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]
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:
^All of the universities listed above are founding members except Brandeis, which joined shortly before official competition began in October 1987.[5]Johns Hopkins University was a founding member, but no longer participates in the UAA.
^Brandeis had dual athletic conference membership with the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference from 1987–88 to 1994–95, then the Judges' women's sports left the NEWMAC in order to fully align with the UAA, along with its men's sports.
^Case Western Reserve had dual athletic conference membership with the North Coast Athletic Conference from 1986–87 to 1998–99, then the Spartans left the NCAC in order to fully align with the UAA.
^Rochester has dual athletic conference membership with the Liberty League since the 1995–96 school year.
Former member
The UAA had one former full member, which was also a private school:
^Johns Hopkins had dual athletic conference membership with the Middle Atlantic Conferences from 1986–87 to 1991–92, and later with the Centennial Conference from 1992–93 to 2000–01, then the Blue Jays left the UAA in order to fully align with the Centennial Conference.
^Brandeis discontinued its football program in May 1960.[10] President Abram Sachar pointed to the cost of the team as one reason for the decision.[10]