Rate My Professor Tina Boyer

Tina Boyer is the Associate Professor of German and Chair of the Department of German and Russian at Wake Forest University, a position she has held after joining the faculty in 2010 upon completing her PhD. She earned her BA and MA from the University of New Mexico and her PhD in medieval German literature and linguistics from the University of California, Davis in 2010. Marking 14 years of service as of 2024, Boyer has established herself as a key figure in German studies at the institution.

Her research specializations include medieval German literature, second language acquisition, and technology in the classroom, with additional interests in historical linguistics, folklore, fairy tales, and monsters. Boyer's publications feature the monograph The Giant Hero in Medieval Literature (Brill, 2016), analyzing giants in medieval epics; co-edited volume Germanic Philology: Perspectives in Linguistics and Literature with Heiko Wiggers (Vernon Press, 2024); chapters in Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination (Brill, 2012) and American/Medieval volumes (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016/2019); and articles such as 'The Anatomy of a Monster: The Case of Slender Man' (Preternature, 2013), alongside explorations of monstrous identity in bridal quest epics, anti-Semitism, and medieval literature's intersection with the internet. She received the Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2015-2016 and serves on the editorial board of Explorations in Medieval Culture. Affiliated with Linguistics, Jewish Studies, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and the Center for Literacy Education, Boyer also coordinates self-instructional languages, advises on placement and study abroad, and delivers public lectures including 'The Antichrist and the Fifteen Signs of Doomsday'.