In recognition of the contributions to Brandeis by former President Jehuda Reinharz during his service to the university, Brandeis University’s Board of Trustees voted on Oct. 15 to rename Ridgewood A the Jehuda Reinharz Residence Hall.

“By any measure, Jehuda transformed the university,” President Fred Lawrence wrote in an email announcing the trustees’ action.

During his 17-year tenure, Reinharz, who announced his resignation in 2009 and left office at the end of 2010, led a campus-wide expansion that included 36 endowed faculty and staff positions, 29 new or renovated campus buildings, and 17 new research centers and institutes.

“Ever since my graduate school days at Brandeis, beginning in 1968, I heard about the inadequacies of student residences,” Reinharz said in the university’s announcement. “Ridgewood was beloved, but needed major renovations, and we were able to raise the funds to create state-of-the-art residence halls there. I am proud to have my name attached to this residence hall, and I am grateful to President Lawrence and the Board of Trustees for honoring me in this way.”

Upon arriving at Brandeis, Reinharz said students repeatedly voiced concerns about Ridgewood. “It became clear that they [the dorms] were no longer functional and no longer safe,” Reinharz said, explaining how the goal was to begin construction as soon as possible.

Reinharz received a doctorate in modern Jewish history from Brandeis in 1972. He then went on to teach at the University of Michigan before becoming the Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History at Brandeis in 1982, and provost and senior vice president for academic affairs from 1991 to 1994, after which he was named the seventh president of Brandeis University.

Reinhartz currently serves as director of the Tauber Institute, and president of the Mandel Foundation.