Tri-State University will host its first Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association conference on May 15 since becoming a provisional member of the MIAA, a Division III National Collegiate Athletic Association conference, four years ago. TSU will earn full NCAA status in the fall. The MIAA is the oldest collegiate athletic conference in the country.

The conference governing meeting in May rotates its location through all nine member schools year after year, with host duties falling to the university whose president leads the MIAA that year. This year, TSU President Earl D. Brooks II, Ph.D., presides over the MIAA. Annual meetings in November and January take place at Albion College because of its central location in the conference.

MIAA Conference Commissioner Dave Neilson will co-preside with Dr. Brooks at the meeting. The conference will gather together a group, the Board of Control, consisting of the university president, men and women athletic directors, and men and women faculty athletic representatives (FARS), from each school—Saint Mary’s College, Adrian College, Alma College,  Albion College, Kalamazoo College, Hope College, Calvin College, Olivet College, and TSU. Neilson attends all three annual meetings to assess the issues and act as liaison between the three groups

Groups will meet separately in the morning to discuss various topics to be put to a vote by the combined groups in the afternoon, said Rob Harmon, TSU assistant athletic director. Subjects up for deliberation can include schedule changes, the addition of new sports, and a range of other actions which impact sports in the conference.