CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State women's basketball head coach Kate Peterson Abiad announced the hiring of Kelly Bruce as the director of basketball operations Monday, with Bruce's duties beginning immediately.

"I'm happy to welcome Kelly to our Cleveland State women's basketball program," Peterson Abiad said. "Kelly set herself apart during our interview process with her experience as it relates to the operations position, as well as her personality which fits well with the group of coaches we have on staff. She is young and eager and has a desire to serve this program."

Bruce joins the Viking coaching staff after a two-year stint as a graduate assistant coach at Division III Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pa.

While at Penn State Behrend, Bruce was responsible for a multitude of things, including recruiting, film breakdown and exchange, game planning, budget management, and student manager supervision.

Prior to her time at Penn State Behrend, Bruce was a two-year student assistant at Mount Union, where she organized the scout team during practices, tracked specific statistics during games and helped run practice drills.

Bruce spent her collegiate playing career at Mount Union, playing just two seasons before a knee injury cut her collegiate career short. Bruce graduated from Mount Union in 2015 with a degree in psychology, and later earned a masters in business administration from Penn State in 2017.