Tori Hidalgo was born in Honolulu, Hawai’I and is now married with two beautiful daughters.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from The University of Washington. Upon earning her B.S., she moved to Tucson and completed her graduate studies at The University of Arizona. Despite having a deep interest in computational chemistry and synthesis, she developed a passion for teaching during her time working as a teaching assistant.  She eventually transitioned from graduate student to instructor, teaching general chemistry lectures starting in the fall of 2009 at The University of Arizona.  Initially teaching class sizes around 300 students she was asked to take on a large, 600-person lecture, in the fall of 2016.  

Tori’s focus has been on building a learning team to aide in, and out, of class with student support. This team has grown with pay-it-forward motivation and has created a student experience that fosters more than an understanding of fundamental chemistry concepts.  Through her team, she has been able take one of the most dreaded classes for many students and transformed it to an enjoyable and fun environment. Despite the large class size, students have described their experience as feeling like being in a small class due to the team dynamic.  Many have said they feel as though they are part of community, or a “family”, while enrolled in her class.