MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg Chancellor Mukund Kulkarni announced that the college has accepted an invitation to join the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC). Penn State Harrisburg’s athletic teams will begin competition in the CAC in the 2013-14 academic year.
“The intercollegiate athletics program at Penn State Harrisburg has grown significantly in the last seven years,” said Chancellor Mukund Kulkarni. “We have established and maintained an environment where our student-athletes’ activities are conducted as an integral part of the total educational experience, and where coaches play a significant role as educators outside the classroom. In joining the Capital Athletic Conference, the college offers our students another opportunity to compete at a high level while pursuing their Penn State education.”
The CAC was formed in 1989, and is a coalition of four-year, co-educational institutions with similar educational and athletic philosophies. Penn State Harrisburg will join the CAC as a full member at the same time as Christopher Newport University and Southern Virginia University, which announced its membership intentions earlier this summer. Current CAC members include Frostburg State University, the University of Mary Washington, Marymount University, Salisbury University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Wesley College, and York College of Pennsylvania.
“We are thrilled to accept membership within the CAC,” said Penn State Harrisburg Director of Athletics Rahsaan Carlton. “This is a great fit for our college. Our student athletes have excelled in the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) and this move will only help to enhance our athletic programs. The CAC has a history of great competition and we look forward to developing new relationships and rivalries with the member schools.”
The Capital Athletic Conference strives “to develop a harmony of good feeling and a spirit of competitive sportsmanship, fellowship, and uniformity of practice among member institutions. Conference members are required to operate their intercollegiate athletic programs under the highest ethical standards and to maintain a program consistent with the overall educational philosophy of the member institutions.”
Penn State Harrisburg, in 2007, became a provisional member of the NCAA Division III and a NEAC member. The Lions became full NCAA D-III members in 2010.