Getting to Know the Truman State University Bulldogs

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. & KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (June 8, 2012) – Truman State University (Mo.) is the newest member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) after the league’s Council of Presidents voted unanimously Thursday to accept the Truman Bulldogs into the conference.  The Bulldogs will begin play in the GLVC in all sports beginning in the fall of 2013, competing as the league’s 16th member.

“The GLVC Council of Presidents unanimously endorsed Truman State University’s application for membership because of their tremendous portfolio in both academics and athletics, which has been enhanced in recent years by the outstanding leadership of University President Troy Paino,” said Dr. Thomas George, Chancellor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Chair of the GLVC Council of Presidents.

Founded in 1867, the public liberal arts and sciences university boasts more than 6,000 students on its Kirksville campus, located in northeastern Missouri.

“We are pleased to be joining this great Division II conference,” said Paino. “Truman has taken this step because of our geographic location, academic fit and a broader access to conference championship events for our student-athletes."

Truman will be the seventh Missouri school to join the GLVC since 1995 and the sixth to do so in the past eight years.

“This is an exciting time for the University and this move will not only help us establish and renew rivalries with fellow GLVC schools, but it will also bring the Bulldogs to areas in which we recruit students and have high concentrations of alumni,” said Director of Athletics Jerry Wollmering.

Truman will be joining three other GLVC schools who are among 24 institutions nationally that have more than a 90 percent academic success rate.

“The Great Lakes Valley Conference is pleased to welcome Truman State University to one of the premier NCAA Division II conferences in the country,” said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich.  “The success that Truman has displayed both in the classroom and on the field will be a tremendous fit in the GLVC.  As the conference landscape has shifted in recent years, the GLVC has looked to identify and admit schools within the league’s geographic footprint that will strengthen the conference both academically and athletically.  We have found a leader in both fields in Truman and we welcome the entire Bulldog family with open arms.”

The GLVC was established in 1978 and is currently one of the largest NCAA Division II conferences in the country, featuring 16 schools and 18 sports, including the addition of football this fall.  The conference was established primarily in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky but has moved westward to include four Illinois schools, six Missouri schools and one school from Wisconsin among its membership.  The current members of the GLVC are:  Bellarmine University (Louisville, Ky.), Drury University (Springfield, Mo.), Kentucky Wesleyan College (Owensboro, Ky.), Lewis University (Romeoville, Ill.), Maryville University (St. Louis, Mo.), McKendree University (Lebanon, Ill.), Missouri University of Science & Technology (Rolla, Mo.), Quincy University (Quincy, Ill.), Rockhurst University (Kansas City, Mo.), Saint Joseph’s College (Rensselaer, Ind.), University of Illinois Springfield (Springfield, Ill.), University of Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Ind.), University of Missouri-St. Louis (St. Louis, Mo.), University of Southern Indiana (Evansville, Ind.), University of Wisconsin-Parkside (Kenosha, Wis.) and William Jewell College (Liberty, Mo).

The addition of Truman marks the league’s fourth expansion in the past five years. Maryville and Illinois Springfield joined the GLVC in 2008 and William Jewell became a member in 2009. McKendree University was admitted to the league in 2010 and will begin competing in the GLVC for the first time in 2012-13. With the departure of current member Kentucky Wesleyan in May 2013 (admitted to new Division II Great Midwest Athletic Conference), Truman will officially be the league’s 16th member when it begins competition in the fall of 2013.

Truman currently  supports 20 sports, including all seven of the GLVC ‘core’ sports (men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball) in addition to men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s golf.  Truman no longer competes in GLVC-sponsored men’s golf, but does boast wrestling and men’s and women’s swimming – a sport that the GLVC is determined to sponsor in the future.

Specific details regarding scheduling, divisions and travel partners will be determined with GLVC officials during the months ahead.  The Bulldogs will compete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association for the upcoming 2012-13 academic year.

"While we are excited about joining the GLVC and believe it is in the best interest of Truman moving forward, it has not been an easy decision to leave the MIAA," said Paino. "We are honored to be a founding member of that great athletic conference and look forward to celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year."