Col. Milton Looney named UNA's Disability Support Services in honor of his parents, Aubrey and Annie Looney, in a ceremony that includes Provost Dr. Brien Smith, President Dr. Ken Kitts, and Dr. K.C. White, Vice President for Student Affairs.

Looney Family Names UNA’s Disability Services Support Program

Jun. 04, 2024



Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@mikeshiner.com, 256.765.4392

FLORENCE, AL – Col. Milton Looney, a University of North Alabama graduate, has provided a gift to the Disability Support Services department at UNA to name the program in honor and in tribute to his parents, Aubrey and Annie Looney. In an on-campus ceremony that took place today, Col. Looney was on hand, along with members of DSS, to make the official announcement.
 
“Colonel Looney’s gift to create an endowment for Disability Support Services will allow us to enhance the offerings, resources, and programs provided to students registered with DSS,” said Dr. K.C. White, Vice President for Student Affairs. “With this increased financial support, UNA can offer more robust resources, designed to coordinate with academic accommodations, enhance academic success, and ensure access to all phases of university life.”
 
Now known as Aubrey and Annie Looney Disability Support Services, the department is overseen by Jeremy Martin. He said the gift supports an ongoing and growing need among UNA’s student population as an additional 143 students registered with the office during the last academic year for a total of 382 students.
 
“We have seen a 15 percent increase in students served by DSS in the last year, and, overall four percent of UNA’s student body is served by DSS,” he said. “In Fall 2023, 94 percent of students registered with DSS graduated or were retrained in Spring 2024. This gift allows students to fully participate at UNA through enhanced services which support accessible pathways to academic success.”
 
Aubrey and Annie Looney Disability Support Services has a long history of serving the UNA community, providing 15 programmatic events during the 2023-2024 academic year, including partnerships with Counseling/Health and Well-Being, the Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion, Student Engagement, and Listerhill Credit Union.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: mikeshiner.com and mikeshiner.com/unaworks/.