Derek Lough
Doctoral Student
Illinois State University
Derek M. Lough is a second-year doctoral student in the School of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University. He has recently fulfilled a pre-professional graduate assistantship with the newly established Illinois Tutoring Initiative aiding the facilitation of a $25 million grant using federal COVID-19 relief funds in support of the Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Office, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and the Illinois State Board of Education high-impact tutoring initiative.
He completed his fieldwork at the Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy before earning his Master’s Degree in International & Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco a few years after his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at Wabash College. He has previously completed contractual work with Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University at the intersection of civic engagement education and youth development. Prior to enrolling at ISU, he volunteered as the Policy Director for the Young Democrats of Illinois and organized a mutual aid group in McLean County during the first sixteen months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, Derek M. Lough manages fundraising for The SDG Program Fund, serves as a member of the “Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals” Working Group for The Forum on Education Abroad, the Graduate Student Advisory Council at Illinois State University, and researching climate justice education for his doctoral studies.