Professor Andy Dicks of the Department of Chemistry has been elected a fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada.
CIC Fellowship is a senior class of membership in the organization that recognizes the merits of CIC members who have made outstanding contributions across multiple areas. According to the official CIC 2026 Fellows announcement, “He has created and published multiple curricular materials to promote green chemistry education best practices to university instructors and high school teachers, earning multiple institutional, national and international teaching awards in the process.”
The announcement goes on to mention Dicks’ recently-concluded service as Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies, of the Department of Chemistry at U of T, noting that the Department saw “unprecedented growth in the number of undergraduates enrolled in chemistry programs and courses through strategic changes to first-year curricula, enhancement in the number of research opportunities, and an improvement in communication with students."
Prof. Dicks, who is currently on sabbatical, took time to answer a few questions for Chemistry Stories about his teaching, his time as Associate Chair, and the importance of talking to other chemists face-to-face.
Many people traditionally think of election as a Fellow of the CIC as recognition for research accomplishments. How would you describe the significance of this honour for someone like yourself, on a teaching-focused career path?
It’s certainly very significant for me to receive this recognition and to follow in the footsteps of other teaching-oriented CIC Fellows who have gone before me and whom I sincerely respect. The Fellowship is awarded to individuals who have made strong contributions during their career in four areas: scientific contributions, CIC service, management of science, and teaching. I view the honour as an appreciation of my teaching and mentorship qualities over many years, but also as a nod towards the chemistry education research I have undertaken in terms of undergraduate laboratory development, and service to our department as Associate Chair Undergraduate (ACU).
I’ve also been committed to the CIC in terms of conference organization on behalf of the Chemistry Education Division, coordination of the Canadian Chemistry Olympiad Program, ongoing support of the national Canadian Chemistry Contest, and CSC Accreditation Committee activities. There was therefore a research component to my nomination. However, the CIC look for a breadth of impactful activities in their Fellows, and I’m happy that the projects I have worked on have been acknowledged.
More broadly, what message does your election as a Fellow send to early-career educators or graduate students who may be considering a teaching-centered academic path?
I think it sends the message that diversity in career activities is important. There may be the perception that teaching-focused faculty (in the “teaching stream” at U of T) just need to be excellent classroom educators with first-rate student evaluations. There is so much more to the job than that! I should also emphasize that people, including myself, change as their careers progress. For example, I did not become a faculty member thinking that I would hold an administrative position in our department, however deciding to take one on was one of the best decisions I ever made, for many reasons.
When you reflect on your own career, what teaching accomplishments are you most proud of—and why do they stand out to you?
We’ve worked hard departmentally to introduce green chemistry and sustainability concepts into our undergraduate courses and programs over more than two decades, and we are widely acknowledged as leading the way in North America and beyond in this regard. Being a part of that endeavour fills me with a lot of satisfaction – anything worth building takes more than one pair of hands, and the collaborations I’ve been a part of to make progress both internally at U of T and externally have been very enriching.
Also, it’s not a teaching “accomplishment” per se, but I’m very happy how the recruitment of teaching stream faculty members has played out over the last 15 years. We have a strong and vibrant team that effectively works together with colleagues to offer high quality courses to our students. It’s often said that hiring decisions are the most important ones that a department will make and having sat on many search committees (and observed the outcomes) I can certainly attest to that.
You’ve just completed your term as Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies. What were the most important lessons you took away from that leadership role?
I initially took on the ACU role between 2006-2008, and consequently started my second stint in 2019, eight months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Not great timing! I faced unique challenges during both terms and learned the importance of carefully weighing up situations before responding – although I found this to be more difficult during the pandemic, when some swift decisions necessarily had to be made in an ever-changing educational landscape. I’m a believer that real compassion isn’t about enforcing rules haphazardly, but about making sure they’re applied fairly and consistently.
Perhaps it’s a cliché, however I also discovered over both terms in the position that I couldn’t always be nice, but I always strove to be kind when interacting with students, staff and faculty. In an odd way I was glad to be ACU when the pandemic was happening – I discovered that I was surrounded by people in the administrative and business offices who were unbelievably great to work with, and I’m very proud of how we collectively supported our department at an incredibly difficult time.
Looking back, is there anything about undergraduate education in the department that is now different as a result of that experience?
I think our department has changed a lot in terms of undergraduate education during the last six or seven years. We’re generally less “rigid” in terms of expectations. There’s much more recognition now that students have lives outside their classes, and that they are impacted in ways that can be similar or different to those working in other university sectors. All our courses now have grading schemes where the final mark can be calculated in multiple ways, with different weightings placed on the separate assessments. This allows for a student to have (at least to some extent) an “off-day” when writing a term test, for example.
In addition, it was recognized that some flexibility needed to be introduced with deadlines for academic work (e.g., laboratory reports or term papers) without the punitive approach of always deducting grades for lateness. The department is also more understanding when it comes to the scheduling of formal assessments – chemistry term tests are staggered in any one week, and not crowded into one or two days. These are just a few ways in which the student experience has been improved.
What advice would you give to someone who loves teaching chemistry and is considering a teaching-focused academic career?
An especially important piece of advice is to interrogate people face-to-face! As ACU I had numerous conversations with graduate students, post-docs and sometimes even undergraduates about their interests in teaching our subject. I’d share opportunities and advice as best I could, and I often left those meetings having learned something new.
I was fortunate enough to have a strong mentor for teaching when I began as a sessional instructor in the late 1990s (Stan Skonieczny, who retired in 2012). There are plenty of similarly like-minded individuals in our department who are more than willing to share their “educational journey” if people seek them out. I know I’m not overstepping by saying that all my teaching stream colleagues are among them.
Finally, I do stand by the power of direct interactions – there’s a reason why my email signature says “in-person meetings strongly preferred where possible”, long after the pandemic has ended!
Diversity in career activities is important. There may be the perception that teaching-focused faculty just need to be excellent classroom educators. There's so much more to the job than that! -Andy Dicks
Prof. Dicks will be presented with his Fellowship certificate at the 2026 Canadian Societies for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Conferences and Exhibition (x2026). The presentation will take place at the awards reception at the conference on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.