COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The University of Missouri-Columbia has reinstated the medical school dean who resigned abruptly last year.

Patrick Delafontaine was reinstated as the medical school dean Thursday morning. Delafontaine resigned as dean in September, although he continued to teach and conduct research at the school.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/1PJ7cu0 ) that in announcing the reinstatement, Missouri’s interim-Chancellor Hank Foley spoke of Delafontaine’s track record of “building great medical education.”

His reinstatement is effective immediately.