Education: AB, Duke University; MDiv, Union Theological Seminary; MLA, University of Virginia; PhD, Columbia University.

Background: Reuben Rainey has taught in the School of Architecture for 23 years and served as Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture for 5 years. His courses focus on the history of landscape architecture and the design of "healing" environments for a wide range of health care facilities. He has also taught in the Vicenza, Italy summer program for 11 years. His academic background includes work on comparative religion and psychology of religion, which he taught at Columbia University and Middlebury College before entering the field of landscape architecture in mid-career.
His research and publications cover a broad range of topics, including 19th and 20th century park design, historic preservation, Italian Renaissance villas, and the work of major 20th century landscape architects. His articles have been translated into French, German, Swedish, Japanese, and Italian. He makes documentary videos on a wide range of subjects, including Italian Renaissance villas and healing gardens. He also supervised the creation of an electonic slide archive of major works in the history of landscape architecture, which is used extensively in his courses and in other classes as well.
He has received various teaching awards, including Teacher of the Year in the School of Architecture, an all-University teaching award, a University of Virginia Harrison Award for teaching innovation, and the Distinguished Educator Award of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.