Meet Dr. Dorothy Jean Tillman II, Chicago’s 17-Year-Old Prodigy Who Earned Her Doctorate After Starting College At The Age Of 10!

Meet Dorothy Jean Tillman II, the youngest person in the country to earn a Doctoral degree, at just 17 years old! The now 18 year old started taking college classes at 10, earning her Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees all before turning 16.

At the end of 2023 she defended her dissertation as the youngest environmental and sustainability scientist in the country and is now the nation’s youngest Doctor of Behavioral Health Management. “She has innovative ideas and motivation, which is wonderful, and truly, I think what is inspiring is that she embodies that meaning of being a true leader.” said Leslie Manson, the professor who oversaw Dr. Tillman’s defense.

She celebrated her graduation with a fundraiser for the @DorothyJeanius STEAM Leadership Institute in Chicago. It’s a program she founded that focuses on helping underrepresented groups find success in STEAM related fields and provide them with more opportunities to lead, experience and collaborate with their peers. Over the summer they have a day camp for children to have a place to explore their scientific curiosities in a group setting and have several other initiatives for students throughout the year. “Our STEAM camp is a camp that focuses on building leaders through science, technology, engineering, arts and math programing. It’s normal camp programming but there’s a different letter of STEAM everyday and we’re building leaders.”