Upper Iowa joining Great Lakes Valley Conference

FAYETTE — Upper Iowa University is on the move.

The Peacocks, currently in the Northern Sun Conference, have been admitted to the Great Lakes Valley Conference, starting with the 2023-24 athletics season.

The GLVC announced the membership Tuesday, following a vote of approval by the GLVC Council of Presidents.

"Throughout the evaluation process, our institutional representatives were impressed with UIU's passion, enthusiasm, and focus on the student-athlete experience,“ Sue Thomas, Truman State University president and Chair of the GLVC Council of Presidents, said in a news release. ”We welcome the Peacocks to the GLVC family."

Upper Iowa will become the 14th member of the GLVC.

“We are quite pleased to welcome Upper Iowa University as the newest member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference,” said.

“Their addition to the GLVC for the 2023-24 academic year will expand the league's geographic footprint into the state of Iowa and provide scheduling stability for sports such as football and wrestling,” GLVC commissioner Jim Naumovich said in the release.

Upper Iowa has been competing in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference since 2006 and has been a member of NCAA Division II since 2003 when it reclassified from Division III.

“We greet this move to the Great Lakes Valley Conference with a great deal of excitement and energy,” Upper Iowa President William R. Duffy said in the release.

The Peacocks sponsor 18 of the GLVC's 24 sports, including all seven of the league's core sports — baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, softball and volleyball. UIU also will compete in women's bowling, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, women's lacrosse, women's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field and wrestling.

Additionally, the Peacocks sponsor a coed program in cheer and dance, as well as shotgun sports.

“The move to the GLVC allows us to bring all our NCAA-sponsored sports into the same conference,and we look forward to joining this great league for competition in the fall of 2023,” athletics director Rick Hartzell said in the release.

The GLVC is one of the largest NCAA Division II conferences in the country, featuring 13 schools and 24 sports. The conference was established in 1978 and made up of six schools in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, but has moved westward to include four Illinois schools and eight Missouri schools among its membership.

The current members are Drury University (Springfield, Mo.), University of Illinois Springfield (Springfield, Ill.), University of Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Ind.), Lewis University (Romeoville, Ill.), Maryville University (St. Louis, Mo.), McKendree University (Lebanon, Ill.), Missouri University of Science & Technology (Rolla, Mo.), University of Missouri-St. Louis (St. Louis, Mo.), Quincy University (Quincy, Ill.), Rockhurst University (Kansas City, Mo.), Southwest Baptist University (Bolivar, Mo.), Truman State University (Kirksville, Mo.) and William Jewell College (Liberty, Mo).