The Great Lakes Valley Conference has invited William Jewell College to be the league’s 16th member, pending the school’s completion of the reclassification process into Division II.

William Jewell, currently a member of the NAIA, was admitted into the first year of the two-year candidacy period for Division II membership in July. Prospective Division II members also must complete a year of provisional membership before achieving active status.

GLVC officials said William Jewell will begin regular-season competition and be eligible for select GLVC championships during the 2011-12 academic year. The school will be eligible for postseason competition in most GLVC sports by 2012-13. (The delay in postseason eligibility coincides with the institution’s eligibility for NCAA Division II championships.)

William Jewell is located in Liberty, Missouri, and along with Rockhurst University, will be one of two GLVC institutions in the Kansas City area. The college sponsors 18 sports, including seven “core” sports that are sponsored by the GLVC (men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, baseball and softball). The Cardinals also sponsor men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s golf.

William Jewell was a charter member of the NAIA Heart of America Athletic Conference and has been competing in that league since 1971. The Cardinals have captured 96 conference titles and were the first NAIA program to reach 500 football victories.

GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich said the fact that William Jewell will boost league membership to 16 – and the school’s geographic proximity to Rockhurst – will allow the conference to move forward with divisional scheduling in soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, softball and baseball beginning in 2011-12.

The GLVC, which was established in 1978, includes 16 institutions from five Midwestern states. Current members are Bellarmine, Drury, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lewis, Maryville (Missouri), Missouri S&T, Northern Kentucky, Quincy, Rockhurst, Saint Joseph’s (Indiana), Illinois-Springfield, Indianapolis, Missouri-St. Louis, Southern Indiana and Wisconsin-Parkside.

The GLVC last expanded in 2008 with the addition of Maryville and Illinois-Springfield. The addition of William Jewell will mark the first time in its history the GLVC has had 16 members.