Dr. Hemangi Mavadiya teaches in UTC’s Master of Public Health Nutrition and Dietetics program. Photo by Angela Foster.
When Assistant Professor Hemangi Mavadiya arrived at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga last August, she was fresh off completing her Ph.D. and preparing to teach her first semester as a full-time faculty member.
Six months later, she is already being recognized by area peers.
Mavadiya has been named Outstanding Dietetic Educator of the Year by the Chattanooga Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (CAND), a local professional organization affiliated with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The award recognizes excellence in teaching, mentorship and contributions to the preparation of future nutrition and dietetics professionals.
Mavadiya, who teaches and advises students in UTC’s Master of Public Health (MPH) Nutrition and Dietetics track, is a registered dietitian nutritionist and a national board-certified health and wellness coach with prior experience as a clinical dietitian in Southern California. She holds an MPH in nutrition from Loma Linda University in California and earned her Ph.D. in public health from the University of California, Irvine.
Mavadiya said her path to teaching began early, shaped by watching her mother, a professor of linguistics in India.
“Teaching has always been so close to my heart,” Mavadiya said. “Coming here, I really got this opportunity to fully express myself as a teacher, as a professor, and working one-on-one with students. That felt like coming back home.”
That sense of purpose translated quickly into the classroom. Professor Eric Hungenberg, head of UTC’s Department of Health and Human Performance, said it is unusual to see a new faculty member take on so much so early.
“She has come in and hit the ground running,” Hungenberg said. “It’s rare to see a faculty member take such initiative in the classroom to adapt courses, innovate and design experiential learning opportunities. It’s infrequent for a faculty member to be characterized by her students as innovative, engaging, one who is consistently inciting critical thinking in the classroom.”
He said the recognition from CAND reflects both Mavadiya’s approach to teaching and the department’s broader emphasis on relevance and connection to practice.
“The Chattanooga Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has long supported our program, our faculty and our students,” Hungenberg said. “They care deeply about creating experiential learning for students, and the things that Hemangi is doing exemplify that.”
Mavadiya said she draws on her clinical and research experience in the classroom, along with a belief that “students learn best by doing.” She emphasizes active learning, case studies and skill development, while also paying close attention to how course material is organized and delivered.
“Sometimes we have wonderful ideas in our head, and we have it all in Canvas, but it’s not clear or placed systematically in a way that students can really interpret it the way we want them to,” she said. “So I’ve worked a lot on streamlining my courses so there’s more clarity and fewer questions for students.”
She also recently received a classroom mini-grant to make one of her courses more experiential, allowing students to work directly with equipment such as glucometers and blood pressure monitors—skills they will need in professional practice.
Much of Mavadiya’s teaching and research centers on small, actionable habits. Her research interests include diet-related behaviors, cancer survivorship and cancer epidemiology, and how modifiable choices shape long-term health outcomes.
“Small changes are so important,” she said. “There’s research showing that if you start a meal with protein or vegetables before carbohydrates, that can help with satiety. Or chewing your food well, giving the gut and brain time to communicate. These are small shifts, but together they can lead to big changes.”
In her work with students, Mavadiya has a similar “small shifts lead to big changes” approach.
“I have the philosophy that when you do things, you learn more,” she said. “The more opportunities we give students to communicate with each other and feel a sense of community in the classroom, the more they feel like they belong. And that sense of belonging really carries through their program and their University experience.”
Associate Professor Amir Alakaam, director of UTC’s MPH program, said he nominated Mavadiya for the CAND award “because of the excellent impact she has made on our MPH students in a short period of time.”
“Student feedback highlights her ability to translate complex nutrition concepts into clear, practice-based applications and to make challenging material approachable,” Alakaam said.
For Mavadiya, the award is both affirming and motivating.
“Receiving the Outstanding Dietetics Educator of the Year Award from the Chattanooga Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is especially meaningful to me because it reflects recognition from local nutrition and dietetics professionals who are directly engaged in education, practice and community health,” Mavadiya said.
“I’m really grateful. It feels nice to be recognized for the work you put in and for what you love to do. I came here as a new person, and now I feel so connected to the community, to the area and to my students.”
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