Tania String connects to her students through Henry VIII

This is part of a series of profiles on professors doing interesting things across UNC’s campus.

For art history professor Tania String, men and masculinity in Renaissance art has long been her focus.

“It’s a very lively group,” String said. “The men and masculinity class has people who I’ve taught in classes on the nude or art, gender and power in early modern Europe. I’ve got people who have taken classes with me on the arts in England. Those are the kinds of things I teach and I’m interested in.”

String, who came to UNC from the University of Bristol in 2010, specializes in the art and culture of early modern Europe and, as many of her students know, she has a particular interest in Henry VIII of England. She wrote a book titled “Art and Communication in the Reign of Henry VIII” in which she explored how visual images can be understood as political tools.

“She’s hilarious and she really knows everything there is to know about Henry VIII,” recent graduate Chloe Karlovich, who took two classes with String said.

String said her job today could be traced back to Henry VIII.

“I think like any other college student, I fell in love with a subject based on a great couple of teachers and on the art of a particular period,” String said.

String said the more she studied Henry VIII, the more she became interested in masculinity and how the social construct of masculinity contributed to art.

“If you go into her office, she has a shrine of Henry VIII objects, which range from postcards to weird mugs to little objects,” Ph.D. candidate Miranda Elston said. “Students have given them to her as gifts, which says a lot about her relationship with her students.”

String is Elston’s lead adviser. Elston also took two classes with String as an undergraduate and worked with String as a teaching assistant.

“She is a woman that has more energy than anyone I’ve ever met and she uses that in order to really help students,” Elston said. “She could find time for any student, whether you’re undergrad to graduate to professor, she’s willing to sit down.”

String has traveled a lot during her studies. Before she taught at the University of Bristol for 14 years, she lived in London for three years and Florence for one year at the beginning of her study.

But String said she’s enjoyed her time with students in Chapel Hill.

“I have been very impressed with the students’ respectful, hardworking, determined attitude,” String said. “I like the curiosity that students here have about the world, and they want to go out and see things, and understand them.”

Elston said outside of the classroom, String is still fun to be around.

“If you’re ever at a crosswalk with her, and the clock is about to end, she will yell ‘Run!’ And just tear across the crosswalk,” Elston said. “And you just have to run with her and hope you don’t die. But she never jaywalks, it’s always only if there’s one second left. But you just have to be prepared to immediately tear across an intersection.”

university@dailytarheel.com