Alice Costandina “Dina” Titus was born in 1950 to Betty and Joe Titus in Georgia. She received her undergraduate education at the College of William and Mary, her Master’s from the University of Georgia, and her doctorate from Florida State University. She taught political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, researching nuclear power and atomic culture. She married Tom Wright, a history professor at UNLV, in 1979. Voters elected her to first public office in 1988, the Nevada State Senate.