Arleigh Leon Lincoln was born on 20 April 1910 in Woodward, Oklahoma. He graduated from Northeastern Oklahoma College in 1933 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and from the University of Oklahoma in 1942 with a Master's degree in Social Work. He taught Social Work at the University of South Dakota from 1942 until 1944. He joined the faculty at the University of North Dakota in 1944 and taught Social Work. He resigned his position at UND following the end of the 1955-1956 academic year to become the Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. He died on 29 October 1966 in Dallas, Texas.

Source: Faculty File in the President's Office Records