Mary Rauner is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd. As part of the Regional Educational Laboratory West, she is the alliance lead for the California Rural Partnerships (CRP) Alliance and the Arizona Partnerships for Education and Career Success (APECS) where she focuses on the ways in which cross-sector partnerships can improve post-secondary access, persistence, and completion for low and middle-income students. Dr. Rauner has also been researching and consulting with College Promise programs in California and across the nation since 2015.

Dr. Rauner brings a rich background to REL West at WestEd with 20 years of research, evaluation, strategic planning, and teaching/coaching experience in a wide range of organizational settings, including local and federal government and the nonprofit, academic, and private sector.

Dr. Rauner holds an MA in Sociology, and MA in International Educational Development, and a PhD in Education from Stanford University.