Dianne Rekow, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.B.A. was today named by NYU President John Sexton and Provost David McLaughlin as a Special Advisor to the President and the Provost on Engineering. In this role, she will serve as NYUs representative and principal liaison to Polytechnic University in the merger discussions.
Dr. Rekow is a faculty member in the NYU College of Dentistry and chair of the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology; she will continue to hold these posts while taking on these new duties.
President Sexton said, We think the merger with Polytechnic University offers exciting new possibilities for faculty collaborations and for student education. In choosing a point person for our discussions with Polytechnic University, Provost McLaughlin and I sought someone who was a respected scholar within his or her discipline, but who also saw the great possibilities of interdisciplinary collaborations, and someone with proven administrative skills, particularly with regard to merging academic programs.
Dianne Rekow immediately stood out. Esteemed within her field, as past chair of the College of Dentistrys Bioterrorism and Catastrophe Response Task Force, her thoughtful and visionary contemplation of new roles for dentists in a post 9/11 world has helped re-shape ideas about the health care response in the event of a major catastrophe. That kind of foresight and imagination will be very valuable in this appointment.
Provost McLaughlin said, Dianne Rekow is a natural leader, and we are confident that her examination of the academic, financial, facilities, and infrastructure issues will be insightful and thorough, and her broad consultations with faculty members, deans, and other members of the NYU community will bring much clarity and value to the discussions on the strategic priorities, the implementation of the academic program, and other matters related to joining the two institutions. We are grateful to her for taking on this task.
Rekow received her B.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1966, her B.S.M.E. (mechanical engineering) from the University of Minnesota in 1970; her M.B.A. from the College of St. Thomas in 1978; her M.S.M.E. (mechanical engineering) from the University of Minnesota in 1982; her D.D.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1983; her orthodontic specialty training from the University of Minnesota in 1985, and her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1988.