The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) Division III.

History

Chronological timeline

* 1995 - In 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) was founded. Charter members included the following: On men's sports and women's sports, Albertus Magnus College,

Daniel Webster College Daniel Webster College (DWC) was a private college in Nashua, New Hampshire. It operated from 1965 through 2017 and had a strong aeronautics focus during much of its history. It was a nonprofit college until 2009, when ITT Educational Services, I ...

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

, Endicott College, Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island Campus and Rivier College (now Rivier University); on women's sports only, Emmanuel College,

Pine Manor College Pine Manor College (PMC) was a private college in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1911 and was historically a women's college until 2014. It currently serves fewer than 400 students, many of whom live on the 40-acre campus. Origin ...

, the University of Saint Joseph,

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Har ...

(now Simmons University) and

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a la ...

, effective beginning the 1995-96 academic year. * 1998 -

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campu ...

Southern Vermont College Southern Vermont College was a private liberal arts college on the former Edward Everett Estate (originally The Orchards) near Bennington, Vermont. The college closed on May 31, 2019. History Southern Vermont College was founded in 1926 as St. ...

and

Western New England College Western New England University is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy ...

(now Western New England University) joined the GNAC, effective in the 1998-99 academic year. * 1998 - Suffolk's men's sports joined the GNAC, effective in the 1998-99 academic year. * 1999 - Endicott left the GNAC to join the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), effective after the 1998-99 academic year. * 2001 - Emmanuel (Mass.) added men's sports in its athletic program to join the GNAC, effective in the 2001-02 academic year. * 2007 - Western New England left the GNAC to join the CCC, effective after the 2006-07 academic year. * 2007 -

Lasell College Lasell University (LU) is a private university in Auburndale, Massachusetts. Lasell offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional fields of study. History Lasell was founded in 1851 as the Auburn ...

(now Lasell University) and Mount Ida College and

Saint Joseph's College of Maine Saint Joseph's College of Maine is a private Catholic college in Standish, Maine. It is the only Catholic college in Maine. Saint Joseph's was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1912. The college, run by a lay and religious Board of Trustees ...

joined the GNAC, effective in the 2007-08 academic year. * 2008 - Daniel Webster and Southern Vermont left the GNAC to join the

New England Collegiate Conference The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) is an NCAA Division III college athletic conference based in the Northeastern United States. History In June 2007, nine colleges from New England announced the creation of a new athletic conferen ...

(NECC), effective after the 2007-08 academic year. * 2008 - Four institutions joined the GNAC as associate members:

Rhode Island College Rhode Island College (RIC) is a public college in Providence, Rhode Island. The college was established in 1854 as the Rhode Island State Normal School, making it the second oldest institution of higher education in Rhode Island after Brown Uni ...

and the

University of Southern Maine The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston in the U.S. state of Maine. It is the southernmost of the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universi ...

for men's golf, and

Elms College The College of Our Lady of the Elms, often called Elms College, is a private Roman Catholic in Chicopee, Massachusetts. History The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Springfield co-founded Elms as a girls' preparatory academy in Pi ...

and

Husson University Husson University is a private university in Bangor, Maine. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and as of Fall 2020 had a total enrollment of 3,476 students, including 799 graduate students in master's and doctoral programs. Husson ...

for men's and women's swimming & diving, all effective in the 2008-09 academic year. * 2011 -

Anna Maria College Anna Maria College is a private Roman Catholic college in Paxton, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1946 as a women's college, but has been coeducational since 1973. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. History Anna M ...

joined the GNAC, effective in the 2011-12 academic year. * 2011 - Wentworth Institute of Technology (Wentworth Tech) joined the GNAC as an associate member for men's volleyball, effective in the 2012 spring season (2011-12 academic year). * 2012 - Pine Manor left the GNAC to join the

Great South Athletic Conference The Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) was an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Member institutions were located nationwide, but was originally based in the southeastern United States. History Th ...

(GSAC), effective after the 2011-12 academic year. * 2012 - The University of Massachusetts at Darmouth (UMass–Darthmouth) joined the GNAC as an associate member for men's golf, effective in the 2013 spring season (2012-13 academic year). * 2013 - Emerson left the GNAC to join the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC), effective after the 2012-13 academic year. * 2017 - Regis College joined the GNAC, effective in the 2017-18 academic year. * 2018 - Mount Ida left the GNAC due to the school announced that it would close, effective after the 2017-18 academic year. * 2018 -

Colby–Sawyer College Colby–Sawyer College is a private baccalaureate college in New London, New Hampshire. It was founded as a coeducational academy in 1837 and sits on a campus. History New London Academy A legislative charter was granted by the State of ...

joined the GNAC, effective in the 2018-19 academic year. * 2018 - Eastern Nazarene College joined the GNAC as an associate member for men's tennis, effective in the 2019 spring season (2018-19 academic year). * 2018 - Saint Joseph (Conn.) added men's sports in its athletic program to join the GNAC, effective in the 2018-19 academic year. * 2020 - Eastern Nazarene left the GNAC as an associate member for men's tennis, effective after the 2020 spring season (2019-20 academic year). * 2020 -

Dean College Dean College is a private college in Franklin, Massachusetts. It offers bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and continuing and professional education and certificates. History Dean College was founded by Dr. Oliver Dean as a co-educationa ...

joined the GNAC, effective in the 2020-21 academic year. * 2021 - Elms had upgraded to join the GNAC for all sports, effective in the 2021-22 academic year. * 2021 - The

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 18,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 3,000 students See also *New England Colle ...

joined the GNAC as an associate member for women's swimming & diving, effective in the 2021-22 academic year. * 2022 - New England (Me.) left the GNAC as an associate member for women's swimming & diving, effective after the 2021-22 academic year. * 2022 -

Mitchell College Mitchell College is a private college in New London, Connecticut. In Fall 2020 it had an enrollment of 572 students and a faculty of 68. Admission rate was 70%. The college offers associate and bachelor's degrees in fourteen subjects. Academ ...

and

New England College New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the ...

both accepted an invitation to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference for the 2023-24 season.

Member schools

Current members

The GNAC currently has 14 full members, all but one are

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

schools: ;Notes:

Future members

The GNAC will have two new full members, also

schools.

Associate members

The GNAC currently has five associate members, all but two are

schools:

Former members

The GNAC had eight former full members, all were

schools: ;Notes:

Former associate members

The GNAC had two former associate members, which were also

schools:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1995 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text: Albertus Magnus (1995–present) bar:2 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2008 text: Daniel Webster (1995–2008) bar:3 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text: Emmanuel (Mass.) (1995–present) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2013 text: Emerson (1995–2013) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1995 till:1999 text: Endicott (1995–1999) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text: Johnson & Wales (1995–present) bar:7 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2012 text: Pine Manor (1995–2012) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text: Rivier (1995–present) bar:9 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text: Saint Joseph (Conn.) (1995–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:1995 till:end text: Simmons (1995–present) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1995 till:2020 text:

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

(1995–2020) bar:12 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text:

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

(1998–present) bar:13 color:FullxF from:1998 till:2008 text: Southern Vermont (1998–2008) bar:14 color:FullxF from:1998 till:2007 text: Western New England (1998–2007) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2007 till:end text: Lasell (2007–present) bar:16 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2018 text:

Mount Ida In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida (Crete), Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida (Turkey), Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which wa ...

(2007–2018) bar:17 color:FullxF from:2007 till:end text: Saint Joseph's (Me.) (2007–present) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2008 till:2021 text: Elms (2008–2021; swimming & diving) bar:18 color:FullxF from:2021 till:end text:(2021–present; full) bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2008 till:end text: Husson (2008–present; swimming & diving) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2008 till:end text:

(2008–present; men's golf) bar:21 color:AssocOS from:2008 till:end text: Southern Maine (2008–present; men's golf) bar:22 color:FullxF from:2011 till:end text: Anna Maria (2011–present) bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2011 till:end text: Wentworth (2011–present; men's volleyball) bar:24 color:AssocOS from:2012 till:end text: UMass–Darthmouth (2012–present; men's golf) bar:25 color:FullxF from:2017 till:end text: Regis (Mass.) (2017–present) bar:26 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Colby–Sawyer (2018–present) bar:27 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:2020 text:

Eastern Nazarene The Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) is a Private university#United States, private, Christian college in Quincy, Massachusetts. Established as a Holiness Movement, holiness college in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1900, the college moved to Rhode Isla ...

(2018–2020; men's tennis) bar:28 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text: Dean (2020–present) bar:29 shift:(-20) color:AssocOS from:2021 till:2022 text: New England (Me.) (2021–2022; women's swimming) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1996

Sports

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division III conference navbox