The Pacific West Conference came out of the 1992 merger of the men’s Great Northwest Conference and the women’s Continental Divide Conference. After an exodus of mainland schools in 2005, the four remaining Hawai’ian schools received an NCAA exemption while they recruited new member schools.
Holy Names ceased operations at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, and was replaced by Westmont that summer, while NAIA schools Jessup, Menlo and Vanguard all moved to the NCAA and joined the conference in 2024 with provisional status. Academy of Art ceased all intercollegiate athletics following the 2025 baseball season. Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific have announced they are leaving the conference after the 2026 baseball season.
The conference currently has 13 members. All but Dominican compete in baseball, and six of those schools are in Southern California (highlighted in bold):
- Azusa Pacific
- Biola
- Chaminade of Honolulu
- Concordia
- Fresno Pacific
- Hawai’i Hilo
- Hawai’i Pacific
- Jessup University
- Menlo College
- Point Loma Nazarene
- Vanguard University
- Westmont