Meet the Fellows

Benjamin Luehrs is a dual-degree candidate at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil. Ben graduated with honors in 2010 from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Religious Studies and Spanish. After graduation, he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF) of Metropolitan Chicago, working as a paralegal with the organization’s Bankruptcy Project. At LAF, Ben developed and implemented a free Pro Se Bankruptcy Clinic that taught individuals unable to afford an attorney how to file bankruptcy on their own. Before he starts his year at FGV in August, Ben is interning this summer at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs, where he helps State Department officials manage U.S. bilateral and regional economic relationships in the Western Hemisphere. After graduation from SIPA and FGV, Ben plans to work to expand economic cooperation in the Western Hemisphere in order to raise individuals out of poverty through global
economic growth.