Dr. Michael Looney
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of Chemistry
email: mlooney@schreiner.edu
Michael Looney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in February 1946. The Looney family has been in America since 1735, but his mother was a first generation Italian-American. Michael’s family moved to Texas in 1957, the boyhood home of his father. Michael grew up in San Antonio where he graduated from Thomas Edison High School in 1965.
In order to stay close to home he attended San Antonio College and St. Mary’s University. At St. Mary’s he majored in chemistry and received bachelors and masters degrees. He began his teaching career at San Antonio College in 1969. After teaching there for 19 years he spent one-year helping open Tomball College in Tomball, Texas. He taught at James Madison High School for one year before joining the faculty of Schreiner University in 1990. At Schreiner, he developed the biochemistry and chemistry majors. He went back to graduate school in 1993 to work on his doctorate in chemistry. In December 1996 he was awarded a doctor of arts degree in chemistry by Middle Tennessee State University. He chose the doctor of arts degree rather than the doctor of philosophy degree to show his life-long commitment to teaching. In 1997 Looney became the head of the school of science and mathematics. His major accomplishment while in that position was overseeing the construction of the Trull science laboratory building. In June 2001 he became the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at Schreiner and in January 2002 after a nation-wide search, the title interim was removed.
In his personal life, Looney has a passion for rescuing stray dogs and cats, never being without a pet. He enjoys traveling and photography. Some of his favorite places to visit are Estes Park, Colorado, New York City, and San Francisco. He traveled to Germany in the summer of 2000 with a group of students from Schreiner.
Michael’s favorite hobby is running, which these days he considers plodding. He has run 10 marathons, breaking three hours in October of 1980. Another hobby that he enjoys is photography. He loves to read, his favorite authors are Larry McMurtry and John Grisham. He also enjoys mowing the lawn, which he considers a mindless but satisfying job. He has enjoyed academic administration and the day-to-day challenges of his work.