Working towards Inclusivity in Chemistry Toronto (WICTO) is a student-led organization whose mandate is advocacy and education on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Department of Chemistry and the broader STEM community. Founded in 2014, their work is rooted in the ambition of dismantling oppressive systems within the academy to make the Department and University of Toronto a more just and safe space for all.
WICTO marked its tenth anniversary with a celebratory reception and cake in the Davenport Atrium on Friday, November 22nd. We took the opportunity to connect with the founders, organizers, and volunteers, who have shared their memories and insights about the group's journey and activities.
Celebrating Ten Years
As part of the interview process for this oral history, Chemistry Stories asked members of the current leadership team to offer reflections on the progress of the past decade.
Anna Watson, (she/her) a 3rd year PhD student in the Tran Group and current co-chair of WICTO.
I am proud of how far WICTO has come as an organization, especially in our ability to organize big events like our now-annual symposium, which brings together students from UofT, York University and TMU, to foster community and learn about the part we can play in EDI awareness and practices.
Samantha Corapi (she/her) is a 2023 HBSc graduate of at UofT, now a graduate student at UofT and co-chair of WICTO.
Being able to serve as the co-chair of WICTO is an incredible opportunity, because I get to turn my passion into real initiatives that serve our community and inspire the next generation of undergraduates, as well as the graduate community and faculty. The experience has improved my leadership skills and confidence and allowed me to make many connections within the department.
WICTO’s Beginnings
WICTO was originally founded by graduate students looking to develop a community of women in the field of chemistry. In time, it evolved toward pursuing inclusion in the STEM community for all equity-seeking groups.
(Front row, left to right) Christine Le, BoYee Chung, Erika Daley and Bryony McAllister.
Dr. Laura Reyes (she/her) completed her studies at the University of Toronto in 2017. She is now Programme Manager of the Race & Ethnicity Unit at the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK.
I got involved in WICTO in 2015, at its very beginning when some of my peers were founding it. I had been a founding member of the Green Chemistry Initiative a few years before and was one of its Co-Chairs at the time. Though my time was limited, I was able to contribute my experience in setting up a new student organization.
I was passionate about making chemistry a more equitable and inclusive environment, but at the time I didn't know where to go to learn more about it - and there weren't as many organizations or individuals leading that conversation at the time.
Christine Le (she/her), is a 2017 PhD, now appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry at York University.
I consider myself one of the founding members of WICTO and would like to share the story of how the organization began. Back in 2014, Jennifer Tsoung, a friend and colleague in the Lautens group, sought to connect with other graduate students and postdocs in the department, specifically women and members of underrepresented groups. She reached out broadly to establish a mailing list, and we were thrilled to see the high level of interest. Our initial informal events, including a pub night and discussion groups, highlighted the importance of fostering a sense of community and belonging within the department.
When I took on the role of President in 2015, we officially formalized the group and developed a mission centered on promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion within the chemistry community through awareness, engagement, and advocacy. We launched small initiatives, including our inaugural seminar series, with Prof. Sophie Rousseaux as our first speaker, and created what we called the "Women of Influence" series.
Cate Collins (she/her) is 2016 MSc graduate and now works as a Staff Scientist at the TELUS World of Science in Edmonton.
I joined WICTO shortly after its inception and served as Treasurer from 2015 to 2016. One of our proudest achievements during that time was securing funding to host our first external speaker for the WIC Lectureship Series: Dr. Stephanie MacQuarrie, then an Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry at Cape Breton University.
Dr. MacQuarrie delivered an inspiring research presentation and followed it up with a talk on her journey through graduate studies, her postdoctoral work, and the challenges of balancing academia and family life as she advanced to a tenure-track position.
Many of us, as female graduate students, had only male professors and mentors throughout our chemistry studies, leaving us without strong female role models to look up to. Launching the Lectureship Series was a powerful way to spotlight accomplished women in chemistry and provide the mentorship and inspiration we had been missing.
Activities, Activism, Advocacy
Abbey Clapperton (she/her) is a 4th year PhD candidate in Tran lab. She served as WICTO co-chair in 2023-2024 and events coordinator in 2021-2023.
I participated as a mentee in the WICTO mentorship program in my fourth year of undergrad at UofT.
When I started my graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry, I wanted to make a positive impact in the department and Toronto community, so I applied to be an events coordinator in 2021-2022.
That year under the leadership of co-chairs Navina Lotay and Holly Barrett, the team started a sticker campaign. WICTO members created stickers to express allyship and inclusion, to promote community building, and foster a sense of belonging in the department. We donated all profits to The 519 in 2021, half of the profits to Visions of Science Network for Learning in 2022, and half to AISES and EWOC-East Canada in 2023. In 2023, we sold a total of 380 stickers and 89 magnets globally.
The lasting impact of these sticker campaigns can be seen with the numerous stickers and magnets on display throughout the department.
Alex Gabbey (she/her), a 5th year PhD candidate in the Rousseaux lab, was WICTO co-chair 2023/2024 and served as secretary in 2022/2023.
I first got involved as a mentor in the WICTO mentorship program in my second year of graduate school. I then joined the executive team as the secretary in 2022/2023, and as the vice-chair in 2023/2024. In my first year on the team, co-chairs Azalea Uva and Alicia Battaglia initiated the WICTO Connecting Through Chemistry Symposium. This one-day conference was hosted at UofT and was purposed to bring together chemistry graduate and undergraduate students for a day of networking, professional development, and learning about EDI! This symposium was incredibly successful.
In the second iteration, Abbey and I aimed to connect the broader Toronto chemistry community by expanding the symposium, hosting over 140 chemistry students from TMU, York, and UofT! A few highlights were the inclusion of a plenary lecture by Prof. Imogen Coe, as well as a networking workshop by UofT’s Division of Career Exploration & Education.
The symposium was definitely a landmark event in my time on the WICTO team. I am incredibly proud to have been part of an organization that brought together the broader Toronto chemistry community for meaningful discussions on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Azalea Uva (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Prof. Helen Tran’s group. She joined WICTO in 2020, served as the organization’s secretary in 2021-22, and as the Co-Chair in 2022-23.
One of my fondest memories was conceiving the idea of a WICTO Symposium with my co-chair, Alicia Battaglia. Having both started graduate school during the pandemic, we felt a great disconnect from our cohorts within the department. We wanted to re-establish a sense of belonging in the chemistry community.
The inaugural WICTO Symposium: Connecting through Chemistry, occurred during the fall semester of 2022 and served as a professional development event for undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students in the Department of Chemistry.
Leadership and Collaboration
Abbey Clapperton
I was fortunate to serve under several excellent co-chairs during my time with WICTO. In 2021-2022, Navina Lotay and Holly Barrett led the WICTO executive team. They provided excellent support during my first year as events coordinator. There hadn’t been an events coordinator on the team in several years, so their support allowed the year to run smoothly and ensured we could develop successful events for the chemistry community. In 2022-2023, Azalea Uva and Alicia Battaglia led the WICTO team as co-chairs. They were excellent at managing the team and supporting individual execs in leading new events.
The organization, leadership, and mentorship from both sets of co-chairs during my time with WICTO left some big shoes to fill when I served as chair in 2023-2024!
Azalea Uva
Another aspect that felt very heartwarming was how the whole executive team came together to organize the event, with every team member having the opportunity to lead the workshops, panels, and networking events that made up the symposium. Alicia and I had the opportunity to witness the evolution of the WICTO Symposium the following year, where Abigail Clapperton and Alexis Gabbey (chair and vice-chair 2023-2024) took the event to new heights with the expansion to York University and Toronto Metropolitan University, creating a sense of belonging throughout the Greater Toronto Area chemistry community.
Alex Gabbey and Abbey Clapperton
One of our most meaningful experiences with WICTO was running a summer internship program for high school students. We were sitting in the grad lounge brainstorming ideas for high school outreach that WICTO could organize. We decided that we would love to start an internship program where high school students could get paired with chemistry labs in the department and work on a project during a few weeks in the summer while also getting paid for their work.
The next day, we received an email from Prof. Jess D’eon asking if we would be interested in collaborating with Visions of Science, a local organization that engages with Black and other racialized youth from low-income communities across the GTA who experience significant barriers to participation in STEM opportunities. The opportunity essentially fell into our laps and we were more than excited to work with Ahmed Adan from Visions of Science, the Acceleration Consortium (funding), and participating labs at UofT to offer paid internship positions for four high school students. The high school researchers received a competitive stipend for their contributions and they were able to present their research to the community at an end-of-summer showcase.
We also designed two “lunch-and-learn” sessions to give students opportunities to learn about designing a poster for their showcase as well as learn about networking and what a career in science could look like. This experience was so inspiring as we were able to witness the growth of both the high school students and their graduate mentors throughout the summer. At the showcase, we were so proud to see the students excited to talk about their research experience and were amazed to see the knowledge and scientific curiosity they developed over the summer. We feel that it is important to provide younger students with opportunities to see what science looks like and to show that they belong and have the capacity to succeed in STEM.
Growth and Evolution
In 2020, the organization changed its name from Women in Chemistry Toronto to Working towards Inclusivity in Chemistry Toronto to reflect an ongoing commitment to an intersectional approach to advocacy.
Azalea Uva
WICTO as an organization has evolved since it was first created in 2014. Originally a Women in Chemistry Toronto group, the organization has since changed to encompass all minorities in chemistry, including members of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. In 2020, the organization formally changed their name to Working towards Inclusivity in Chemistry Toronto.
WICTO has always focused on EDI in the STEM community for all equity-seeking groups and the name change** allowed us to continue our endeavors in EDI to better support the chemistry community in the department.
During my time as co-chair, the team also introduced several new initiatives to the department. For example, we re-vamped WICTO’s journal club, opening it up to the entire department and partnering with the CHM3000 course to offer professional development hours for participation. The WICTO magazine was established, providing a snapshot of all our initiatives since WICTO’s creation in 2014. And lastly, our team introduced therapy dogs to the department to let students, faculty and staff unwind and promote mental health awareness (an event that will be in its third iteration this upcoming year).
Anna Watson
A number of our new events focus on educating participants or discussing issues, but some of our biggest challenges surround the scope of what we can do as a student organization. There is always more to do, and academia is very slow to move toward systemic changes, but we have to try.
Some of our long-standing smaller events are as important as conferences and speaker series. For example, our monthly journal clubs are an opportunity to have more in-depth and nuanced discussions than can be done with a much larger group.
Elyse Hudson is in her 4th year in biological chemistry, and has been the UTM representative on WICTO for the last 3 years.
I first joined WICTO in 2022, amid COVID-19 restrictions. During that winter, Prof. Alana Ogata proposed the idea of running virtual Pilates classes, encouraging graduate students to move their bodies as well as opening lines of communication lost during the pandemic. While it may feel silly to be doing Pilates on Zoom, the class was incredibly fun and connected the different campuses of U of T in a way that felt reminiscent of the years before the lock down. This was one of the first events where I took on the organizing role, which brings me a lot of pride. The Pilates transitioned into a monthly, in-person class at UTM that ran until September 2024.
Cate Collins
It is amazing that WICTO has been around for a decade. I love seeing that some of the original key parts of the organization still play a big role today, like the monthly person of influence and the seminar series. Even early in its inception, there was a lot of talk of how to also support other minority groups in chemistry beyond women, and I love that the name was officially changed to Working Towards Inclusivity in Chemistry Toronto to reflect this broader mission.
Lasting Effects on Individual Lives and Chemistry Spaces
Samantha Corapi
As an undergraduate student in the chemistry department at UofT, I was first interested in WICTO’s work because I believe creating an inclusive culture is important for underrepresented groups to feel a sense of belonging. Especially as a woman in STEM, I was concerned about the potential barriers that may exist for underrepresented groups at various stages of their STEM careers. I wanted to learn more, so in my third year I invited members of WICTO to speak about their initiatives and EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) to the second-year learning community (SLC) that I was mentoring at the time.
I was really inspired by the WICTO leaders and so when I became a graduate student last year, I became a general member of WICTO so I could learn more about EDI principles and help serve the community.
Laura Reyes
I was coming to the end of my PhD so was only able to be part of WICTO for about a year, but I believe this involvement was like the acorn that led to a huge oak tree of opportunities for my career. My second job after my PhD was at the Chemical Institute of Canada, where my interest in EDI and previous experience through WICTO led me to go slightly beyond my responsibilities. I became more involved in supporting the CSC Working Group on Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity, and helping the CSC President run a members' discussion on how the CIC/CSC can support and integrate an EDI framework ((which both helped establish what is now the CWIC Member Resource Group and the CSC WIDE Committee).
When I relocated to the UK and applied to be the RSC's Programme Manager of Inclusion & Diversity, I was able to highlight my contributions to advancing the environment of EDI in Canadian chemistry - and I got the job! Since then, I've played a key role in the development of the 2022 report Missing Elements: Racial and ethnic inequalities in the chemical sciences, which led to the creation of the RSC's Race & Ethnicity Unit and the Broadening Horizons in the Chemical Sciences programme that I now lead.
I never predicted that I would end up working in EDI after my chemistry PhD, but I don't think it would have happened if it hadn't been for WICTO. I love delivering the Broadening Horizons programme so am grateful to have ended up on this path!
Elyse Hudson
WICTO is a very productive club that I believe contributes greatly to improving the culture of the chemistry department of U of T. The most fun part of WICTO to me is the friendship; WICTO is a large network of like-minded, driven individuals. At WICTO events, I find setting up and taking down to be a fun part of the day as it often gives a chance to debrief with other members and chat about the event; how things went, what we could improve, and what was done well.
Outside of WICTO events, running into members at other chemistry gatherings is also great as it feels like you always have another friend in the room.
Cate Collins
At TELUS World of Science - Edmonton, we host annual events for the general public to celebrate the International Day of LGBTQIA+ in STEM, International Day for Women and Girls in STEM, and more. At these events, we celebrate equality in science and encourage women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ folks to participate in science. We highlight the work of incredible researchers who have made big contributions to STEM fields to help provide role models for the next generation of scientists.
WICTO in the future
Azalea Uva
It is amazing to look back over the past 10 years to see all that WICTO has accomplished within the department and broader STEM community. I am honoured to have served a small part in this organization and excited to see how the group will continue to evolve over the next decade.
Christine Le
It’s been incredibly rewarding to witness WICTO’s growth, with a broadened mission to foster inclusivity for all members of the chemistry community, not just women. In 2015, an article about WICTO’s launch mentioned my hope that we could inspire similar groups across Canada and perhaps establish a formal network through the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC). Seeing that vision come to life is a source of immense pride. I can't wait to see what the next decade has in store.
Laura Reyes
It's fantastic to know that WICTO is still going strong - even if it's hard to believe that it's been 10 years! Though today there are a lot more top-down initiatives to address the inequalities in chemistry, I believe that grassroots and bottom-up organizations like WICTO have an important and complementary role to play. Maybe one day we will live in a world where we no longer need to address inequalities, and there won't be a need for WICTO or my current job, but sadly that's not true right now and we still have a long way to go. Until that day comes, I'm grateful that WICTO continues to run and I send my encouragement to any current and future executives.
Anna Watson
Over the next ten years of WICTO, it would be great to see the organization find more ways to effect material change in the chemistry community.
Samantha Corapi
One high point has been the celebration of WICTO’s 10th anniversary, because we had the opportunity to share WICTO’s history with our peers who may not have otherwise known about us, and spark discussion about EDI.
I am very honored to be a member of such a dedicated group focused on meaningful change. I am excited to see how WICTO will continue to bring a sense of belonging to the chemistry department in the years to come!
Chemistry Stories would like to thank the WICTO volunteers, past and present, who contributed their stories and images to this article.
To learn more about this organization and its work to make chemistry more inclusive, visit Working towards Inclusivity in Chemistry Toronto (WICTO)