Russell Frank is a folklorist by training and a journalist by trade. He worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in California and Pennsylvania for 13 years before joining the journalism faculty at Penn State in 1998. Though he loves many things about his life as a college professor, he misses the newsroom terribly. He keeps his connection to that world by writing a regular column for the local news site, StateCollege.com, and by freelancing. His work has also been published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and other newspapers and magazines. A collection of his columns, Among the Woo People: A Survival Guide for Living in a College Town, was published in 2017. He has twice been a Fulbright Scholar, in Ukraine in 2012-13, and in Greece in 2019-20.

On the personal side, he is an excellent crossword solver, a terrible guitar player, an adoring father/stepfather of five adult children, and an adoring grandfather of two baby girls. He hates airports, airplanes, and airlines. If he could, he would walk everywhere. For this reason, his beloved can usually talk him into backpacking in Yosemite National Park when their schedules permit. His favorite place on Earth, though, is Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California. Actually, it’s a tie between Point Reyes and New York City, where he was born and raised. He is happiest when he is outside. Unless it’s really cold.