Diane Borden, professor emerita of English and founder of the Film Studies Program at University of the Pacific, died at her San Francisco home July 16. She was 83. 

A member of Pacific’s faculty for more than 40 years, Borden joined the university in 1971 as an English professor and became a pioneering force in film studies at Pacific. She was one of the first female faculty members in the English department to receive tenure.

“Diane was a fearless pioneer in film studies and gender studies,” said Tully Knoles Professor of the Humanities Courtney Lehmann. “She was the spark who lit the flame for so many of us new scholars, especially women, in the English department and throughout the College. 

“She was a fierce and passionate presence with remarkable ideas and famed for her teaching. She was single-handedly responsible for introducing Film Studies to the curriculum and to maintain Film Studies. Diane was a phenomenal mentor to me and so many others, and I am grateful to her beyond words,” she said.

Throughout her career Borden contributed across the university, serving on graduate student dissertation committees, lecturing at student orientations, supporting Pacific Experience since its inception in 1997 under former President Don DeRosa (now called the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) and as a sponsor of Calliope, Pacific’s student-run art and literary journal. She served as chair of the Department of English for six years and as chair of the Film Studies Program for more than a decade.

Alison Ritchie ’19 recalled, “Doctor Borden taught me how to think. More specifically, how to think about my own thinking: to take myself seriously as a scholar, to do the hard work of critical study, to focus on inquiry, to face disappointment and struggle as part of the process of critical analysis of literature, text and thought. She taught me that critical inquiry was a grand mystery and a very important human endeavor, not just within the realm of academics but also in application of critical theory outside of that: a mindset of genuine literacy. What a gift and an honor to have been a student under such a great mind as hers. I will never forget her."

Borden mentored generations of students in the close analysis of literature and film and infused the English Department with rigorous critical theory courses, such as The Critical Colloquium and Contemporary Critical Issues. A specialist in psychoanalysis, she was recognized for classes examining Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen. One of her most memorable classes, “Going to Hell,” explored Dante’s Inferno, among other classics. 

“Dr. Diane Borden’s knowledge of film was vast and wide. She loved film, she loved her students, and she loved teaching at Pacific—and it showed every day, in every class and in everything she did,” said Patti McCarthy, former visiting professor of film and English and current associate professor of film at Whittier College. “I am both proud and honored to currently carry on her teaching legacy in my own film classes at Whittier College. Her love of film and what she taught me will continue to live through my own work and my own students and those that come after.”

In recognition of her extraordinary contributions to Pacific, Borden received the Distinguished Faculty Award at commencement in 2013. Upon her retirement in 2014, she was awarded the Order of Pacific, the university's highest honor.

Beyond Pacific, Borden remained an active scholar and educator. She served on the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, where she continued teaching after her retirement, offering courses on film to practicing psychoanalysts as part of a vibrant intellectual community exploring film and the human experience. An internationally respected film scholar, Borden authored a book on the films of Bernardo Bertolucci and published numerous articles on film and psychoanalysis, as well as film reviews for the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology. She also served for many years on the board of the Association of Departments of English.

A native of San Francisco, Borden earned a bachelor’s degree from Lone Mountain College, now part of University of San Francisco, a master’s degree from San Francisco State University and a doctorate in comparative literature as part of the first graduating class of the History of Consciousness program at University of California, Santa Cruz.

She is survived by her husband Eric Essman. Memorial services are pending.

Gifts in her memory can be made by contacting Scott Biedermann ’05, ’20, vice president for development and alumni relations, at 209.946.2166 or sbiedermann@pacific.edu.