The United East Conference is adding four schools from the Atlantic East Conference as full members starting July 1, 2027, a move that will grow the United East to 17 full members and effectively bring the standalone Atlantic East to an end.
Centenary (N.J.) University, Gwynedd Mercy University, Immaculata University, and Marymount (Va.) University will join the United East following a roughly nine-month joint assessment between the two conferences’ presidents and commissioners. That review originally set out to explore whether larger conferences needed better access to automatic postseason qualifiers while the two leagues remained separate, but leadership on both sides ultimately concluded that folding all the programs into a single conference offered a more stable environment for member schools and their athletes.
“While the outcome of our work differs from our initial goal, it was clear in every discussion that our campus leaders are most committed to ensuring their student-athletes have a positive conference experience in a stable and competitive environment,” United East Commissioner Stephanie Dutton said, thanking presidents and chancellors from both conferences for their work over the past nine months.
The move comes after the Atlantic East had already lost half its membership: Marywood University and Neumann University left for the Middle Atlantic Conferences following the 2025–26 academic year, leaving only the four schools now headed to the United East.
United East Presidents’ Council Chair Dr. Wesley Fugate, president of Wilson College, called the addition a reflection of the conference’s “shared commitment to placing student-athletes first,” while Gwynedd Mercy University President Deanne D. D’Emilio said the larger conference would bring stability and a higher level of competition for her school’s athletes.
In the meantime, the two conferences will keep running a shared sports partnership through the 2026–27 academic year, covering field hockey, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s volleyball, and women’s lacrosse. Men’s lacrosse joins that list in spring 2027, with the top team from each conference meeting in a crossover championship for the Atlantic East’s automatic postseason bid.
Once the four schools officially join, the United East is projected to be among the largest conferences in NCAA Division III, with sport sponsorship growing to 23 offerings after men’s and women’s swimming and diving are added for 2027–28. Conference leadership says it will finalize a new scheduling and postseason format in the coming months, including a possible return to a divisional structure, with details to be announced before the 2027–28 academic year begins.
