Iowa Wesleyan College has submitted its application to become a provisional member of the NCAA. If accepted, the school will begin its exploratory year for the 2012-2013 academic year. The application was submitted to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis on Dec. 16, 2011.
Iowa Wesleyan was an NAIA affiliate, but gave up that status to pursue membership within the NCAA and St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Webster University competes in the SLIAC.
Earlier in December, the SLIAC Presidents’ Council, which is comprised of the SLIAC schools’ nine presidents, approved the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers as the conference’s 10th member. Iowa Wesleyan will participate in 10 conference-sponsored sports. It will be the newest school to join the SLIAC since Spalding University in 2009.
The specific numbers of the Presidents’ Council vote have not been revealed. Iowa Wesleyan received a majority vote of three-fourths approval from the Presidents’ Council.
“I was present there, but I have no idea (in regards to the specific numbers),” said Linda Buchanan, Iowa Wesleyan’s vice president and dean for student life. “They just welcomed us to the conference.”
The NCAA’s deadline for application submittal was Jan. 15. The process for Iowa Wesleyan was “pretty straight forward” and a form was submitted to Indianapolis, Buchanan said.
The NCAA will inform Iowa Wesleyan of its decision, but the approximate timeframe for the announcement is not yet known. If Iowa Wesleyan is accepted into the NCAA, the newest SLIAC member will begin conference play in the 2013-2014 academic year.
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