Ellert was born in Holyoke, Mass., and attended UMass as an undergraduate. He then went on to study at Heidelberg University and Columbia University before receiving an MA from Amherst College and a PhD from Stanford. Ellert taught at UMass from 1958–1983 and was one of the key founders of the Massachusetts Review journal. He was an avid translator of 19th-century German poetry and a compassionate teacher. Ellert passed in 1983.
Brauner was born in Hofheim, Germany. She studied at the University of Frankfurt where she received a BA and then immigrated to the United States. Brauner completed her PhD at the University of California Berkeley in 1989 and joined UMass as a faculty member later that year. She was an outstanding teacher and served on the executive committee of the Woman's Studies Program at UMass until her death in 1992.