University Athletic Association Explained

The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The eight members are Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, New York University, The University of Chicago, University of Rochester, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Academics

All UAA member schools are private, and ranked in the top 50 of national research universities by U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges Rankings. Historically, the division was colloquially called the "egghead eight", or "nerdy nine" when Johns Hopkins was a member. This stems both from the academic strength of the member schools, and the fact that the conference prioritizes academic achievement over athletic prowess.^{[1] [2]} The UAA was the only NCAA conference to have all of its member institutions affiliated with the Association of American Universities, a collection of 65 Ph.D.-granting research institutions, with 63 in the United States and two in Canada, from 2011, when Nebraska joined the previously all-AAU Big Ten, until 2019 when Dartmouth became the last Ivy League institution to join the AAU.^[3]

History

Chronological timeline

• 1986 - In 1986, the University Athletic Association (UAA) was founded. Charter members included Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, The University of Chicago, the University of Rochester, and Washington University in St. Louis, effective beginning the 1986-87 academic year.
• 1987 - Brandeis University joined the UAA, effective in the 1987-88 academic year.
• 2001 - Johns Hopkins left the UAA to fully align all its sports into the Centennial Conference, effective after the 2000-01 academic year.
• 2018 - The UAA dropped football as a sponsored sport, due to its members joining on other athletic conferences for that sport as affiliates or associates, effective after the 2017 fall season (2017-18 academic year).

Member schools

Current members

The UAA currently has eight full members, all are private schools:

Institution	Location	Founded	Undergraduate enrollment	Total enrollment	Nickname	School colors	USNWR Ranking	Endowment (Billion)[4]	Joined	Fall 2020 acceptance rate[5]	Alumni median starting salary[6]
Brandeis University	Waltham, Massachusetts	1948	3,608	5,788	Judges		44	$1.07	1987	31%	$50,600
Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1900	6,673	10,875	Tartans		22	$2.67	1986	22%	$110,000[7]
Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	1826	6,186	12,266	Spartans		44	$2.35	1986	27%	$61,300
Emory University	Atlanta, Georgia	1836	6,861	12,755	Eagles		22	$7.94	1986	15%	$54,600
New York University	Manhattan, New York	1831	26,135	42,189	Violets		25	$5.8	1986	15%	$54,400
University of Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	1890	5,941	14,788	Maroons		6	$11.6	1986	6%	$54,400
University of Rochester	Rochester, New York	1850	6,386	9,735	Yellowjackets		36	$3.71	1986	29%	$54,800
Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	1853	7,540	13,527	Bears	[8]	15	$15.3	1986	14%	$57,300

Notes:

Former member

The UAA had one former full member, which was also a private school:

Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20

Period = from:1986 till:2026

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal

PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#

Colors =

id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two

PlotData=

width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:Carnegie Mellon (1986–present)

bar:2 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:Case Western Reserve (1986–present)

bar:3 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:Chicago (1986–present)

bar:4 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:Emory (1986–present)

bar:5 color:Full from:1986 till:2001 text:Johns Hopkins (1986–2001)

bar:6 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:NYU (1986–present)

bar:7 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:Rochester (1986–present)

bar:8 color:Full from:1986 till:end text:WashU (1986–present)

bar:9 color:Full from:1987 till:end text:Brandeis (1987–present)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1986

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Football capacity	Basketball arena	Basketball capacity	Baseball stadium	Baseball capacity	Soccer stadium	Soccer capacity
Brandeis	Non-Football School	N/A	Auerbach Arena	2,500	Stein Diamond	500	Gordon Field	1,000
Carnegie Mellon	Gesling Stadium	3,900	Wiegand Gymnasium	1,000	Non-Baseball School	N/A	Gesling Stadium	3,900
Case Western Reserve	DiSanto Field	2,500	Horsburgh Gym	1,200	Nobby's Ballpark	500	DiSanto Field	2,500
Chicago	Stagg Field	1,650	Gerald Ratner Athletics Center	1,900	J. Kyle Anderson Field		Stagg Field	1,650
Emory	Non-Football School	N/A	Woodruff P.E. Center	2,000	Chappell Park (baseball); George F. Cooper, Jr. Field (softball)		Woodruff P.E. Center
NYU	Non-Football School	N/A	Coles Sports Center	1,900	Maimonides Park	7,500	Gaelic Park	2,000
Rochester	Fauver Stadium	5,000	Louis Alexander Palestra	1,889	Towers Field		Fauver Stadium	5,000
WashU	Francis Field	3,300	Field House	3,000	Kelly Field		Francis Field	3,300

Sports

The UAA sanctions competition in the following sports:

Men's	Women's
Baseball
Basketball
Cross Country
Golf
Soccer
Softball
Swimming & Diving
Tennis
Track and field (indoor)
Track and field (outdoor)
Wrestling
Volleyball

Participation

Men

	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Fencing	Football	Golf	Soccer	Squash	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field	Volleyball	Wrestling	Total
Brandeis														8
Carnegie Mellon														8
Case Western Reserve														9
Chicago														9
Emory														8
NYU														11
Rochester														10
WashU														8
Total	7	8	8	2	5	4	8	1	8	8	8	1	3

References

1. Web site: UAA ECS. www.elitecollegesports.com . July 28, 2017.
2. Web site: Emory Women's Soccer. emorywomenssoccer.weebly.com . September 27, 2017.
3. Book: Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values. William G.. Bowen. Sarah A. . Levin. Princeton University Press. 2011. 9781400840700. 32.
4. Web site: usnews.com National University Rankings - Endowment.
5. Web site: usnews.com National University Rankings - Fall 2016 Acceptance Rate.
6. Web site: usnews.com National University Rankings - Alumni Median Starting Salary.
7. Web site: Carnegie Mellon University Post-Grad Dashboard.
8. Web site: Washington University in St. Louis New Logotype . PDF . Washington University in St. Louis: University Libraries.