AMCC CELEBRATING 20 YEARS IN 2016-17

The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference will mark 20 years of collaboration and competition in the 2016-17 academic year.

"With a shared vision of striving for the highest level of athletic achievement combined with excellence in scholarship, sportsmanship and service, the AMCC is excited to celebrate the many achievements of the student-athletes and coaches of our member institutions over the past two decades," said commissioner Donna Ledwin.

Anniversary events and activities will include:
- a new conference logo and updated website
- community service events linked to all AMCC championship tournaments
- a celebratory video, which will debut in January
- a year-long series of stories marking the top 20 events in conference history 
- 20th anniversary recaps of the top individual competitors in every league championship sport

The AMCC was formally established in February 1997 (photo, right) under the leadership of the founding president, Dr. Richard McDowell, President of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.  The league consisted of six colleges and universities in or near Western Pennsylvania.  In addition to Pitt-Bradford, the original members included Penn State Behrend, La Roche College, the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Frostburg State University (MD) and Lake Erie College (OH).  Penn State Altoona joined one year later.

Competition began with 12 championships: men's and women's cross country; men's and women's soccer; men's golf; women's volleyball; men's and women's basketball; baseball; softball; and men's and women's tennis.  Leadership positions rotated annually among the eight member institutions.

The desire to grow in both membership and sport sponsorship led to the hiring of Ledwin as the AMCC's first commissioner in 2002.  The conference achieved NCAA Division III status in 2002-03 and was began competing with automatic qualification to national tournaments that same year. Membership expansion began in 2005 to include Hilbert College and Medaille College, followed by Mount Aloysius College (2006), Franciscan University (2008), and D'Youville College (2009).  Lake Erie College withdrew in 2008 as they chose to reclassify to NCAA Division II, while Frostburg State ended their affiliation in 2010 to become part of the Capital Athletic Conference.

The addition of both full and affiliate members enabled the conference to add more championships.  Men's and women's swimming and diving were established in 2006-07 with Cabrini College coming on board as an affiliate member and Alfred State University joining this coming year.  In 2013-14 women's bowling began its inaugural season, and the AMCC became the first Division III conference to sponsor bowling as a championship sport. (New Jersey City University was added as an affiliate member in 2015-16, with Thiel College invited to join the league in 2016-17.)  Men's volleyball became a conference sport in 2013-14 as well, with plans to expand with an automatic bid opportunity in the near future.  And in 2016-17, men's and women's lacrosse will debut as the AMCC's 17th and 18th championships. 

As the conference has expanded, so has the need to provide administrative support, and Nicole Babik Slatcoff was hired as the conference's assistant commissioner and sports information director in 2014.

The AMCC has continuously demonstrated its commitment to the NCAA Division III philosophy.  The league's presidents, chancellors, athletic directors and faculty athletics representatives recognize the multi-faceted efforts of its student-athletes throughout its 20 year history, always keeping in mind its mission statement "to provide our students with an intercollegiate athletics program that advances their educational experience in a way that is safe, equitable, respectful, rewarding and balanced."

To that end, the conference recognizes not only athletic achievements through the Presidents Cup competition but also academic accomplishment (Institutional Peak Performer, Team Peak Performers, Academic All-Conference Teams, FAR Award), sportsmanship, and community service.  As we mark this important milestone, the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference is proud to celebrate our rich history and we look forward to sharing both memories and future plans throughout the year.