Conferences: The American Southwest Conference has announced that the University of Texas at Tyler will join the league August 1, 2003. The addition brings the ASC to 16 members. Texas-Tyler, which was selected in the recent Division III provisional drawing as a member of the 2003-04 provisional class, begins conference affiliation in the 2003-04 academic year and is eligible to compete for ASC division titles in all sports, plus conference championships in men's and women's cross country, golf, tennis, and track and field. Student-athletes and coaches also will be eligible for all-conference, all-division and all-academic honors and other individual awards presented by the league. Texas-Tyler is scheduled to complete its four-year provisional membership in the 2006-07 academic year when the school will be eligible to compete in NCAA and ASC championship tournaments. "The University of Texas at Tyler administration and coaching staff have shown a strong commitment to the NCAA Division III philosophy," said ASC Commissioner Fred Jacoby. "They are compatible with our membership academically and geographically, and continue our mission to provide a broad, diversified, competitive athletics program for student-athletes." Texas-Tyler will compete in the eight-school ASC East Division with Austin College, East Texas Baptist University, LeTourneau University, Louisiana College, Mississippi College, University of the Ozarks and University of Texas at Dallas. West Division members Concordia University at Austin, Hardin-Simmons University, Howard Payne University, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, McMurry University, Schreiner University, Sul Ross State University and Texas Lutheran University complete the American Southwest Conference ... The Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation has accepted Manhattanville College as a member of the Freedom Conference for field hockey, effective immediately. The addition of Manhattanville brings the membership of the Freedom Conference to seven, which makes the conference eligible to receive an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament field. Current members of the Freedom Conference for field hockey are Delaware Valley College; Drew University; Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham; King's College (Pennsylvania); the University of Scranton; and Wilkes University. "Joining the Freedom Conference could not come at a better time for our field hockey program," said Manhattanville Director of Athletics Keith Levinthal. "Given the resurgence of field hockey on our campus and the success we enjoyed last season, this move will be an exciting new challenge for our student-athletes and coaches." The Middle Atlantic Corporation, which serves as an umbrella for the Middle Atlantic, Commonwealth and Freedom Conferences, is the oldest and largest Division III conference holding NCAA associate membership.

Miscellaneous: Hiram College has unveiled a new athletics logo as the school prepares to break ground on its new multimillion-dollar sports, recreation and fitness center. "We feel this is the appropriate time to offer a fresh new look to Hiram athletics," said Director of Athletics Tom Mulligan. "With ground about to be broken on our new recreation center, as well as many positive changes and improvements occurring across the Hiram campus, it's a very exciting time on Hiram Hill and we wanted the new logo to be a part of that excitement." The new logo, designed by Hiram graphic designer Kimberly Torda and former all-American Gary Lipski, features a more contemporary image of the Terrier mascot and a different typeface. The package is the first of its kind for the department in its 106-year history. Though known as the Terriers since 1928, Hiram teams had never had one official, unifying look. Over the years, teams have featured a solid "H," an interlocking "HC," several different versions of a terrier or a paw print. "This new package gives Hiram athletics a unified look and a professional feel," Mulligan said. "It also allows us to bring uniform colors back to one standard of red and blue and give a consistent look across all athletic teams." The new Terrier is set on a navy background outlined in red with white typeface. The new logo also features a modernized, interlocking "HC" and "Terrier" script. The new logo will begin to appear on all athletics team apparel beginning this fall.