Art History Professor Retires after Three Decades at UT
A career that began as a last-minute job interview in the hallway of a Holiday Inn concluded over thirty years later in the distinctive alleys of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Art + Architecture Building, where Dr. Tim Hiles, Associate Professor of Art History and former School of Art Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, retired in fall 2025. A scholar whose recent research focused on the history of photography and the work of artists with disabilities, Hiles was a beloved professor and colleague, guiding many undergraduate and graduate students towards deeper understanding about the role of visual arts in our world.
“Since joining the School of Art in 1991, Tim has made invaluable contributions to the art history field and our undergraduate and graduate programs,” said Christopher McNulty, School of Art Director. “I know that I speak on behalf of the students, staff, and faculty of the School of Art in saying that we will miss working with and having him as a colleague.”
A Pittsburgh native, Hiles received his PhD from Penn State University. He began his university education as a BFA student, briefly working in a photography lab creating large-scale transparencies for the local airport before pursuing a master’s degree in art history.
“I felt like I needed something more, that I wanted something else, and I felt really frustrated,” Hiles said. A beer with a friend who encouraged him to pursue a vocation related to his favorite classes as an undergraduate (in Hiles’ case, art and history) led to the field he would remain in for the rest of his career.
At UT (following an interview with art history professors Fred Moffatt and Fred Martinson at a Holiday Inn during a hiring conference in the early 1990s), Hiles served as the Art History area’s modern European specialist among a faculty cohort that included Moffatt, Martinson, Amy Neff, and Dottie Habel.
“For over thirty years, Tim Hiles has been a consummate colleague, mentor, advisor, and all-around stalwart of the School of Art,” said Habel, who retired in 2016. “The faculty, the students, and the staff of the School have relied on his wise counsel over the period of his service. Bravo, Tim!”
Perspectives of art history have changed significantly since he first began teaching, said Hiles. Although some incoming students may perceive it as “dusty,” the field is rapidly evolving as developments such as AI and social media raise urgent questions about the production and consumption of art.
“Today, art history is all about challenging the canon,” Hiles said. “So now we want to talk about gender. We want to talk about different ways of making art. We want to talk about concept. It’s changed a lot, from this traditional way of doing things. My work has always been interdisciplinary—I have never wanted to follow a very narrow, straight path.”
Hiles’ most recent book publication reflects that interdisciplinarity. In January 2026, he published Art, Movement, and Disability: Transcending the Beauty Paradigm (Routledge), which explores how artists with disabilities have provided social, emotional, psychological, and physical context for understanding the complexities surrounding disability. During the fall of 2026, the UT Downtown Gallery and Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture will present two group exhibitions featuring artists who were highlighted in the publication.
In addition to continuing to advise the UT Downtown Gallery after his retirement, Hiles also served on two graduate student thesis committees in spring 2026 as emeritus. Such teaching experiences—alongside administering oral exams—have been among his most rewarding, he said.
“It’s watching the evolution of a student, particularly when you see a moment of understanding on their face, when the metaphorical ‘light bulb goes off’ and you know their lives have been enriched. Those are the moments I treasure.”
Students at the School of Art appreciated Hiles’ investment in their growth and passion for the field.
“Every lesson felt refreshing and interesting to listen to,” said Angelica Ruhbusch, a BFA student. “He was happy to help out whenever I was stuck on an idea or confused on what to write next for a research paper, and he made complex ideas easy to understand and manage. I left the class more confident in my writing abilities than before.”
Other favorite memories from Hiles’ time at UT include encountering a dangling pipe at a Gallery 1010 student show (following a conversation in class about surrealist Belgian painter René Magritte’s The Treachery of Images) and a student opening a paper with the line, “I want to crawl inside a Matisse painting and live there”—because, as Hiles said, “Don’t we all?”
“I know this is cliché, but I don’t feel like I’ve really worked a day in my life, because I do what I love,” said Hiles. “I mean, I get to talk about Matisse, I get to talk about young people’s ideas and hopes, and that’s amazing to me.”
Hiles will be speaking in the Art + Architecture Building on September 10, 2026, as part of the events surrounding Art, Movement, and Disability: Transcending the Beauty Paradigm. Learn more about his research and the upcoming exhibition at https://downtown.utk.edu.