From 1974, she was editor of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, which was published in 21 volumes over 55 years, being completed in 2011 after her death.

Extensive documentation and planning for the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary had been underway at the university since 1921.

Reiner, along with A. Leo Oppenheim, led the team after World War II to publish the first of what would be 21 volumes in 1956.

Reiner was the John A. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in the university's Oriental Institute, and the longtime Editor of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (1974-1996).

She trained many graduate students in Assyriology during her years at the University of Chicago, including the late Joan Goodnick Westenholz, who was curator at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem; Francesca Rochberg, the Catherine and William L. Magistretti Distinguished Professor of Near Eastern Studies at University of California, Berkeley;[1] and Grant Frame, now Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator Emeritus of the Babylonian Section of the Penn Museum.