According to The Washington Post, Howard University appointed Phylicia Rashad as Dean of the College of Fine Arts on May 12.
The multi-award-winning TV, stage, film actress, and director is most known for her role as Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show.
At 72 years old, the actress is now looking forward to her new endeavor as dean at her alma mater.
I would like to see the work that was established during my time blossom again with a new thrust,” Rashad said.
“I would like to see a program contemporized without losing knowledge. I would like to see faculty empowered to create and produce and design robust systems and a robust program. I would like to see students engaged in the disciplines of fine arts as they participate and engage in the university at large. I would like to see us graduate artists who are scholars as well,” she expressed.
“And I would love to see us be a premiere program at the university. I would like to see the College of Fine Arts not only reestablished but see it exulted.”
In 1998, Howard merged the College of Fine Arts with the school’s College of Arts and Sciences as part of a cost-cutting tactic put into action by previous administrators.
The absorption of the program infuriated a number of the school’s performing and visual art students, faculty, and alumni, including Rashad.
Rashad said, “The discipline and study of fine arts are not understood. They are undervalued. And that happens so much around the world. People imagine musicians, designers and actors just wake up and do what we do. And that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“The discipline of fine arts was like training for the military,” she added.
The woman of many talents signed up for a three-year contract with the university. She plans to move to the District to work as dean while also commuting between her New York home and Los Angeles for theatrical and TV work.
“I will be a working artist,” she said.
Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick said Rashad’s work would have four concentration areas: teaching, modernizing the school’s curriculum, expanding enrollment among fine arts majors, and designing a more modern fine arts building.
“She was the best candidate,” Frederick said. “One of the things I was interested in was potentially having someone who was a practitioner in the field of fine arts. I think it’s important for us to have people who are ready and able to stand up and guide the young people who are going to go into that field.”
Frederick mentioned that although it is rare for her to be hired without a higher degree, Rashad’s extensive experience in the entertainment industry has made her just as qualified, if not more, than individuals with advanced degrees, which are usually required for a dean’s position.
“One of the things we have to look at as an academic institution is where you have practitioners that have appropriate experience; it has to be considered.”
“Her experience in fine arts is extremely important,” he added.
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Rashad’s family has a long history with Howard University.
Debbie Allen, Rashad’s sister and multi-award-winning dancer, choreographer, actor, and director, graduated from Howard only a year after her sister. In 1945, their father, Andrew Arthur Allen, also graduated from Howard’s dental school.
One thing is for sure, Rashad is continuing her family’s legacy at the prominent Black university.
