Holly Clemons
Running for: Co-Chair
In no more than 500 words, please introduce yourself and describe why you would like to serve in the chair position(s) you chose (please separate your answers for each position, making sure to label them), describing how you will contribute to the specific goals of the committee.
Hi everyone! My name is Holly Clemons, and I’m currently an Academic, Career and Transfer Advisor at St. Louis Community College. I graduated from Grinnell College with my B.A. in Spanish in 2020 and from Iowa State University with my M.Ed. in Student Affairs in 2024. I’m an avid Pokémon GO player, thrifter and tabletop gamer.
For the past year, I’ve served as the Convention Relations Chair for CFI. I have truly appreciated the opportunity to develop professionally and partner with other Fat folx to create spaces that support the liberation of Fat bodies. My experience with this leadership role within CFI is exciting, and as my prior role is being sunsetted, it makes sense that I shift to a new role with updated responsibilities.
I’m particularly driven by my desire to build community with other fat people within higher education. I may be a new(ish) professional, but I am not a new fat person–I have always been fat, but I didn’t really start embracing my fatness until I attended the first CFI session at ACPA 2024. The session was like a veil had been lifted. I never allowed myself to embrace my fatness as a salient identity until I was able to sit in a room full of fat people and talk about fatness. I had found my people. By serving as Co-Chair, I hope to do the behind-the-scenes work that ensures fat scholars can continue the educating fat people towards liberation.
Serving on the Directorate Board will also allow me to uphold CFI’s mission and core values. I am particularly cognizant of space as it relates to Convention Relations. When we host CFI sessions and socials, are the rooms in which they are held accessible to fat people? Are they furnished with accommodating chairs that are not violent to fat bodies? I hope to work closely with ACPA leadership to ensure that the space we take up is as built for us as possible.
In no more than 200 words, please describe how you will contribute to ACPA’s Strategic Imperative on Racial Justice and Decolonization in your role on the CFI Directorate.
As Co-Chair, I will strive to uphold ACPA’s Strategic Imperative on Racial Justice and Decolonization. I subscribe to an intersectional approach to understanding systems of injustice, and fatness is part of that conversation. With intersectionality in mind, I would love to collaborate with other identity groups at ACPA to create spaces in which folks that share several minoritized identities can unite and share the work they do on their campuses that support students with minoritized identities.
______________________________________________________________________
Priyanka Bharadwaj
Running for: Marketing Chair
In no more than 500 words, please introduce yourself and describe why you would like to serve in the chair position(s) you chose (please separate your answers for each position, making sure to label them), describing how you will contribute to the specific goals of the committee.
Hey everyone! My name is Priyanka (she/her), and I am currently the Assistant Director of LGBTQ Student Services at Rutgers University – Newark. I have been fat since I was quite young, so I know firsthand the repercussions of being fat in our modern society for much of my life. Attending ACPA and becoming involved with CFI over the past few years has opened so many doors for me, from finding more fat community to learning about fat studies as a research area. After learning more about CFI, I’ve learned how passionate I am about advocating for fat bodies, so I am nominating myself for the Marketing Chair.
I would like to be Marketing Chair again, as I held the position this year, as I have lots of passion and enjoyment for designing social media content. So much advertisement and recruitment happens through social media, so our graphics need to be appealing and eye-catching as a draw-in for folks to get involved with CFI. I love to emphasize highlights of fat individuals, fat research, fat events, and general tips and tricks for fat folks to be more comfortable in life through our social media. This reflects the core values of Advocacy, Education, and Engagement that CFI upholds. By encouraging social media engagement, we will be able to create a stronger community for fat folks, promote education around fat liberation and justice, and work towards accessibility for all fat identities.
I will always bring passion and positive energy to the work I do. I hope to bring a fresh feeling to this new Coalition, and establish more traditions that will carry on through the legacy of CFI. I have so much love for this community I have found at ACPA, and I would love to pay it forward by engaging with members as a DB member!
In no more than 200 words, please describe how you will contribute to ACPA’s Strategic Imperative on Racial Justice and Decolonization in your role on the CFI Directorate.
The Strategic Imperative for Racial Justice and Decolonization emphasizes first and foremost that all forms of oppression are linked. This is something that I keep very centered in my work, emphasizing that racism and colonialism are very real, present, enduring, and intersectional. In our fight to end fat oppression, we must not forget the oppression of other marginalized identities, and to advocate for marginalized communities in our work in higher ed. Our collective education, research and scholarship, advocacy, and capacity can create positive change in higher education. I believe in speaking about different forms of oppression linked to identities I hold as a Fat, Queer, Woman of Color, without ever forgetting my privileges in society and utilizing those privileges to uplift the struggles of others and advocate for equity for all.
However, I still wish to highlight that the oppression of fat people often goes ignored. There is a social norm of thinness in society, and those who do not adhere are shamed in a sense, whether that is through verbal body shaming or systemic fatphobia. I aim to influence this change, along with discussing the ways in which fat oppression and other forms of oppression are closely linked.
______________________________________________________________________
Sarah Cooper
Running for: Operations & Communications Chair
In no more than 500 words, please introduce yourself and describe why you would like to serve in the chair position(s) you chose (please separate your answers for each position, making sure to label them), describing how you will contribute to the specific goals of the committee.
Hello! My name is Sarah Cooper (she/her) and I am excited to share my interest in joining the CFI Directorate Board! I currently work at the University of Connecticut as a Student Welfare Specialist, but as of July 2026 I will be transitioning into a new role at Wesleyan University as an Area Coordinator. I am originally from Washington State, but moved out to the east coast for school and stayed here since! I went to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA for my Bachelor’s degree, and then went to UConn for my Master’s degree. Some fun facts about me: I am part Japanese and have been to Japan twice (and will always be willing to talk anything Japan to anyone ever), I have a cat named Ruby, I love to read (my goal is 100 books this year & I have read 31! I also love queer media so please send any recs my way!!), and my favorite food is lumpia 🙂 I joined ACPA in graduate school and dove right in by presenting at the ACPA 2025 Convention in Long Beach, CA. It was such an amazing experience, and at the Convention is when I was introduced to CFI! Since then, I have been a member of the Research and Scholarship Committee and I really enjoyed being in community with other individuals who share lived experiences like I do, and are committed to the Fat Liberation movement.
Operations & Communications Chair:
I am interested in serving as the Operations & Communications Chair, as I enjoy managing organizational and administrative efforts on the backend to keep operations running smoothly. I have served in Secretary roles in previous organizations I have been a part of, and with my current role in the field of student conduct, I have to stay organized to manage my work. Further, I am extremely committed to the values of CFI and promoting more research, inclusivity, and community for individuals with Fat identities. In this role, I believe it is crucial to publicize the work that CFI is doing to ensure transparency and highlight the great work that is being done! This should also be done in the most accessible ways possible to ensure that the largest audiences can access the materials and content that CFI is creating and also promoting.
In no more than 200 words, please describe how you will contribute to ACPA’s Strategic Imperative on Racial Justice and Decolonization in your role on the CFI Directorate.
Throughout my work in higher education, I prioritize practices that promote and recognize decolonization efforts and racial justice. This includes being mindful of the content I am consuming (and prioritizing the voices of Black, Indigenous, and Queer individuals), the organizations I am a part of, and the practices that I engage in on a daily basis. I am committed to continuing my learning to understand the ways that individuals with marginalized identities experience life in higher education and how my work can begin to dismantle those systems and barriers. Specifically within CFI, I would use this framework to promote and create programs, activities, and discourse surrounding dismantling and rebuilding systems that support individuals from marginalized communities – especially Black and Indigenous communities. Within the Fat Liberation movement, I think it is especially important to highlight intersectional perspectives to fully move towards progress. In a leadership role, I would consider ways that CFI is furthering research and inclusivity from an intersectional lens and how CFI can uplift the work that is already being done by many individuals in the movement!
______________________________________________________________________
Lene Reynolds
Running for: Research & Scholarship Chair
Please introduce yourself and describe why you would like to serve in the chair position(s) you chose (please separate your answers for each position, making sure to label them), describing how you will contribute to the specific goals of the committee.
Hello! My name is Lene Reynolds (they/them) and I am the current Research and Scholarship Chair for CFI. I am still a new professional, working as a coordinator at a small community college in North County San Diego. During my time in my M.A. program, I spent significant time assessing the tools we use to conduct research and assessment with college students, and bring that expertise into this role.
As the current R&S Chair, I have sought to reinvigorate the vision and goals of this role and the Research and Scholarship Committee. I want to continue this work. I am deeply committed to bringing emerging perspectives to the forefront, centering visions for fat liberation that move beyond current narratives. I am passionate about leveraging prominent narratives and figures in pop culture to engage our communities in educational programs. I plan to continue to find and create unique opportunities to engage not only those who consistently engage with CFI, but those who have never considered how anti-fatness shows up in their work. My own research in this area, for example, has allowed me to explore how prominent Queer and Trans Fat characters in television shows contribute to ongoing intra-community violence and students’ self-perceptions of identity. I have experience successfully managing educational social media campaigns, virtual historical tours, and other creative endeavors in the realm of scholarly programming.
I am coming into this role with significantly more knowledge and awareness of the work of CFI and hope to build something sustainable that spurs the growth of research about Fat Liberation and promising practices for our campuses. My goal continues to be to work in collaboration with other similarly-minded coalitions to highlight relevant work in the field. Engaging the broader ACPA membership in recognizing the connections between Queer of Color Feminisms, DisCrit, and other relevant critical theories is imperative to meeting CFI’s strategic goals.
Continuing to serve as the Research and Scholarship Chair would allow me to continue the work that I feel I have only just begun with truly excellent folks.
Please describe how you will contribute to ACPA’s Strategic Imperative on Racial Justice and Decolonization in your role on the CFI Directorate.
In the realm of research and scholarship, it is critical to interrogate and consider how knowledge production in academia is gatekept and filtered through the lens of White Supremacy Culture. In a role focused on uplifting academic resources, it is my responsibility to not only center Black-led and Indigenous-led scholarship, but to additionally showcase resources that are less entrenched in traditional avenues like peer-reviewed journals. These resources have their place, alongside and in conversation with sources like personal narratives. I will continue the work that has already been done within the Research & Scholarship Committee to incorporated podcasts, social media-based resources, and other opportunities for members to engage with broader communities of scholars. While it is important to celebrate and highlight scholarship and knowledge from Black educators, Indigenous educators, and other educators of Color, it is just as important to make sure that this scholarship is actually in alignment with radically anti-racist and liberatory frameworks. I hope to continue to leverage a community-sourcing approach to gathering resources, as I understand that my networks, access, and perspectives as a white practitioner are limited.
