Leadership
The Office of the President
On behalf of the entire King's College family, I am pleased to welcome you to our award winning community. Our community is proud of our recognized track record of academic, professional, and service excellence as reported in various major publications and foundations:
- For twenty-four straight years, King’s College has been ranked in the top tier of U.S. News and World Report’s list of Best Colleges in the United States.
- Barron’s Best Buys in College Education has selected King’s among the nation’s top 10% of colleges for its fifteenth consecutive edition.
- The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognized King’s innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs.
- The John Templeton Honor Roll for Character-Building Colleges recognized King’s in its select group of 100 colleges nationwide.
As proud as we are of our ability to educate the mind, we are equally proud of our ability to educate the heart. Preparing students for meaningful and purposeful lives is at the core of our school's mission. We invite you to join us on that mission. What could be more exciting and rewarding than to fall in love! To fall in love with learning, a career choice, vocation, truth, beauty, goodness, God and others is the path by which we hope to journey with you.
King's College was founded in 1946 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross to provide access to higher education for the children of coal miners. Providing access to higher education by overcoming racial, social, and economic barriers remains a foundation of the King's College mission. We invite you to be part of that mission and share in the life of the King's College community. May God bless you and guide you.
The Reverend Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C., Ph.D.
About Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C.
Father Looney’s loyal service to the mission of King’s College began nearly 35 years ago. Father Looney made his profession of vows in the College’s former Chapel of Christ the King on August 13, 1986 and a few weeks later began teaching Theology at King’s and serving as a deacon at St. Nicholas Parish in Wilkes-Barre.
Father Looney has served King’s as the Associate Vice President for Academic Success, the Director of Campus Ministry, and College Chaplain. He has also previously served as associate professor and chair of the Theology Department, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Dean of the faculty at King’s. Father Looney led the efforts to restore the former Memorial Church on North Street in Wilkes-Barre that now serves as the Chapel of Christ the King at the George & Giovita Maffei Family Commons. In recognition of his exemplary service to the College, Father Looney was awarded the All College Administration Award in both 2016 and 2020, and the All College Teaching Award in 2001. A widely respected and admired member of the King’s family, Father Looney enjoys many deep relationships with King’s students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Otisville, NY, Father Looney began formation to religious life in the Congregation of Holy Cross at Stonehill College. His vocation to priesthood and religious life was the result of his family’s deep faith; his mother’s uncle was a Holy Cross Brother and his father’s uncle a diocesan priest. Father Looney was ordained a priest on June 13, 1987.
He previously served as Vice President for Catholic Identity and Mission at Stonehill College in North Easton, Ma., provincial superior for the Eastern Province of Priests and Brothers, and provincial councilor for the United States Province of Priests and Brothers. Father Looney earned his Bachelor of Arts from Stonehill College, a Master of Divinity from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, Ontario, and a Doctorate in Theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The subject of his dissertation was ecumenical ecclesiology.
In addition to many publications and conference presentations, Father Looney has served as the leader of numerous retreats and workshops and has performed extensive community service in the communities in which he has resided, most notably over several decades here in the Wyoming Valley. He has served our Diocese, ministering to local churches and their parishioners throughout the area. Father Looney currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Stonehill College, Renew International, and the Father Peyton Centre in Attymass, Co. Mayo, Ireland, and is a member of the Congregational Religious Life Commission in Rome, Italy.