MPA 2008
AP Title: “Cows in the Cul-de-Sac? Planning for Agriculture in the ’Burbs”
chair: David Ames; committee members: Troy Mix and Edward O’Donnell
e-mail: megsiup@hotmail.com
current position:
Environmental Planner
Planning and Community Development Department
County of Lycoming, Pennsylvania
Williamsport, Pa.
introduction | education | experience | qualifications | honors and awards | conferences | projects and reports | downloadables
IntroductionMegan grew up in the small town of Claysburg in Western Pennsylvania and attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she was a student in the Robert E. Cook Honors College. Megan studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, as part of a summer honors program and at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, for six months. Her senior honors thesis focused on the role of social capital in small rural communities. She graduated in 2003 with a B.A. in Political Science and Journalism.
Prior to pursuing graduate studies at the University of Delaware, Megan worked as a research fellow with the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a state legislative agency in Harrisburg, and as a freelance reporter for the Harrisburg Patriot-News. Megan moved to Newark, Delaware in 2004 and began working for a mapping company, Municipal Publications, where she served seventeen local government clients over a two-year period in Southeast Pennsylvania and Delaware.
In her research assistantship with IPA’s Planning Services group, Megan worked on several comprehensive plans and GIS projects, researched and drafted a report on healthy, walkable communities, and organized and conducted a recurring study of usership in the county's park and ride lots. In Spring 2007, Megan interned at the Office of State Planning Coordination, where she worked on a Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Slaughter Beach and a zoning ordinance for the Town of Little Creek, and researched and proposed a model for agricultural-industrial zoning. Megan spent Summer 2007 working on various projects of the Downtown Newark Partnership, including events planning and a complete redesign of the Downtown Map and Guide. Megan concluded her work at the University of Delaware by serving as a 2008 Legislative Fellow, where she served in the House Majority Caucus and staffed three committees: Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure; Policy Analysis and Government Accountability; and Manufactured Housing. She was an intern at WILMAPCO during Summer 2008 and worked on environmental justice mapping in the City of Wilmington and assisted with numerous transportation plans and other publications.
Currently, Megan is an Environmental Planner with Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on establish a nutrient credit trading program within the County to assist local wastewater treatment plants in cost-effectively meeting nutrient reduction mandates to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay while also improving the local environment and quality of life.
Megan is married to Forrest Lehman, a Ph.D. candidate in English at UD. They have three cats and enjoy traveling, outdoors activities, cooking, and gardening.
EducationMA, University of Delaware 2008, Urban Affairs and Public Policy; Concentration: Urban and Regional Planning
Study abroad in Scotland and the Netherlands, January 2007
BA, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Robert E. Cook Honors College) 2003, Political Science and Journalism
ExperienceSept. 2008–present
Environmental Planner, Lycoming County, Pa.
July 2008-September 2008
Intern, WILMAPCO, Newark, Del.
January 2008-June 2008
Legislative Fellow, House Majority Caucus, Delaware General Assembly, Dover, Del.
2006–2008
Research Assistant, Institute for Public Administration (Planning Services group), University of Delaware, Newark, Del.
Summer 2007
Intern, Planning Department, City of Newark, Del.
Spring 2007
Intern, Office of State Planning Coordination, Dover, Del.
2005–2007
Member, Community Advisory Board, The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.
2004–2006
Independent Representative, Municipal Publications, Home, Pa.
2002–2006
Freelance Writer, Wilmington News Journal, Harrisburg Patriot-News, Altoona Mirror, Indiana Gazette
2003–2004
Rural Fellow, Center for Rural Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pa.
QualificationsPrograms: ArcMap, Publisher, SPSS, Excel
Languages: Spanish (basic proficiency)
Honors and AwardsM.A. Student Speaker, SUAPP Commencement Ceremony, May 2008
School Director’s Citation, SUAPP, May 2008
Membership Officer, Graduate Student Senate, 2007-2008
Political Science Department Award for Service, 2003
Political Science Department Award for Academic Excellence, 2003
Journalism Department Commencement Speaker, 2003
Student Representative, Liberal Studies Curriculum Committee, 2002–2003
State System of Higher Education Undergraduate Women’s Leadership Award, 2002
Provost Scholar, 2001
IUP campus nominee, Truman Scholarship, 2001
Dean’s List, all semesters, 1999–2003
ConferencesPresenter, American Planning Association Conference, Las Vegas, 2008
Attendee, American Planning Association Conference, Philadelphia, 2007
Attendee, Delaware/Maryland Chapter Conference, American Planning Association, 2006
Attendee, Delaware Water Policy Forum, 2006
Presenter, Mid-Atlantic Women’s Studies Association Conference, 2004
Attendee, American Political Science Association Annual Meetings, 2005, 2003, 2002
Presenter, SSHE Women’s Consortium Annual Conference, 2003
Presenter, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, 2000
Projects and ReportsComprehensive Plan for the Town of Magnolia, Del., 2008
Comprehensive Plan Update for the Town of Townsend, Del., 2008
Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Slaughter Beach, Del., 2007
Zoning Ordinance for the Town of Little Creek, Del., 2007
Agricultural-Industrial Model Ordinance and Research, 2007
“Healthy & Walkable Communities” report, 2006–2007
Park-and-Ride Study, 2006–2007
New Castle County Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Profiler, 2006
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Mapping Project, 2006
Downloadables“Healthy Communities: A Resource Guide for Delaware Municipalities,” co-author, Institute for Public Administration, University of Delaware, published August 2008.
“Healthy & Walkable Communities,” co-author, Institute for Public Administration, University of Delaware, published July 2007.
