Popular with students, Loukides pioneered film studies at Albion College

Along with teaching creative writing and composition, Loukides taught some of the College’s first film studies courses.

October 4, 2023

Albion College Emeritus Professor of English Paul Loukides passed away July 11 in Charlottesville, Virginia at the age of 85. Not much older than his students when he arrived in 1962, Loukides spent 40 years at Albion.

Along with teaching creative writing and composition, Loukides taught some of the College’s first film studies courses. “He wrote a series of books on film that were published by Bowling Green University Press, which was and is known for film studies,” said Professor Emerita of English Judy Lockyer.

Lockyer described Loukides as a “wonderful colleague and popular professor” whose office, across the hall from her own, attracted a lot of student traffic.

Lockyer further recalled a time when Loukides pointed out that she – as the new department chair – shared a piece of administration information that their previous chair would have kept confidential. “I felt I had to be clear because even before I got that information, several other people told me what they’d heard through the grapevine,” said Lockyer, adding that Loukides quickly appreciated her desire to squash the rumors. “The next morning, Paul showed up with a fluorescent orange sign that warned ‘No Fishing, no Hunting, no Loitering’ and he stuck it to my office door. We both had a good laugh. I won’t forget his kindness,” Lockyer said.

“Paul and I didn’t disagree very often. We did, however, try to cultivate disagreement among the students,” recalled History Professor Emeritus Geoff Cocks, who co-taught interdisciplinary film courses with Loukides. “We always had great hour-long discussions after every film, remarkable for a large class of 40-60 students.”

Cocks further remembered Loukides as a “critical and insightful viewer of film,” who wanted their students to consider all aspects of story and message. “His take on traditional war films made for entertainment purposes or out of wartime patriotism was that they masked the brutal reality of war and combat. In Paul’s words, ‘This is one of those films where lots of people get killed but nobody gets hurt,’” Cocks explained. “He once made very real for students packed into Rob 404 the claustrophobic, clangorous and noxious reality of life aboard a German submarine in ‘Das Boot’ by announcing, ‘Imagine we brought a gas-powered lawn mower into this room and started it up.’”  

“I remember Professor Loukides for his sense of humor. There was a perpetual twinkle in his eye,” said Liz Maurer ’91, recalling that Loukides was also on her Honors thesis committee. Of her Film Production course with Loukides, “we had the most fun dissecting a range of films,” she said. “Then he sent us out into the wild to make our own productions. We screened some interesting student projects that semester. I still have them on a VHS tape. I’ll never forget him,” she concluded.

“I remember Professor Loukides for his sense of humor. There was a perpetual twinkle in his eye,” said Liz Maurer ’91, recalling that Loukides was also on her Honors thesis committee. Of her Film Production course with Loukides, “we had the most fun dissecting a range of films,” she said. “Then he sent us out into the wild to make our own productions. We screened some interesting student projects that semester. I still have them on a VHS tape. I’ll never forget him,” she concluded.

Jan Corey Arnett ’75, who became a babysitter and friend to the Loukides family, recalled the day when Loukides “took me aside after class and suggested that I challenge myself to step outside my comfort zone because we tend to “write about what we know.” Continued Arnett, “I did as he suggested and got a big beautiful “A” on an assignment – but I was disappointed in him because what I had chosen to write about, to me, seemed pointless, wasted, useless writing, and how could he reward that?

“I was not acknowledging that I had done what Paul Loukides saw I needed to do for my own good as an aspiring writer,” said Arnett, who has written professionally for decades and is currently at work on her fourth book. “He was a great instructor and I appreciate what he nudged me to do for the difference it has made.”