in 1957, and received her MFA from the Yale Drama School in 1960. She was briefly married to Albert Amateau.

Russ taught at Queensborough Community College from 1966 to 1967, at Cornell from 1967 to 1972, SUNY Binghamton, from 1972 to 1975, and at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1975 to 1977. In 1977 she started teaching at