Stephen Prince honored with emeritus status posthumously
Stephen Prince, the late professor of cinema in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emeritus posthumously by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The emeritus title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands in recognition of exemplary service to the university. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive a copy of the resolution and a certificate of appreciation.
A member of the Virginia Tech faculty from 1989 until his death Dec. 30, 2020, Prince was a prolific scholar, having published 16 books during his lifetime and a 17th, "Apocalypse Cinema," published posthumously. He wrote widely used textbooks on film, including "Movies and Meaning: An Introduction" (Allyn & Bacon, 1996), which is now in its sixth edition. He also provided expert audio commentaries for DVDs and Blu-rays on the films of Akira Kurosawa, Samuel Peckinpah, and others.
Prince’s articles were republished and anthologized in significant collections of film theory, and among his most important theoretical texts are his articles “True Lies: Perceptual Realism, Digital Images and Film Theory” and “The Discourse of Pictures: Iconicity and Film Studies,” both of which are major contributions to debates about realism and the nature and function of images in filmic discourse.
In addition, Prince contributed to and supported the journals and institutions of cinema studies including service as book review editor of Film Quarterly for more than a decade and as editor of Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind for six years.
He also served as president of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and president of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image.
In 2012, Prince received Virginia Tech’s Alumni Award for Excellence in Research.
Prince received a bachelor's degree and master’s degree from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
