Chronological timeline

• 1972: The GLIAC began competition in the 1972-73 academic year.^[1] The charter members were Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Lake Superior State University, Northwood Institute (now Northwood University) and Saginaw Valley State University. Initially the GLIAC competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
• 1974:
  • Women's programs became part of the GLIAC, effective in the 1974–1975 academic year.
  • Oakland University joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1974–1975 academic year.
• 1975: Hillsdale College, Northern Michigan University and Wayne State University joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1975–1976 academic year. Northern Michigan continued to play football as an NCAA Division II independent.
• 1977: Northern Michigan left the GLIAC, effective after the 1976–1977 academic year.
• 1980: Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1980–1981 academic year.
• 1986: Michigan Tech left GLIAC football effective in the 1986-1987 academic year, but remained in the conference in other sports.
• 1987:
  • Northwood left the GLIAC, effective after the 1986–1987 academic year.
  • Northern Michigan re-joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1987–1988 academic year.
• 1989–1990: The GLIAC dropped football as a sponsored sport, effective after the 1989–1990 academic year.
• 1992: Northwood re-joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1992–1993 academic year.
• 1994: On December 14, 1994, Ashland University, Gannon University and Mercyhurst College (now Mercyhurst University) joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1995–1996 academic year.
• 1997:
  • Oakland left the GLIAC to become a Division I Independent, effective after the 1996-1997 academic year. (Oakland later joined the Mid-Continent Conference, effective in the 1998–1999 academic year).
  • The University of Findlay joined the GLIAC, effective in the 1997–1998 academic year.
• 1999: The GLIAC reinstated football as a sponsored sport by merging with the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (MIFC). The only non-GLIAC member of the MIFC, the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) became a football-only affiliate of the GLIAC, effective in the 1999 fall season (1999–2000 academic year).
• 2001: Indianapolis added men's and women's swimming & diving to its GLIAC affiliate membership, effective in the 2001–2002 academic year.
• 2004: Lewis University joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming and diving, effective in the 2004–2005 academic year.
• 2007: On June 20, 2007, Tiffin University joined the GLIAC, effective in the 2008–2009 academic year.
• 2008: Gannon and Mercyhurst left the GLIAC to join the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), effective after the 2007–2008 academic year.
• 2010: Lake Erie College and Ohio Dominican University joined the GLIAC, effective in the 2010–2011 academic year.
• 2012:
  • Malone University and Walsh University joined the GLIAC, effective in the 2012–2013 academic year.
  • Notre Dame College joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for some sports (football, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, and wrestling), effective in the 2012–2013 academic year.
  • Alderson Broaddus University, Urbana University and Wheeling Jesuit University joined the GLIAC as affiliate members for women's lacrosse, effective in the 2013 spring season (2012–2013 academic year).
• 2013:
  • Notre Dame (OH) left the GLIAC as an affiliate member to move its sports into its new primary conference home in the Mountain East Conference, effective after the 2012–2013 academic year.
  • UIndy and Lewis left the GLIAC as affiliate members for men's and women's swimming & diving, effective after the 2012–2013 academic year.
  • Ursuline College joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for women's lacrosse and women's swimming & diving, effective in the 2012–2013 academic year.
• 2014:
  • Urbana and Wheeling Jesuit left the GLIAC as affiliate members for women's lacrosse, effective after the 2014 spring season (2013–2014 academic year).
  • McKendree University joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for women's lacrosse, effective in the 2015 spring season (2014–2015 academic year).
• 2015:
  • Alderson Broaddus and Ursuline left the GLIAC as affiliate members for women's lacrosse, effective after the 2015 spring season (2014–2015 academic year).
  • UIndy added women's lacrosse to its GLIAC affiliate membership, effective in the 2016 spring season (2015–2016 academic year).
• 2016:
  • Malone left the GLIAC to join the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), effective after the 2015–2016 academic year.
  • Ursuline left the GLIAC as an affiliate member for women's swimming & diving, effective after the 2015–2016 academic year.
• 2017:
  • Findlay, Hillsdale, Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican and Walsh left the GLIAC to join the G-MAC, effective after the 2016–2017 academic year.
  • Davenport University and Purdue University–Northwest joined the GLIAC, effective in the 2017–2018 academic year.
  • Concordia University, St. Paul joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for men's lacrosse, effective in the 2018 spring season (2017–2018 academic year).
• 2018:
  • Tiffin left the GLIAC to join the G-MAC, effective after the 2017–2018 academic year.
  • The University of Wisconsin–Parkside joined the GLIAC, effective in the 2018–2019 academic year. It also adopted the new athletic brand name of Parkside.
  • Three institutions joined the GLIAC as affiliate members: Lewis and Maryville University for women's lacrosse, and St. Cloud State University for men's swimming and men's swimming & diving, effective in the 2018–2019 academic year.
• 2019:
  • UIndy, Lewis, Maryville and McKendree left the GLIAC as affiliate members for women's lacrosse, effective after the 2019 spring season (2018–2019 academic year).
  • Upper Iowa University joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for men's soccer and women's lacrosse, effective in the 2019–2020 academic year.
• 2021:
  • Ashland left the GLIAC to join the G-MAC, effective after the 2020–2021 academic year.
  • Augustana University joined the GLIAC as an affiliate member for men's swimming & diving, effective in the 2021–2022 academic year.
• 2022:
  • Northwood left the GLIAC for a second time to join the G-MAC, effective after the 2021–2022 academic year.
  • Roosevelt University announced it would join the GLIAC, effective in the 2023–2024 academic year. Although Roosevelt will join the conference as a provisional member, it will continue to compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) in 2023–2024 before beginning competition as a full GLIAC member in July 2024.
  • Upper Iowa announces its intent to move to the Great Lakes Valley Conference in all sports after the 2022–2023 academic year, including its GLIAC affiliated sports of women's lacrosse and men's soccer.

Current members

The GLIAC currently has 10 full members; all but one are public schools:

Notes

Future members

Notes

Affiliate members

The GLIAC currently has three affiliate members, all but one are private schools:

Former members

The GLIAC had 13 former full members; all but one are private schools:

Notes

Former affiliate members

The GLIAC had nine former affiliate members, all were private schools. School names and nicknames reflect those in use in the final season each school was an affiliate:

Notes

Membership timeline

The GLIAC dropped football after the 1989 fall season (1989–1990 school year) and resumed it for the 1999 fall season (1999–2000 school year).

 Full member (all sports)   Full member (non-football)   Associate member (football-only)   Associate member (sport) 

Men's sponsored sports by school

Departing members in pink.

More information School, Baseball ...

School	Baseball	Basket­ball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field Indoor	Track & Field Outdoor	Total GLIAC Sports
Davenport	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	9
Ferris State		Y	Y	Y	Y			Y	Y	Y	7
Grand Valley State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Lake Superior State		Y	Y		Y			Y	Y	Y	6
Michigan Tech		Y	Y	Y				Y		Y	5
Northern Michigan		Y		Y	Y	Y	Y				5
Parkside	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y			Y	Y	7
Purdue Northwest	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	8
Saginaw Valley State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	9
Wayne State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y			7
Totals	6	10	9	7	9	5	4	7	7	8	72
Affiliate Members
Augustana							Y				1
St. Cloud State						Y	Y				1
Future Member
Roosevelt	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	9

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Women's sponsored sports by school

Departing members in pink.

More information School, Basketball ...

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & field Indoor	Track & field Outdoor	Volleyball	Total GLIAC Sports
Davenport	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Ferris State	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Grand Valley State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Lake Superior State	Y	Y	Y					Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Michigan Tech	Y	Y			Y			Y		Y	Y	6
Northern Michigan	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y	9
Parkside	Y	Y			Y	Y			Y	Y	Y	7
Purdue Northwest	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Saginaw Valley State	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Wayne State	Y	Y	Y			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	10	10	8	3	8	7	5	8	9	10	10	96
Affiliate Member
Concordia–St. Paul				Y								1
Future Member
Roosevelt	Y	Y			Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	8

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Other sponsored sports by school

Future member in yellow

In addition to the above:

• Davenport has varsity teams in esports (coeducational) and the women-only cheerleading discipline of STUNT. It will add men's and women's varsity teams in the flying disc sport of ultimate in 2023–24.
• Michigan Tech and Purdue Northwest have coeducational varsity esports teams.
• Northern Michigan recognizes esports (fully coeducational) as a varsity sport. Also, the university hosts an official U.S. Olympic training center for men's and women's weightlifting; all participants in this program are enrolled at NMU, and are recognized as varsity athletes.
• Roosevelt recognizes ACHA (club) D1 and D2 men's hockey as well as ACHA women's hockey within its athletic department.