the great south athletic conference was founded in 1999 as a group of national collegiate athletic association (ncaa) division iii member institutions from the southeast with similar academic and athletic interests. charter members included fisk university, lagrange college, maryville college, piedmont college and stillman college. in 2002, huntingdon college and women’s colleges agnes scott college and wesleyan college were granted membership. in 2003, spelman college and wesleyan (ga.) were admitted to the gsac on a provisional basis and given full membership status in 2005. salem college, a women’s school in winston-salem, north carolina, became the conference’s eighth member for the 2009-10 season. covenant college, located on top of lookout mountain in northwest georgia, joined the conference in spring 2010 and began playing in fall 2010, while completing its requirements for ncaa division iii provisional status. stillman, a charter member, dropped out of the conference following the 2001-02 season, now currently competing in the ncaa division ii southern intercollegiate athletic conference (siac); while fisk, another charter member, dropped out of the conference following the 2005-06 season, to compete in the gulf coast athletic conference (gcac) of the national association of intercollegiate athletics (naia).