Stephanie W. Rowland - Grand Rapids, MI

Stephanie W. Rowland started her legal career in Pima County, Arizona, where she worked as a prosecutor handling both misdemeanor and felony criminal cases. She later moved to Virginia and accepted a position with Longwood University, where she discovered a passion for higher education and working with and on behalf of students. She became integrally involved in the university’s Title IX administration, which would become her life’s work. She served as the Director of Student Conduct and Title IX Coordinator at Longwood University, and then as the Title IX Coordinator at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for seven years. Immediately prior to joining SBBL Law, Stephanie worked for another law firm that specialized in Title IX and Student Conduct law.

Stephanie is located in Arizona and represents students, staff, and faculty as both complainants and respondents in Title IX cases nationwide. She serves as a knowledgeable and skilled advocate for clients and their families from kindergarten through the college level. She has a deep knowledge of how to leverage the complexities of the Title IX regulations and school policies to protect her clients’ rights—whether they have been accused of or the victim of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination. She represents Title IX clients throughout the school’s investigation, as well as any hearing and appeal. When schools do not follow the Title IX process, Stephanie continues advocating for her clients through the complaint filing and mediation process in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Stephanie prides herself on working with students, faculty, and staff in a compassionate, empathetic, and nonjudgmental manner. Through hundreds of interactions throughout her career, she has learned how to explain the complicated bureaucracy of Title IX and other conduct-related university services in an understandable way. She has extensive knowledge of Title IX regulations, policies, and procedures and how these systems should work. Her number one goal is to ensure that individuals’ rights are protected and that every person is treated fairly and with respect, which includes holding schools and colleges accountable for providing the full suite of rights afforded under Title IX’s complex system of regulations.