in Nassau, Suffolk, and Hawaii and has led youth ministry on Long Island and in California. He taught young children at the Riverside Church in Manhattan and has written several collections of stories for children. Sharing the Good News with Children (St. Anthony Messenger Press) won a Catholic Book Award. His biography Curious Bones: Mary Anning and the Birth of Paleontology (published by Morgan Reynolds) was named "One of the Best Books for the Teenage Years" by the New York Public Library. His adult biography, Fossil Hunter: The Life & Times of Mary Anning, was published by Academica Press. He is completing a book on Kaahumanu, the Hawaiian queen who overturned taboos and welcomed missionaries.

Sara C. Weiss, Director of Development
Before coming to the LICC in 2001, Sara was senior analyst and grant writer for the Institute for Jewish, Christian & Islamic Studies and Relations. Ms. Weiss has raised more than $3.5 Million from grants, major gifts and other sources. Before becoming a professional fundraiser, she was a college professor of Anthropology and a freelance writer published in newspapers, magazines, trade magazines and scholarly journals on topics including science, social and women's issues, politics, art, religion, and education. Ms. Weiss received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University, and a B.A. and M.A. in Clinical and Research Psychology from Florida Atlantic University. She is listed in the Dictionary of International Biography, Who's Who of American Women 2002-2003, 2004-2005, 2006-2007, and 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century.

Alric Kennedy, Community Resources Director
Alric has a passion for the work of helping people in need. His guiding principle is that in every person there is something of worth and that this worth is the precious little thing that makes life worth living. Alric served in U. S. Air Force for six years and graduated from St. John's University with B.A. degree and from Long Island University in Brooklyn with a Masters in Public Administration (with distinction). He is also the proud father of three daughters. The oldest is 22 and is pursuing at M.A. at Loyola University in Chicago. The others are 15, and one of them has already decided that she wants to attend Duke University to become an eye surgeon, because her father and mother wear glasses and she doesn't.

Timothy Denton, Finance Director
Ven. Timothy Issai Denton Sensei (Issai Chizen Tokuzui) was born in California, in 1953. Originally trained as a musician, he spent many years in Vienna, Austria, where he studied orchestra and opera conducting with Ottmar Suitner at the Universität für Musik in Wien. Denton Sensei received ordination in the White Plum lineage of the Soto Zen school of Buddhism in 1994, from Ven. Baisen Tetsugen Glassman Roshi. He was promoted to head monk (Shusso) in 1998, and Dharmaholder in 2000. In 2003, he received Dharma transmission (Shiho) from Ven. Mitsunen Kyogen Nordstrom Roshi, and is a lineage-holder in both Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions.

Denton Sensei has held a number of positions in temple administration. He was executive director of the Zen Community of New York (Zenshin Monastery), in Yonkers, N.Y., from 1994 to 1996, where he was also head cook (Tenzo, traditionally a senior monastic position) and director of liturgy and training. In 2000, he was named vice-abbot of Kuge-in Temple, in Melbourne, Fla. In 2001, he founded Wagyo-ji Temple, in Oceanside, NY, where he currently serves as head priest and resident Dharma teacher. He is also Buddhist chaplain at SUNY Stony Brook, and is active as a speaker and retreat leader. Denton Sensei also has studied extensively in other Buddhist traditions, including the Karma Kagyu and Sakya traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, and has received a number of empowerments. He is particularly interested in the teachings of Mahamudra. He is a lay member of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, in East Meadow, N.Y.

In addition to his work as a priest, Denton Sensei has been a financial journalist for many years. He was deputy managing editor at CMP Media, Inc., and prior to coming to LICC was managing editor at Standard & Poor's, where he was also responsible for Web operations for the company's largest business division.

Chaplain Nancy Schaffer
Rev. Schaffer is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and has served as a chaplain for the LICC at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow since 1997. She is also co-founder and co-director of Women at the Well, a self enhancement group working with women who are in jeopardy of being incarcerated, those who are currently incarcerated and those who have re-entered their communities. In addition, she has completed a three-year training program in the Art of Spiritual Direction, preparing her guide and encourage others to deepen their relationship & understanding of God on a pathway of awakening to inner freedom and authenticity.