Dorothy Schwieder

Dorothy Schwieder (November 28, 1933 – August 13, 2014) was an American historian, biographer, and academic. She joined the faculty of Iowa State University in 1966, becoming the first woman to be appointed as a professor in the Department of History.[1] Schwieder authored a memoir and biography the late U.S. Senator George McGovern, her former college professor.[1] A native of South Dakota, much of her research and writings focused on the history of Iowa, including the state's Amish communities.[2]

Schwieder was born Dorothy Hubbard on November 28, 1933, in Presho, South Dakota, where she was also raised.[2] She was the ninth of her family's ten children.[2] She married the late Elmer Schwieder (September 6, 1925 – December 25, 2005) in 1955, with whom she had two children, Diane Schwieder Risius and David Schwieder.[2] Elmer Schwieder was a professor of sociology at Iowa State University.

In 1954, she received her B.A. in psychology and history from Dakota Wesleyan University, where she studied under then-professor, George McGovern.[1][2] She began her graduate studies in 1964 at Iowa State University, where she obtained her M.A. in history in 1968.[2] Scwieder completed her doctorate in history from the University of Iowa in 1981.[2]

Schwieder joined Dakota Wesleyan University in 1960 as a part-time instructor.[2] She then became a part-time professor at Iowa State University in 1966.[1][2] Dorothy Schwieder became the first female appointed professor within the Department of History.[1] She was also the history department's only, full-time female professor for nearly twenty years.[1] She retired in 2001.[1]

Dorothy Schwieder books and papers, much of which focused on the history of Iowa included Iowa's Coal Mining Heritage (1973), A Peculiar People: Iowa's Old Order Amish (1975), Black Diamonds: Life and Work in Iowa's Coal Mining Community (1983), Seventy-five Years of Service: Cooperative Extension in Iowa (1992), Iowa: the Middle Land (1996), and Growing Up With the Town: Family and Community on the Great Plains (2002).[2] She and Gretchen Van Houten co-edited Sesquicentennial History of Iowa State University: Tradition and Transformation, a history of ISU published in 2007.

In the fall of 2013, Schwieder was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Leadership and Public Service by Dakota Wesleyan University.[1]

Dorothy Schwieder died on August 13, 2014, in Ames, Iowa, at the age of 80.[1] Her funeral was held at the Collegiate United Methodist Church at Iowa State University.[1]