Former Black Hawk College (BHC) Trustee was honored by the Illinois Community College Trustees Assocation (ICCTA) at the 2023 Awards Banquet. Jon Looney served on the Black Hawk College Board of Trustees from April 2017 to April 2023. He was the vice chair of the BHC Board of Trustees from April 2019 to May 2021 and the board’s ICCTA representative from April 2019 to April 2023. Looney received the ICCTA President’s Award, which is the only award given at the sole discretion of the current ICCTA president (Dr. Maureen Dunne from the College of DuPage). The award celebrates an unsung hero who has supported ICCTA and community colleges.
Looney served as ICCTA’s:
Past president (2022-23)
President (2020-22)
Vice president (2020)
Treasurer (2019-20)
His ICCTA committee work included:
Chair of the Nominating Committee
Co-chair of the ad hoc Dues Committee
Chair of the Executive Committee
Chair of the Finance Committee
Chair of the Public Relations Committee
In November 2022, the ICCTA Board of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution honoring Looney for his two years of service as ICCTA’s 49th president. “Under President Looney’s guidance, the Trustees Association successfully navigated two leadership transitions and the COVID-19 pandemic while maintaining a positive, future-oriented focus on ‘the road ahead,’” the resolution states.
“President Looney stands as a model of public service who brought honor to his home institution, Black Hawk College, through his statewide leadership,” it states.
An ICCTA Lifetime Membership is awarded by Community colleges to honor their outstanding and retiring board members for their service and contributions to the community college movement. Other Black Hawk College lifetime members are former trustees Dorothy Beck, Tim Black, David Emerick, Donna Frye, the late Evelyn Phillips and Steve Spivey.
The Trustee Education Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the area of professional development. Recipients have participated in 15 or more ICCTA seminars. Looney received the honor for the second time.