Megan 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.

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 has worked on several 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.  She is currently working on several IPA planning projects and has been selected as a 2008 Legislative Fellow.

Megan is married to Forrest Lehman, a Ph.D. candidate in English at UD. They are very active volunteers with Forgotten Cats, Inc., a Delaware nonprofit rescue organization.

BA, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Robert E. Cook Honors College) 2003, Political Science and Journalism

Summer 2007
Intern, Planning Department, City of Newark
Newark, Del.

Spring 2007
Intern, Office of State Planning Coordination
Dover, Del.

January 2007
Study abroad in Scotland and the Netherlands

2006–Present
Research Assistant, Institute for Public Administration (Planning Services Group), University of Delaware
Newark, Del.

2005–2007
Member, Community Advisory Board, News Journal
Wilmington, Del.

2004–2006
Independent Representative, Municipal Publications
Home, Pa.

2002–2006
Freelance Writer, Harrisburg Patriot-News, Altoona Mirror, and others

2003–2004
Rural Fellow, Center for Rural Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pa.

Programs: ArcMap, Publisher, SPSS, Excel

Languages: Spanish (Basic)

Membership Officer, Graduate Student Senate

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

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

Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Magnolia, Del., 2007

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

“Healthy & Walkable Communities” (1.8MB - PDF)