Heather Brown
Research Communications Coordinator
Education
- B.A. in religion and women's studies | Lake Forest College |1996
- MTS in religion and women's studies | Harvard Divinity School | 2001
- Ed.D. in adult and higher education | Northern Illinois University | 2012
Academic and Professional Experience
Academic Interests
- Science Communication
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Critical Fat Studies
- Andragogy and Pedagogy
Committees and Professional Memberships
- Chancellor鈥檚 Standing Committee on the Status of Women, 2013-2014, University of Missouri
- Advisory Committee to the Office of Undergraduate Research, 2013-2014, University of Missouri
- Task Force on Preprofessional and Pregraduate School Student Outcomes, 2008-2012, Lake Forest College
Work Experience
- Director, Women鈥檚 Center, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, 2023-2025
- Assistant Director, University Writing Center, A.T. Still University, Kirksville, MO, 2019-2023
- Executive Director, Women + Girls Research Alliance, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 2014-2019
- Director, Grant Writing and Publications, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 2012-2014
- Assistant Dean of the Faculty (2009-2012), Director of Grants and Scholarships (2006-2009), Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL
- Development Officer, Corporate and Foundation Relations (2005-2006), Grant Writer (2004-2005), Women鈥檚 Educational and Industrial Union (now Economic Mobility Pathways, EMPath), Boston, MA
Research and Scholarly Work
Awards and Honors
- Co-Editor, Adult Literacy Education: The International Journal of Literacy, Language, and Numeracy, ProLiteracy, 2018-2025
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Fellow, 2023-2024, St. Cloud State University
- Outstanding Employee Award, 2021, A.T. Still University, College of Graduate Health Studies
- Emerging Leader Award, 2018, Women鈥檚 Center Committee, National Women鈥檚 Studies Association
- Director, Membership and Outreach, 2017-2019, Southeastern Women's Studies Association
- Co-Editor, Journal of Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary, and Basic Education, Coalition on Adult Basic Education, 2015-2017
- Editorial Assistant, Adult Education Quarterly, Northern Illinois University/American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, 2011-2013
- Faculty Adviser for the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright (student and faculty), Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Udall, Boren and Goldwater Fellowships, 2007-2012, Lake Forest College
Publications
- Brown, H.A. (2023). . In A.E. Farrell (Ed.), The contemporary reader of gender and fat studies (pp. 152-163). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003140665-17
- Brown, H.A. (2022). Confidence: A good thing co-opted by neoliberalism. Resources for Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies: A Feminist Review, 43(1-2), 14-15.
- Brown, H.A. and Ellis-Ordway, N. (Eds). (2021). . Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003057000.
- Brown, H.A. and Ellis-Ordway, N. (2021). Introduction: Documented harm: How a misguided paradigm hurts fat people (and everybody else). Weight bias in health education: Critical perspectives for pedagogy and practice. Routledge.
- Brown, H.A. (2021). Preface: Fattening pedagogy. Weight bias in health education: Critical perspectives for pedagogy and practice. Routledge.
- Brown, H.A. (2021). What counts as good or bad writing about weight: Reflections of a writing coach. Weight bias in health education: Critical perspectives for pedagogy and practice. Routledge.
- Brown, H.A. and Ellis-Ordway, N. (2021). Conclusion: A call to fatten pedagogy because lives depend on it. Weight bias in health education: Critical perspectives for pedagogy and practice. Routledge.
- Brown, H.A. (2020). A bad critique? Resources for Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies: A Feminist Review, 41(3-4), 1-2.
- Brown, H. and Herndon, A. (2020). No bad fatties allowed?: Negotiating the meaning and power of the mutable body. In M. Friedman, C. Rice and J. Rinaldi (Eds.) Thickening fat: Fat bodies, intersectionality and social justice (pp. 139-149). Routledge.
- Brown, H. (2019). We are women, made into Cassandra. Resources for Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies: A Feminist Review, 40(2-3), 3-4.
- Palmer, B. and Brown, H. (2018). Shedding light on the reality of smart girls. Sex Roles, 78, 713-714. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-017-0843-y.
- Brown, H. (2017). 鈥淭here鈥檚 always stomach on the table and then I gotta write!鈥: Physical space and learning in fat college women. Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society, 7(1), 11-20. DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2017.1360665.
- Brown, H. (2017). Case studies in community-based qualitative research: Women + Girls Research Alliance, University of North Carolina 鈥 Charlotte. In L. R. Johnson (Ed.), Community-based qualitative research: Approaches for education and the social sciences (pp.165-167), SAGE.
- Brown, H. (2016). Fat studies in the field of higher education: Developing a theoretical framework and its implications for research and practice. In E. Carter and C. Russell (Eds.), The fat pedagogy reader: Challenging weight-based oppression in education (pp. 201-210). Peter Lang. (Winner: 2017 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association; 2016 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award).
- Brown, H. (2014). Never delivering the whole package: Family influence on fat daughters鈥 college experiences. In R. Chastain (Ed.), The politics of size: Perspectives from the fat-acceptance movement (Vol. 2) (pp. 189-202). Praeger.
Conference Presentations
- Brown, H.A. (2022). Words may kill us: Practices of care and equity in writing about weight. Paper presented at the UW System Women鈥檚 and Gender Studies Consortium Conference, Madison, WI.
- Brown, H. (2019). Is fat studies dead in the United States? Paper presented at the National Conference of the American/Popular Culture Association, Washington, D.C.
- Brown, H. (2018). Fat studies scholars as targets in the Campus Reform era. Paper presented at the National Women鈥檚 Studies Association National Conference, Atlanta, GA.
- Brown. H. (2018). Surviving (and thriving) as a public, feminist researcher in the Campus Reform era. Paper presented at the Southeast Women鈥檚 Studies Association Annual Conference, Clemson, SC.
- Brown, H. and Palmer, B. (2017). Using feminist-based research praxis to support community-driven research and collaboration. Paper presented at the Southeast Women鈥檚 Studies Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
- Finley, K., Brown, H. and Negron-Rios, J. (2016). The politics of girl-serving organizations: Intersections of fixing 鈥渢he system鈥 while uplifting 鈥渢he self.鈥 Roundtable discussion held at the Southeastern Women鈥檚 Studies Association Annual Conference, Rock Hill, SC.
- Brown, H. (2015). 鈥淭here鈥檚 always stomach on the table and then I gotta write!鈥: Physical space, body consciousness and learning in fat college women learners. Paper presented at the National Women鈥檚 Studies Association Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI.
- Brown, H. (2012). Freire in the fat-o-sphere: Conscientization and fat acceptance blogs. Paper presented at the National Conference of the American/Popular Culture Association, Boston, MA.
- Brown, H. (2012). The student鈥檚 body: Pedagogical implications of weight in classroom space. Paper presented at the American Association of University Professors Annual Conference on the State of Higher Education, Washington, D.C.
- Brown, H. (2011). The politics of placement: Where do critical fat studies belong and who decides? Paper presented at the National Women鈥檚 Studies Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
- Brown, H. (2011). Using storytelling pedagogies to combat weight bias in adult learners. Paper presented at the National Conference of the American/Popular Culture Association, San Antonio, TX.
- Brown, H. (2011). Wielding the scarlet F: Auto-ethnography and the war on weight bias. Paper presented at the 60th Annual International Conference of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, Indianapolis, IN.
- Koppelman, S., Bemis, V., Brown, H. and Sweet, L. (2011). How do we start talking and teaching about fat studies in the academic world? Roundtable discussion held at the National Conference of the American/Popular Culture Association, San Antonio, TX.
- Brown, H. (2010). Can fit through the classroom door. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Midwest American/Popular Culture Association, St. Paul, MN.
- Brown, H. (2010). Losing pedagogies: Using weight loss competitions to educate workers about health and wellness. Roundtable presentation at the 59th Annual International Conference of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, Clearwater, FL.
- Brown, H. (2010). Won鈥檛 someone think of the children? Politicized frameworks in research on fat children鈥檚 academic achievement. Paper presented at the National Conference of the American/Popular Culture Association, St. Louis, MO.
Associated Areas