An African American girl, Dorothy Jean Tillman II, has earned a PhD. in Integrated Behavioral Health from Arizona State University at the age of seventeen.
She got into university at the age of ten, completing Bachelors, Masters and her Doctoral studies in a record seven years, earning her the nickname “Dorothy Jeanius” from family and friends.
She graduated on May 9.
Tillman successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in December 2023. Associate professor Leslie Manson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” she’s the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in the school’s history. Possibly one of the youngest in the world.
“It’s a wonderful celebration, and we hope … that Dorothy Jean inspires more students,” Manson said. “But this is still something so rare and unique.”
Tillman is the granddaughter of Dorothy Tillman, a Chicago politician and rights activist.
When most students were still struggling with middle school (the equivalent of secondary school in Nigeria), Tillman’s mother enrolled her in classes at the College of Lake County in northern Illinois. She majored in Psychology and completed her associate’s program in 2016.
Tillman got her Bachelor’s in Humanities from New York’s Excelsior College in 2018, then a Master’s of science from Unity College, Maine in 2020. She was admitted into Arizona State University’s Behavioral Health Management Program in 2021.
Most of her coursework were done online.
The wonder girl gave the credit for her accomplishment to her grandmother. She told the Associated Press on Tuesday, “Everything that we were doing didn’t seem abnormal to me or out of the ordinary until it started getting all of the attention”.
This year, Tillman turns eighteen. She is an inspiration to young people everywhere about the benefits of prioritizing their studies from early on in life.
Please comment and share this article, & Follow us on our social media handles.
WhatsApp Channel
Telegram Channel
