- Bard College - Institutional Website
- Bard College - Athletics Website
- Polytechnic University - Institutional Website
- Polytechnic University- Athletics Website
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Skyline Conference commissioner Tracy King has announced that Bard College and Polytechnic University have accepted invitations to join the Division III conference as full members commencing with the 2007-08 academic year.
“Bard College and Polytechnic University are two outstanding institutions that will greatly enhance the Skyline Conference membership,” said King. “Our members have competed against Bard and Poly in non-conference play for a number of years and have seen how these programs have grown. We welcome the student-athletes and staff members from these institutions and look forward to their active participation in the conference.”
Bard College, located in the Hudson Valley in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., is one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. Bard currently sponsors 11 intercollegiate sports - basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis and volleyball for women; and basketball, cross country, soccer, squash, tennis and volleyball for men.
Polytechnic University, located in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the second-oldest private engineering school in the United States. Polytechnic sponsors 14 varsity sports - basketball, cross country, judo, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball for women; and baseball, basketball, cross country, judo, soccer, tennis and volleyball for men.
Both Bard and Polytechnic have had past relationships with a number of the current Skyline Conference institutions. Both schools had been members of the Independent Athletic Conference (which disbanded in 1995) and the Hudson Valley Men’s and Women’s Athletic Conferences.
“Like a number of other conferences in the region, the Skyline Conference has undergone a period of realignment during the past year,” said King. “With Bard College, Polytechnic University, Purchase College and Russell Sage College joining the Skyline Conference, we feel that we have identified a group of institutions that are committed to the student-athlete experience and will be a good long-term fit for our conference.”
Russell Sage College joined the Skyline Conference in April while Purchase College accepted the conference’s invitation for membership in July.
The Skyline Conference is an NCAA Division III conference that sponsors 16 sports - eight each for men and women. Beginning in 2007-08, the conference membership will consist of 11 institutions in New York - Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.), Farmingdale State University (Farmingdale, N.Y.), Maritime College (Throggs Neck, N.Y.), Mount Saint Mary College (Newburgh, N.Y.), College of Mount Saint Vincent (Riverdale, N.Y.), College at Old Westbury (Old Westbury, N.Y.), Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Purchase College (Purchase, N.Y.), Russell Sage College (Troy, N.Y.), St. Joseph’s College (Patchogue, N.Y.) and Yeshiva University (New York, N.Y.).
The Skyline Conference currently receives automatic bids to NCAA Division III championships in men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball. The conference anticipates receiving bids in golf, men’s tennis and men’s lacrosse in 2006-07.