The Great American Conference (GAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, with headquarters located in Russellville, Arkansas. Athletic competition began play during the 2011–12 school year. Its twelve all-sports member schools are located in Arkansas and Oklahoma in the South Central United States. In addition, the conference has four affiliate members in men's soccer, two of which are in Kansas. History The conference's charter members previously competed in the Lone Star Conference (East Central University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University) and the Gulf South Conference (Arkansas Tech University, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Arkansas University) before forming the GAC in 2010. The new conference is intended to reduce travel costs for its member universities. On May 11, 2011, the conference invited Northwestern Oklahoma State and Southern Nazarene University to the conference for the 2012–13 academic year. Those universities continued to compete in the Sooner Athletic Conference during the 2011–12 season before joining the conference. As of July 11, 2014, the NCAA Division II Membership Committee recommended the membership application for Oklahoma Baptist University to set up the move from the NAIA to NCAA Division II and it joined the conference for the 2015–16 season. The GAC and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) announced a partnership in June 2018 to combine their men’s tennis and men’s soccer leagues in both sports from the 2019–20 academic year. Under the agreement, the MIAA will organize the tennis league and the GAC will organize the soccer. Chronological timeline 2011 - The Great American Conference (GAC) was founded. Charter members included six schools from the state of Arkansas (Arkansas Tech University, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Arkansas University from the Gulf South Conference); and three schools from the state of Oklahoma (East Central University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Southwestern Oklahoma State from the Lone Star Conference), effective beginning the 2011-12 academic year. 2012 - Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Southern Nazarene University joined the GAC, effective in the 2012-13 academic year. 2015 - Oklahoma Baptist University joined the GAC, effective in the 2015-16 academic year. 2015 - Oklahoma Christian University and Rogers State University joined the GAC as affiliate members for men's and women's outdoor track