Rate My Professor Mary Spiers

Spiers has a keen interest in public health nutrition, focusing on strategies that support individuals in adopting healthy dietary intakes. She engages students through cooking classes and has collaborated with the nutrition@otago Food Team to establish the Garden to Table strategy, working alongside Toitū te Taiao (Sustainability at Otago) and the Pacific Centre. This initiative cultivates vegetables and herbs in campus gardens and a tunnel house, supplying produce for the weekly menu at the Taraka Kai food truck and incorporating it into student cooking classes. Spiers has contributed to outreach efforts including nutritional guidance during lockdowns for families, student food bags addressing common flat cooking challenges, and Nutrition Workouts of the Day for staff and postgraduate students. She serves as Education Representative for Dietitians New Zealand, with a specialty in public health nutrition and tertiary education. Her work was recognized as a winner in the Sciences Division biennial staff awards from 2022.