Phillip C. Delekta named Lilly Teaching Fellow
MGI Assistant Professor Phillip C. Delekta has been selected as a 2025 Lilly Teaching Fellow, a prestigious honor that recognizes his commitment to excellence in undergraduate education.
Phillip C. Delekta, an Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology, has been selected as a 2025 Lilly Teaching Fellow, a prestigious honor that recognizes his commitment to excellence in undergraduate education.
The Lilly Teaching Fellows Program, established in 1991, supports a select cohort of faculty for a year-long exploration of effective teaching and academic leadership. Following a recent redesign, the program is intended to cultivate faculty leaders who are passionate about transforming education and guiding institutional change.
A Spartan alumnus who earned his B.S. in Microbiology from MSU before completing his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Michigan, Delekta serves as Course Director for MGI 301, or Introductory Microbiology, and MGI 494L, the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute in Genomics. He has also taught a variety of courses across the undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
Delekta’s teaching philosophy centers on active learning and the integration of scientific practices into the classroom. He has completed advanced pedagogical training through the University of Michigan’s Postdoctoral Short-Course on College Teaching in Science and Engineering, the CIRTL certification in STEM teaching, and MSU’s Three-Dimensional Learning in STEM fellowship. His dedication has been recognized with the College of Natural Science Faculty Teaching Prize and the MGI Early Career Award.
"Phil has demonstrated remarkable talent for creating a small class experience out of a course with a few hundred enrolled students in MGI 301,” said Victor DiRita, Rudolph Hugh endowed chair and MGI department chair. “He leads a team of dedicated teachers and teaching assistants who bring innovation to this important course. He is a natural leader and a creative educator. His research focus is essential for teaching upper-level STEM courses: how best to identify and resolve learners' retention gaps from foundational courses taken earlier in the curriculum. MSU Lilly Fellows are widely understood as inventing the future of education at Michigan State, and Phil is an excellent addition to this esteemed cohort."
Delekta’s current research, which will serve as the foundation for his Lilly Fellowship project, addresses a critical challenge in undergraduate education: how students retain and apply foundational knowledge from prerequisite courses in more advanced follow-on classes. In conjunction with the BioSci Program, Delekta is leading a multi-phase study to assess knowledge retention from BS 161 and develop an AI-based tutoring tool to close learning gaps and improve student outcomes in MGI 301.
“My interest in the Lilly Fellowship stems from a desire to grow as both an educator and an academic leader,” said Delekta. “As a Lilly fellow, I will be part of a faculty community that advances education at the university through research and the promotion of effective teaching practices. MSU’s educational leaders shape the direction of society, and I’m committed to building the necessary skills to help guide our educational mission through the evolving landscape of higher education.”
