USC names Gretchen Means Title IX Director

Gretchen Dahlinger Means, formerly serving as an expert for sexual assault and complex litigation in the United States Marine Corps, was appointed as the executive director of the Office of Equity and Diversity and USC’s Title IX Coordinator Thursday.

The decision was announced in a memorandum sent out on by Todd Dickey, the senior vice president for administration.

Means’ job will include “[leading] our compliance and training efforts related to Title IX, the Violence Against Women Act and equal opportunity and affirmative action regulatory requirements,” Dickey said in the memorandum.

In the Marine Corps, Means served primarily in the Western Region. She established domestic violence and sexual assault protocols that are now implemented nationwide across the Corps.

Additionally, she has experience in training lawyers and others in legal professions.

Means will supervise investigations into reported incidents of harassment and discrimination based on protected characteristics cited in the USC Codes of Conduct.

Means, who has a background in the legal profession as a deputy district attorney in San Diego, earned her J.D. from the UC Hastings College of Law.

Means will be working primarily with Dickey, as well as with Janis McEldowney, the associate senior vice president for human resources.

This announcement comes in the midst of an ongoing federal Title IX investigation that was launched at USC in 2013.