Education
Dr. McCloskey completed a B.A. with honors from Atlantic Union College in 1961, and then earned a Masters degree (1965) and Ph.D. (1967) from Duke University. He was a post-doctoral research fellow in Marine Science at the University of Washington, Friday Harbor laboratories (1967-68); a Research Associate at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (1969-71); and a post-doctoral associate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (1971). He has served as Assistant, Associate, and Professor of Biology, Walla Walla College from 1971 to until joining the Department of Biology at La Sierra University as full professor and department chair on August 1, 1996.

Research Interests
Dr. McCloskey and works on tropical coral reef ecology and physiology. He and his students study the way corals, anemones, and jellyfish survive in tropical nutrient-poor waters—the consequence of their symbiotic association with single-celled algae called zooxanthellae. He has done research in exotic places like Papua New Guinea, the Red Sea, the Caribbean, and the Great Barrier Reef.

Memberships & Affiliations
Dr. McCloskey is a member of AAAS, Amer. Institute for Biological Sciences, American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Ecological Society of America, Xigma Xi and the Society of Western Naturalists.