Nine institutions will join the ranks of active Division III members this year, along with two multisport conferences.
Four of the new active member institutions belong to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference , one of the new active leagues.
The new members boost Division III’s active membership totals to 429 institutions – following the pending reclassification of two current members into Division II – and 42 multisport conferences.
The new members (with location and conference affiliation):
• Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minnesota; Upper Midwest Athletic Conference).
• Crown College (St. Bonifacius, Minnesota; Upper Midwest Athletic Conference)
• University of Maine at Presque Isle (Presque Isle, Maine; independent).
• University of Minnesota, Morris (Morris, Minnesota; Upper Midwest Athletic Conference).
• Mount Aloysius College (Cresson, Pennsylvania; Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference).
• Northwestern College (St. Paul, Minnesota; Upper Midwest Athletic Conference).
• Penn State Berks College (Reading, Pennsylvania; North Eastern Athletic Conference).
• Purchase College, State University of New York (Purchase, New York; Skyline Conference).
• Salem College (Winston-Salem, North Carolina; independent).
Joining the UMAC as a new active multisport conference is the New England Collegiate Conference .
The Division III Presidents Council also recently approved active membership for a single-sport conference – the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association.
Sixteen institutions will be in varying phases of provisional membership as of September 1.
Three institutions are entering the fourth and final year of provisional membership and are on track to achieve active membership in 2009-10. Those schools (including conference affiliations that have been announced) are:
• Mitchell College (New London, Connecticut; New England Collegiate Conference).
• Mount Mary College (Milwaukee, Wisconsin).
• Presentation College (Aberdeen, South Dakota; Upper Midwest Athletic Conference).
Six institutions will be in the third year of provisional membership:
• Lancaster Bible College (Lancaster, Pennsylvania).
• La Sierra University (Riverside, California).
• Lyndon State College (Lyndonville, Vermont; North Atlantic Conference).
• North Central University (Minneapolis, Minnesota; repeating year three).
• Saint Vincent College (Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Presidents’ Athletic Conference).
• State University of New York at Morrisville (Morrisville, New York; State University of New York Athletic Conference).
Four institutions are entering the second year of provisional membership:
• Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, Ohio; Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference).
• Geneva College (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; Presidents’ Athletic Conference).
• Penn State Harrisburg (Middletown, Pennsylvania; North Eastern Athletic Conference).
• St. Joseph’s College* (Brooklyn, New York).
Three institutions will be in the first year of provisional membership:
• University of Cincinnati Clermont College (Batavia, Ohio).
• Spalding University (Louisville, Kentucky; repeating year one).
• State University of New York at Cobleskill (Cobleskill, New York; North Eastern Athletic Conference).
In addition, one institution is entering the second year of reclassifying membership. Birmingham-Southern College, reclassifying from Division I, is affiliated with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and is on track for active membership in 2011-12.
Seven institutions will be exploring Division III membership beginning September 1, making them eligible to enter the provisional-membership process as early as 2009-10. They are:
• Berry College (Mount Berry, Georgia).
• Concordia University (Seward, Nebraska).
• Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, Georgia).
• Doane College (Crete, Nebraska).
• Hastings College (Hastings, Nebraska).
• Penn State Abington (Abington, Pennsylvania).
• William Jewell College (Liberty, Missouri).
Two current Division III members have been accepted into year one of Division II’s exploratory process, thus beginning reclassification. They are California State University, East Bay, and Maryville University of St. Louis.
* An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported a conference affiliation for St. Joseph's College
