Dr. Melanie Russell has been an English professor with Eastern Arizona College since 2007 and an adjunct professor with Arizona State University since 2015. Born and raised on a small cotton farm here in southern Arizona, Dr. Russell graduated from Thatcher High School in 1992. She then attended EAC on a music scholarship, where she played the quads as part of EAC’s drum line. Later Dr. Russell attended Northern Arizona University, earning both her bachelor’s degree in Learning & Pedagogy and her master’s degree in English Studies. In 2019, she earned her Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Sheffield. Any student who has taken a class from Dr. Russell knows that she loves Star Wars, Hockey, Las Vegas, Disney, and Pugs. She and her husband, EAC professor Dr. Scott Russell, have 10 children, 10 grandchildren, and 4 pugs.