Moon Township, Pa. - Robert Morris University women's hockey head coach Paul Colontino announced Monday the promotion of Ashley Harper to volunteer assistant coach.

A 2011 Mercyhurst graduate, Harper worked under Colontino for three years (prior to coming to RMU) and played for him during the 2010-11 season at Mercyhurst.  During the 2011-12 campaign, Harper served as the hockey operations manager for the Colonials. 

"We are very excited to keep Ashley as a part of the Robert Morris family for another year," Colontino said.  "She contains a wide variety of skill sets both on and off the ice that will largely benefit both the program and our Colonial student-athletes."

Harper served as a student-manager for the Lakers during her freshman, sophomore and junior years.  In her role as student-manager, she was in charge of video operations and coordinating numerous fundraisers among other administrative duties.

During her senior campaign, Harper was added to the roster for the Lakers as a goalie.  In 2011, Harper received the CHA Student-Athlete of the Year award, posting a perfect 4.0 GPA as a history major. As a four-year affiliate of Mercyhurst, Harper and the Lakers took home four straight CHA championships.

Last season as hockey operations manager for the Colonials, Harper handled off-ice organizational duties, planned team travel and managed team-based game-day operations and equipment maintenance.

Before joining the staff at Robert Morris Harper, served as an on-ice instructor for USA Hockey and Mid-America district camps.  Harper worked as an on-ice and off-ice conditioning coach at Okanagan Hockey Academy Europe in St. Pölten, Austria.  The Okanagan Hockey Academy Europe provides a unique combination of a first-class Canadian hockey program along with an international education at a state of the art boarding facility. 

"It is extremely exciting to have the opportunity to join the Robert Morris coaching staff," Harper said.  "After spending last season working with the team behind-the-scenes, I'm looking forward to the transition to working with them more on the ice. Serving as the volunteer assistant coach for the Colonials will serve as a great learning experience.  I could not ask to work with a better group of coaches and players, and I look forward to the start of the season."

Harper is currently working on her Master's of Science at Robert Morris with a concentration in education.