Dr. Doris Riemen Bio

Dr. Doris Riemen

Dr. Doris Riemen graduated with honors from the University of Colorado with a BSN in 1949 and began
her career as a pediatric nurse in Denver and Madison, WI. Doris married Bill Riemen in 1954; they had
four children: Kathy, Carol, Barbara and William.

Dr. Riemen taught pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, University of Guam and Kilgore
College. In 1979 she earned her MSN from Texas Women’s University and joined the faculty at Texas
Eastern University, becoming the Department Chair in 1981. During the next 11 years, she led the
development and accreditation of the BSN and MSN programs. In 1983 she received her PhD in Nursing
from TWU. Her research, Patient’s Perception of Caring and Non-Caring Interactions with Nurses, is
referenced in nursing, education and social science textbooks as an exemplar of phenomenological
research.

She initiated the Caring Award at the first BSN graduation in 1984. After retirement in 1992, she and her
husband traveled extensively until his death in 2007. Doris lived in her home in Big Sandy in the winter
and her cabin in Wisconsin during the summer. Dr. Riemen’s professionalism remains at the hear of the
UT Tyler School of Nursing.