8 small Southern colleges, 2 from Ga., form new conference

ATLANTA -- Eight small private colleges across the South are forming a new athletic conference. <br /> <br /> The new conference will include private colleges in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. It will begin in July 2012. <br /> <br /> The announcement was made in Atlanta on Tuesday. Officials have not yet named the conference. <br /> <br /> The conference will focus on small liberal arts colleges in the Southeast to help reduce travel time and costs for teams and focus on academics.<br /> <br /> Jay Gardiner, athletic director at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, will serve as the conference's interim commissioner.<br /> <br /> Other colleges in the conference: Hendrix College in Arkansas, Millsaps College in Mississippi, Rhodes College in Tennessee, the University of the South in Tennessee, Berry College in Georgia, Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama and Centre College in Kentucky.