Academy of Art University Athletics

Having enjoyed much success during her tenure as Academy of Art's head women's golf coach, Elaine Harris, a continued member of the Alliance of Women's Coaches, begins her fifth season at ART U.

The Urban Knights enjoyed numerous successes under Harris in her fourth season as the women's golf head coach. Under her reign, Sterling Hawkins was named the 2016-17 PacWest Women's Golfer of the Year. This was just the second time that ART U saw one of their players given this distinction and both occurrences were under the tutelage of Harris. Meanwhile, five Knights were given All-PacWest Awards and the team produced three individual champions and two team champions while reaching NCAA Regionals for the fourth time. Not only did team perform well on the course, but they excelled in the classroom as well. With a collective grade point average of 3.32, women's golf earned their second-consecutive ARTY award for highest team GPA. 

In 2015-16, her third third season as head coach, Harris coached the team to a highly successful year and was named PacWest Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. The women's golf team made their third NCAA Regional appearance under her watch and saw an individual qualify for the NCAA National Championship for the second-straight year. Furthermore, ART U placed within the top five in seven out of eight tournaments which included a tie for first at the California Baptist Invite. The Urban Knights reached as high as sixth in the region and 18th in the nation while producing three PacWest Golfers of the Week.  

Year two under Harris saw Academy of Art University capture a total of five top-three finishes including first overall at the CBU Invitational and third in the PacWest Championship Tournament. Harris would be named PacWest Co-Coach of the Year while guiding Crystal Wang to the 2015 NCAA West Regional Tournament Championship and further than any ART U women's golfer to date into NCAA Nationals. Eventual 2015 WGCA All-West Region Team recipient, Wang added Co-PacWest Player of the Year and All-PacWest First Team to her resume in 2014-15 as well. Adding to the Urban Knights' depth, Freshman of the Year and the All-PacWest First Team's Shu-Lin Lin captured WGCA All-West Region Team honors as well. Sophomore Roxanne Matta completed a dynamic trio as an All-PacWest Second Team recipient.

In her first season (2013-14), ART U earned a pair of second-place finishes at California Baptist's Victoria Club Intercollegiate and Chico State's Lindsay Olive Wildcat Invitational (senior Deanna Tyndall earned second after a tiebreaker) before taking third in the PacWest Conference Championship Tournament. Freshman Crystal Wang, an All-PacWest First Team honoree, finished second overall in the season finale at PacWest while both Mariana Pazos and Melissa Genao were All-PacWest Second Teammers. 

Before joining Academy of Art, Harris helped start the women's golf program at St. Ignatius High School in 2001 and led the team to a CIF State Championship in only two years. After that she was a four-time letter-winner at Indiana University, earning a spot on the National Golf Coaches Association All-Central Region team in 2007 and leading her team to the NCAA Division I National Championship in Daytona, FL. That year she also traveled around Asia as a member of the NCAA All-Star Golf Team/Asia Tour, making stops in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and China.

After she earned her bachelor's degree in Communications with a minor in Spanish, Harris was a coach and mentor at First Tee of San Francisco. During this time she started working with the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, a San Francisco based non-profit that mobilizes golfers across the Bay Area to keep the Alister MacKenzie designed Sharp Park Golf Course open to the public. Harris also started her work in fundraising, running golf tournaments for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, the San Francisco Police Activities League and the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance. 

Along with her extensive golf career, Harris has a variety of experience within the Bay Area community with a focus on local politics and public service. She worked in numerous roles in the South Bay and also for the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.