The Atlantic East Conference is an
intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA)
Division III and is located in the
Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
History
Beginning play in July 2018, the league consists of seven private universities, each former members of either the Capital Athletic Conference, since renamed the
Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C), or the
Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC).
The charter members consisted of
Cabrini University,
Gwynedd Mercy University,
Immaculata University,
Marymount University,
Marywood University,
Neumann University and
Wesley College.
On May 31, 2018, Jessica Huntley was named the inaugural commissioner of the Atlantic East.
On September 16, 2019, the AEC announced its first affiliate member,
St. Mary's College of Maryland, who would participate in field hockey starting in the 2020–21 season. This will ultimately be St. Mary's only season in AEC field hockey, as that school will join the
North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC), which sponsors that sport, for 2021–22 and beyond. The
United East Conference (formerly NEAC), reversed their decision to add field hockey, thus St. Mary's remained as an affiliate in the sport.
On November 19, 2019, it was announced that
William Paterson University will become an affiliate member in men's golf starting in the 2019–20 season.
On January 12, 2020, it was announced that
Cedar Crest College would join the AEC as an affiliate member in women's swimming & diving.
On August 17, 2020 and August 19, 2020, it was announced that
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school ...
and
St. Mary's College of Maryland, respectively, would also become an affiliate member in men's and women's swimming and diving.
On July 9, 2020,
Delaware State University announced that it would acquire
Wesley College starting in the 2021–22 school year, due to the financial struggles Wesley faced due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
On June 18, 2021,
Centenary University announced its move to Atlantic East from the CSAC also in 2021–22. Centenary is the conference's first non-Catholic member institution.
On June 29, 2021,
New Jersey City University announced that it would be joining the Atlantic East as an affiliate member in men's and women's golf starting in the 2021–22 season.
In 2023, the conference announced that it would add women's flag football as a fully sponsored sport, with the first season planned for spring 2025. The first season took place on the announced schedule, with the initial membership consisting of full members Centenary, Immaculata, Marymount, and Neumann and associate members
Eastern University;
NCAA Division II member
Holy Family University
Holy Family University is a Private university, private Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1954 and has four schools: Arts & Sciences, Business & Technology, Education, and Nursing & Health Scie ...
; and
Penn State Schuylkill, a member of the
United States Collegiate Athletic Association instead of the NCAA. In 2025–26, full conference member Marywood will add the sport, and another Division II member,
Chestnut Hill College, will join as an associate member. The AEC is the first NCAA conference to officially sponsor flag football.
Chronological timeline
* 2018 – The Atlantic East Conference was founded. Charter members included
Cabrini University,
Gwynedd Mercy University,
Immaculata University,
Marymount University,
Marywood University,
Neumann University and
Wesley College, beginning the 2018–19 academic year.
* 2019 –
William Paterson University joined the Atlantic East as an associate member for men's golf in the 2020 spring season (2019–20 academic year).
* 2020 – Three institutions joined the Atlantic East as associate members, all effective in the 2020–21 academic year:
**
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school ...
for men's and women's swimming & diving
**
St. Mary's College of Maryland for field hockey and men's and women's swimming & diving
** and
Cedar Crest College for women's swimming and diving
* 2021:
** Wesley (Del.) left the Atlantic East after the 2020–21 academic year; as the school announced that it would be acquired by
Delaware State University, therefore ceasing operations.
**
Centenary College of New Jersey (now Centenary University) joined the Atlantic East in the 2021–22 academic year.
**
New Jersey City University (NJCU) joined the Atlantic East as an associate member for men's and women's golf in the 2022 spring season (2021–22 academic year).
* 2023:
** New Jersey City (NJCU) left the Atlantic East as an associate member for men's and women's golf after the 2023 spring season (2022–23 academic year).
** The Atlantic East announced that it would add women's flag football as a fully sponsored sport, with a planned start date of the 2025 spring season (2024–25 academic year).
* 2024:
** Two institutions left the Atlantic East as associate members, both effective after the 2023–24 academic year:
*** St. Mary's (Md.) for field hockey
*** and William Paterson for men's golf
** Cabrini left the Atlantic East after the 2023–24 academic year; as the school announced that it had been sold to nearby
Villanova University
Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...
and had ceased operations.
**
Pratt Institute joined the Atlantic East in the 2024–25 academic year.
** Also in the 2024–25 academic year, the Atlantic East became the first NCAA conference to sponsor women's flag football as a varsity sport.
* 2025 –
Saint Elizabeth University will join the Atlantic East in the 2025–26 academic year.
* 2026 – Neumann will leave the Atlantic East to join the
Middle Atlantic Conferences, beginning the 2026–27 academic year.
Member schools
Full members
The AEC currently has seven full members, all are
private schools:
;Notes:
Future members
The AEC will have one future full member, also a
private school:
;Notes:
Associate members
The AEC currently has six associate members, three being
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
schools, one being a privately governed but state-supported institution, and the rest being private schools.
;Notes:
Future associate member
The AEC will have one future associate member, also a
private school:
;Notes:
Former members
The AEC had two former full members, both
private schools:
;Notes:
Former associate member
The AEC had three former associate members, all were
private schools.
;Notes:
Membership timeline
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id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used
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width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:2018 till:2024 text: Cabrini (2018–24)
bar:2 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Gwynedd Mercy (2018–present)
bar:3 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Immaculata (2018–present)
bar:4 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Marymount (2018–present)
bar:5 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Marywood (2018–present)
bar:6 color:FullxF from:2018 till:2026 text: Neumann (2018–2026)
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text: MAC
bar:7 color:FullxF from:2018 till:2021 text: Wesley (2018–2021)
bar:8 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:2024 text: William Paterson (m.golf, 2019–2024)
bar:9 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text: Cedar Crest (w.swim., 2020–present)
bar:10 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text: Galluadet (m.&w.swim., 2020–present)
bar:11 color:AssocOS from:2020 till:end text: St. Mary's (Md.) (f.h., 2020–2024; m.&w.swim., 2020–present)
bar:12 color:FullxF from:2021 till:end text: Centenary (N.J.) (2021–present)
bar:13 color:AssocOS from:2021 till:2023 text: New Jersey City (m.&w.golf, 2021–2023)
bar:14 color:AssocOS from:2022 till:end text: Manhattanville (f.h., 2022–present)
bar:15 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text: Pratt (2024–present)
bar:16 color:FullxF from:2025 till:end text: Saint Elizabeth (2025–future)
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text:^"Atlantic East Conference membership history"
#> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space.
<#
Sports
The Atlantic East sponsored 20 sports at its launch—nine for men and 11 for women. The conference has since added flag football as a 12th women's sport.
Men's sponsored sports by school
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Atlantic East Conference that are played by Atlantic East schools
Women's sponsored sports by school
;Notes
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Atlantic East Conference that are played by Atlantic East schools
References
External links
*
{{NCAA Division III conference navbox