The sports become the 17th and 18th intercollegiate varsity teams at Penn, joining baseball, competitive dance, football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's track, softball, volleyball, and wrestling.

Penn becomes just the 19th NAIA institution to sponsor bowling and only the third school in the Midwest Collegiate Conference to do so, joining Viterbo (Wis.) and St. Ambrose, both of whom will also begin competition next fall.

"William Penn University is excited to add men's and women's bowling to our list of intercollegiate sports," Hafner said. "We feel there is a great deal of interest for many student-athletes across the region to compete at this level. Our goal is to put together competitive teams for the fall of 2009. A search will begin immediately to have a coach hired by January."

According to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), the national governing body for the sport, 19 states sponsor high school bowling at the varsity level, while an additional 30 states sponsor it at the club level. The state of Iowa only sponsors girls' bowling, but more than 1,000 girls are involved in the sport throughout 75 different high schools.

The intercollegiate bowling regular season runs from October-February with postseason competition from March-May. Over 70 intercollegiate bowling tournaments are supported by the USBC Collegiate nationwide.

The University has reached an agreement with Mahaska Bowl to be the practice facility for the programs.

For more information on intercollegiate bowling, visit the USBC website at www.bowl.com/college