Dr. Irene Rieger: Award Winning Author

Some say Dr. Irene Rieger is an inspirational and compassionate professor of English at Bluefield College. Others say she’s a powerful and motivating writer. Evidence says she’s both.

Dr. Rieger joined the Bluefield College family in 2011 after earning a Ph.D. in English literature from Case Western Reserve University, a master’s degree in French literature from the University of Florida, and a bachelor’s degree from Samford University. Now approaching nearly a decade with BC, she says she’s thankful for the longevity.

“I taught at 10 schools in 10 years,” Dr. Rieger said about her teaching career before establishing some stability with BC, “with Concord University being the most recent before here.”

Dr. Rieger jokes that her favorite part of teaching is “an excuse to read great literature.” When it comes to her favorite class to teach, she believes content doesn’t matter as much as the students do.

“Any class where students are engaged and motivated to learn is a great experience,” Dr. Rieger said. Similarly, she said that one of the challenges of teaching is motivating students and finding new ways to help them, especially as students change culturally.

Taylyn Strange, an English major and former student of Dr. Rieger, remembers having a major surgery during her freshman year. She recalls how Dr. Rieger stood out from other professors at the time because she was very understanding about her absences while in the hospital and recovering.

“While some say that Dr. Rieger is a tough professor, I’ve always known her to be fair. I learned a lot in every class that I’ve taken with her from World Literature I or Advanced Grammar to English Senior Seminar.”

– Taylyn Strange, BC English major and former student of Dr. Rieger

Dr. Rieger is not only known for being a compassionate professor, but she also was recently recognized on the national level for her creative writing. In November 2019, Dr. Rieger received first place in the 88th Annual Writer’s Digest Poetry Competition in the category of rhyming poetry.

“This is definitely the biggest recognition that I have received for my writing,” Dr. Rieger said.

Her award-winning entry was titled “Spring,” which is a traditional, 14-line sonnet. The work, she said, took her two years and multiple revisions to perfect. She won $1,000 as part of award.

“In a creative writing group with Dr. Rieger, I had the opportunity to hear her award-winning poetry. It was so powerful! I was in tears throughout the reading. She is a powerful artist who deals with the hardest subjects.”

– Dr. Abigail Heiniger, BC professor of English

In addition to the Writer’s Digest award, Dr. Rieger won second place in a West Virginia emerging writers contest, which included a $100 stipend. She also received a fellowship to attend the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing in Massachusetts for a week.

“They changed my mentor last minute, so I didn’t actually get to read (her) work before getting there,” Dr. Rieger said about her mentor at the Martha’s Vineyard conference, author Rachel Lyon. “However, I had read an article that she was featured in and was eager to learn from her.”

In addition to being a great professor and an accomplished writer, Dr. Rieger is a mother of two special needs children, Margaret (age 10) and Alan (age 7).

“I first felt the desire to write poetry when I was pregnant with my son. We had found out that he was going to be sick. I wasn’t sleeping, and I started reading poetry, which led me to want to write poetry.”

– Dr. Irene Rieger

Dr. Rieger said her children inspire most of her creative writing, and her daughter even shares her passion for it.

“Margaret loves to write stories,” Dr. Rieger said. “She will use the recorder on my phone to tell a story and edit it later. Most of them are about dogs right now.”

Dr. Rieger said she encourages young writers to enter writing contests, despite the fact that other people stress the importance of being published and discourage entering contests because of the entrance fees.

“I’ve always found contests to be worth it,” she said.