Phylicia Rashad to step down as dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts

[TMC]

https://andscape.com/features/phylic...-of-fine-arts/

By Takier George
August 8, 2023

Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad will step down from her position as dean of Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts after the 2023-2024 academic year.

Howard president Wayne A. I. Frederick announced the news in an email sent to Howard students and faculty on Monday. In the email Frederick, who will retire from Howard in September, thanked Rashad for the work she has done for the school since being hired in May 2021.

“We deeply appreciate Dean Rashad’s selfless contributions and commitment to our alma mater during her leadership of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and the many contributions she has made to Howard University’s students, graduates, and global community,” Frederick said in the announcement.

The university will begin its search for Rashad’s replacement shortly, he added. Rashad has not yet commented on the news.

Rashad, who graduated from Howard in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts before launching a critically acclaimed career as an actress and director, is known widely for her role as Clair Huxtable on 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show. In 2004, Rashad became the first Black actress to win the Tony Award for best actress in a play for her role in a revival of A Raisin in the Sun. She won her second Tony in 2022 for best featured actress in a play for her performance in Skeleton Crew. She is also the inaugural holder of the Toni Morrison Endowed Chair in Arts and Humanities at Howard.