NAC to become Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, unveils new logo

Release written by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

WAUKESHA, Wis. -- The Northern Athletics Conference, in preparation for the 2013-14 academic year, has unveiled its new logo and will officially make the league the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference on July 1, 2013.

The NAC Council of Chief Executive Officers approved the new mark and name earlier this year.

The league shares its current NAC acronym with its fellow NCAA Division III conference, the North Atlantic Conference, which often causes confusion at the national level and within the media. The North Atlantic Conference has had its current name since fall of 1999 and became a NCAA member league in 2002.

"We were looking to add some color and uniqueness to the logo from the current colorless one, and thought we would concurrently make the name change to help alleviate the mix-ups with the North Atlantic Conference," Commissioner Steve Larson said.

The league, which began its first season of competition the '06-07 academic year, is comprised of all NCAA Division III member schools from the shared-border states of Illinois and Wisconsin. This year will mark just the second change in membership, and first since Milwaukee School of Engineering joined the 12 charter schools in '07-08, as Maranatha Baptist Bible College officially withdraws from the conference on June 30, to become a Division III independent.

The NACC's members include: Alverno College, Aurora University, Benedictine University, Concordia University Chicago, Concordia University Wisconsin, Dominican University, Edgewood College, Lakeland College, Marian University, MSOE, Rockford College (to become Rockford University on July 1) and Wisconsin Lutheran College.