Established 1979 | Association NCAA | |
Division Division I non-football Members 13 (full: 9; associate: 4) Sports fielded 18 (men's: 7 sports; women's: 11 sports) Region Northeastern United States(plus California in field hockey) |
The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA Division I, whose members are located mainly in the Northeastern United States. The conference was known as the Eastern College Athletic Conference-North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from 1988 to 1996.
Contents
History
The America East Conference was founded as the Eastern College Athletic Conference-North, a men's basketball-only athletic conference in 1979. The charter members were the University of Rhode Island, the College of the Holy Cross, Canisius College, Niagara University, Colgate University, Northeastern University, Boston University, the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont. Many other events have occurred since its formation:
Full members
There are nine schools with full membership:
Associate members
There are currently four schools with associate membership. All are in California, and moved their field hockey teams into the America East in July 2015. A fifth associate member, from Virginia, will be added in men's and women's swimming & diving in the 2017–18 school year.
Former associate members
Three schools have had single-sport membership in the past. Two of these, Fairfield and Providence, moved their America East sports into their all-sports conferences. The third, NJIT, left when it joined a conference that sponsored its America East sport.
Membership timeline
Full members (non-football) Other Conference Other Conference
Sports sponsored
The America East Conference sponsors championship competition in seven men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The most recent change to the roster of America East sports was announced in 2016, with the revival of men's swimming and diving effective in the 2017–18 school year.
Men's sports
Women's sports
Facilities
The conference does not sponsor football. Four members have football programs, all of which compete in the Colonial Athletic Association: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, and Stony Brook.
The conference does not sponsor ice hockey. Members who participate in that sport (UMass Lowell for men only, and Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont for both men and women) do so as members of Hockey East.