The Midwest Conference (MWC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Midwest Conference was created in 1994 with the merger of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, which had been sponsoring men's sports since 1921, and the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women, which was formed in 1977.
History
Midwest Conference
110km 68miles
Beloit
MSOE
St. Norbert
Chicago
Luther
Cornell College
Illinois College
Lake Forest
Grinnell
Monmouth
Ripon
Lawrence
Knox
Location of Midwest members: current, future, affiliate
The MWC split into North and South divisions for football, men's and women's tennis, baseball, and softball from 2012 through 2016. Divisional play ended with the departure of Carroll after the 2015–16 school year,[1] and resumed for football only with the addition of the University of Chicago as an affiliate member for the 2017–18 season.[2] St. Norbert left in 2021 for the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.[3]
On March 11, 2025, the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSoE) announced that it would join the MWC as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming & diving, beginning the 2025–26 winter season.[4]
1992 – Carroll College (now Carroll University) joined the MCAC in the 1992–93 academic year.
1994 – The MCAC has rebranded when the conference merged with the women's-only Midwest Athletic Conference for Women (MACW; founded since the 1977–78 school year) to become the Midwest Conference (MWC), effective beginning the 1994–95 academic year.
1997 – Coe and Cornell left the MWC to join the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (now the American Rivers Conference [A-R-C]) after the 1996–97 academic year.
2012 – Cornell rejoined the MWC in the 2012–13 academic year.
2014 – Macalester College joined the MWC as an affiliate member for football in the 2014 fall season (2014–15 academic year).
2017 – The University of Chicago rejoined the MWC, but as an affiliate member for football in the 2017 fall season (2017–18 academic year).
2018 – U. of Chicago added baseball into its MWC affiliate membership in the 2019 spring season (2018–19 academic year).
2021:
St. Norbert left the MWC as a full member to join the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) after the 2020–21 academic year. St. Norbert would remain as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming & diving.
Macalester left the MWC as an affiliate member for football after the 2020 fall season (2020–21 academic year).
2024 – U. of Chicago left the MWC as an affiliate member for baseball after the 2024 spring season (2023–24 academic year).
2025 – The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSoE) joined the MWC as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming & diving in the 2025–26 academic year.
2026 – Luther College will join the MWC, beginning the 2026–27 academic year.
Member schools
Every member in the history of the MWC and its predecessor conferences, whether full, affiliate, current, or former, has been a private school.
^Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
^Cornell left the MWC to join the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC; now known as the American Rivers Conference) after the 1996–97 school year; before rejoining in the 2012–13 school year.
