Schwieder was born
Dorothy Hubbard on November 28, 1933, in
Presho, South Dakota, where she was also raised. She was the ninth of her family's ten children. She married
Elmer Schwieder (September 6, 1925 – December 25, 2005) in 1955, with whom she had two children, Diane Schwieder Risius and David Schwieder. 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. She began her graduate studies in 1964 at Iowa State University, where she obtained her M.A. in history in 1968. Scwieder completed her
doctorate in history from the
University of Iowa in 1981. Schwieder joined Dakota Wesleyan University in 1960 as a part-time instructor. She then became a part-time professor at Iowa State University in 1966. Dorothy Schwieder became the first female appointed professor within the Department of History. She was also the history department's only, full-time female professor for nearly twenty years. She retired in 2001. Schwieder died on August 13, 2014, in
Ames, Iowa, at the age of 80. Her funeral was held at the Collegiate United Methodist Church at Iowa State University. ==Publications==