Marissa Moses Russ ’94 —Distinguished Alum

When Distinguished Alumni Award winner Marissa Moses Russ took the stage at Harding’s graduation ceremony on May 27, she told the graduates in the audience, “I encourage you to take what you have learned at Harding and give back to your community. It is so rewarding to support and be a part of the success and growth of the community in which you live.”

Marissa should know. For the last several years she has contributed to the Nashville community both through her professional accomplishments and volunteer activities. As the Distinguished Alumni Award acknowledges, Marissa embodies the thoughtful, lifelong learner and responsible, caring citizen of the Harding Mission Statement.

A graduate of Tulane University and the University of Tennessee College of Law, she is a partner at Townsend & Russ, PLLC, practicing family law. A member of the American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Nashville Bar Association, and Lawyer’s Association for Women, she is one of the founders of the new Middle Tennessee Collaborative Alliance, an organization created to bring a collaborative law approach to divorce cases. Notes Marissa, “It is a team approach that is tailored to the needs of each individual family and instead of a judge making important decisions for your family’s lives and futures, the parties collaboratively can make those decisions for themselves and their family.” The process is in the very early stages of development in Tennessee, but has been very successful in other states. Says Marissa, “I believe that it will advance the legal profession with respect to family law cases and will positively serve the families who involve themselves in this process.”

Marissa, who has volunteered for the Nashville Symphony, her secondary school alma mater, Harpeth Hall, and her children’s preschool on the advisory board, has focused much of her volunteer efforts at Harding, where she has served on the Alumni Board and the 40th Anniversary Committee. As for her involvement at Harding, she says, “I did not need much motivation. I cherished my experience at Harding and being back in the same community, I, of course, wanted to give back and serve Harding in any capacity that I was needed.”

While her education at Harding has served her well professionally, Marissa says that the school’s influence goes beyond academics. As the mother of two children under the age of three, she notes, “Absolutely the lessons I learned at Harding have influenced the kind of mom that I am today. I aspire to teach Miriam and Eli how to be good citizens in our community and beyond.”