She is also an affiliate faculty in the School of Public and Environmental and Affairs at Indiana University-Indianapolis. She graduated from the University of Minnesota summa cum laude in 1990 and holds a masters and doctorate from Cornell University in Urban and Regional Planning. Lehn Benjamin’s work has been principally concerned with inequality. She worked in South Africa during the democratic transition, on the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee as a Congressional Fellow, and for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.