Reinisch Named Dean of Arts and Sciences at Farmingdale State

A distinguished educator, Dr. Lou Reinisch has been appointed as the new Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Farmingdale State College, President W. Hubert Keen announced Friday.

“The School of Arts and Sciences is critical to the success of any college, not just for its major programs but also for its essential contribution to the education of all of our students,” said Dr. Keen. “I am confident that Dr. Reinisch’s outstanding experience and credentials have well prepared him to lead the school, in which many of our talented professors are located.”

Dr. Reinisch comes, most recently, from Jacksonville State University, in Jacksonville, Ala. where, as Head of the Department of Physical and Earth Sciences, he created an on-line program in Science Entrepreneurship. His ultra-chic “collaborative classroom” set the standard for 21st Century college classrooms.

“Not only is this classroom very attractive and student-friendly, but in our preliminary studies, we documented a 25 percent increase in student learning using the collaborative environment,” Reinisch said.

Before his position at Jacksonville State, Reinisch was Dean of the College of Science at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand.

As Dean there for four years, Reinisch was responsible for maintaining academic quality of the science degree programs, modernizing educational programs in the college and bringing their degrees into alignment with international standards.

Reinisch also created and obtained accreditation for a medical physics graduate program for the university at the master’s and PhD level, based on more than 10 years of experience and leadership as Director of Laser Research and teaching (Associate Professor) at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tenn.

“My work at Vanderbilt was some of the most meaningful work for me. I enjoy collaborating with the surgeons and being on the cutting edge of healthcare. I have maintained my ties with the doctors at Vanderbilt and I am still publishing scientific papers and book chapters with them,” Reinisch said.

At Farmingdale, Dr. Reinisch will lead the School with the largest enrollment and faculty. Arts and Sciences professors teach courses such as English and mathematics that are required by all degree programs. In addition, the school offers bachelor degrees in Applied Economics, Applied Psychology, Applied Mathematics, Bioscience, Professional Communications and an interdisciplinary major in Science, Technology and Society.

Dr. Reinisch earned his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana. He was a research fellow at the University of Muenster, in Germany and a research associate at the Biological Research Center in Szeged, Hungary. He has been published in more than 40 book chapters, textbooks or proceedings, and authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific papers.

Dr. Reinisch’s areas of special interest include the physics of medical laser use, and the identification of bacteria via fluorescence spectroscopy, both for pediatric use and by first responders in counter-terrorism work. He also holds several patents resulting from his research, especially for equipment to be used for the detection of anthrax spores and bacteria by first-responders.

The commercialization process has inspired Dr. Reinisch to bring the issues of science entrepreneurship into more academic institutions: “It has become apparent that we need to better prepare students to work in industry, and to take their research from the laboratory into the marketplace," he said. "The partnership of science and entrepreneurship is both exciting and challenging. ”

With his wife, Sue Ann, Reinisch resides in Islip. He has two adult sons who live in Tennessee.