Mary Dunnewold

Mary Dunnewold brings more than 20 years of experience in educational environments to her work with colleges and universities. As a Senior Director with Ballast, she helps institutional leaders navigate Title IX and civil rights matters through independent investigations, practical guidance, policy development, and professional development.  

Mary's approach is shaped by years spent working within education. Before focusing her work on higher education investigations and consulting, she spent more than two decades as a law school instructor and administrator. That experience gave her firsthand insight into how educational institutions operate—and how people, policies, relationships, communication, and institutional priorities intersect when difficult situations arise. 

Today, Mary works closely with Title IX Coordinators, administrators, and other campus professionals as an investigator, advisor, and trainer.  

She has extensive experience conducting Title IX investigations, including matters involving multiple parties and complex factual circumstances. Mary has conducted hundreds of interviews with students, faculty, staff, complainants, respondents, and witnesses. Her investigative experience also includes broader matters involving bias and discrimination. 

That depth of experience informs a thoughtful, human-centered approach. Mary understands that an effective investigation requires more than following a prescribed process. It requires careful listening, objectivity, sound judgment, clear communication, thorough documentation, and respect for everyone involved. 

Mary also serves as a trusted resource to campus leaders throughout complaint and resolution processes. Her work includes reviewing and developing Title IX and related institutional policies and procedures, conducting external reviews, and helping institutions translate evolving requirements into practices that make sense within their particular campus environments. 

Education remains an important part of Mary's work as well. Drawing on her background as an educator, she provides professional development for Title IX Coordinators, investigators, hearing boards, and other campus professionals. Her approach focuses not simply on communicating information, but on helping participants understand how to apply it when real situations arise. 

Across each engagement, Mary begins by listening—to the people involved, to institutional leaders, and to the circumstances surrounding the matter. She combines investigative experience with an educator's ability to ask thoughtful questions and make complex information understandable. 

The result is guidance grounded not only in what policies and requirements say, but also in how educational institutions and the people within them actually work.