Heartland Conference Adds New Members (12/21/05)
(Courtesy of Heartland Conference Media Relations)

WACO, TX - Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas and The University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas will join the Heartland Conference effective the beginning of the 2006-2007 academic year, announced Heartland Conference commissioner Tony Stigliano and conference president Dr. Charles Cotrell.

Both schools are currently members of the NAIA Red River Athletic Conference and are spending the 2005-2006 year as exploratory members of the NCAA. Texas-Permian Basin's move from the NAIA to the NCAA and membership in the Heartland Conference must be approved by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System. TAMIU's transition has already been approved.

"We are very excited that both of these fine institutions have accepted our invitation to join the Heartland Conference," said Stigliano. "Texas A&M International and Texas-Permian Basin are well respected Universities with strong academic and athletics programs. Both institutions believe in the mission and goals of the Heartland Conference with regard to the academic and athletic development of the student-athlete, and will fit in extremely well with our current members."

UT Permian Basin, founded in 1973 and with a current enrollment of approximately 2,200, has been a member of the NAIA since 1995 and has competed in the Red River Athletic Conference since 1998. The women's volleyball team was the University's first intercollegiate team. The University currently offers 13 intercollegiate sports. Women's sports include volleyball, cross country, soccer, basketball, swimming, softball and track. Men's sports include cross country, soccer, basketball, swimming, baseball and track. Dr. David Watts serves as UTPB's president and Steve Aicinena is the university's athletics director.

Texas A&M International began its athletics program in 2002-2003 and sponsors intercollegiate teams in men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf and women's volleyball.

The university's athletics program will expand with the addition of baseball in 2006-2007. Texas A&M International has been a member of the Red River Athletic Conference since it began athletics. TAMIU's president is Dr. Ray M. Keck and Dr. Stephen P. Garippa is the athletics director. The university was founded in 1970 and enrolls approximately 3,200 students.

The Heartland Conference is a NCAA Division II conference, founded in 1999, that currently consists of eight schools, four from Texas, and one each from Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The schools comprising the Heartland Conference stretch from as far north as Billings, Montana, as far south as San Antonio, Texas, as far east as Jefferson City, Missouri, and as far west as Silver City, New Mexico. The Conference stretches over a distance of 1600 miles north to south and 1200 east to west.

The schools that are the Heartland Conference include founding members St. Edwards University (Austin, Texas), University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas), St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Texas), and Lincoln University (Jefferson City, Missouri), and expansion members Dallas Baptist University (Dallas, Texas) in 2002 and again in 2004, Panhandle State University (Goodwell, Oklahoma) in 2002, Montana State University - Billings (Billings, Montana) in 2005 and Western New Mexico University (Silver City, New Mexico) in 2005.

Western New Mexico has resigned its membership in the Heartland Conference effective the end of this academic year to return to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. With the addition of UTPB and TAMIU, the Heartland Conference will have nine members.

The Heartland Conference is the newest of the NCAA Division II conferences. At the present time, there are 24 conferences in NCAA Division II, totaling almost 300 institutions in full or provisional status across the nation.