After serving for two years in the role, Dean Phylicia Rashad will step down from her deanship in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at the end of the academic school year, the university announced last week.
“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,” President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a university-wide email on Aug. 7.
Rashad, famously known for her award-winning acting career, was hired in May 2021 to help re-establish the College of Fine Arts as an “independent college,” Frederick said. According to the Washington Post, Rashad signed a three-year contract with the university, which expires at the end of the academic school year.
Rashad was unable to provide commentary regarding her contract and deanship experience in time for publication.
“She did and is honoring her three-year contract,” Monica Lewis, assistant vice president of Strategic Communications, said. “Dean Rashad wanted to come here and do what she could to restore the College of Fine Arts to the place she believed it needed to be…She did what she set out to do and now is looking to take a step back and focus her energy and efforts on other things that matter to her as well as the College of Fine Arts.”
In her tenure, Rashad facilitated a partnership with the Walt Disney Company through the Disney Storytellers Fund, providing students in the College of Fine Arts and the Cathy Hughes School of Communication with a $1.5 million scholarship fund. The university also credits Rashad for the significant increase of financial contributions to the college.
The university shared that the decenal search to replace Rashad will begin “shortly.” Rashad joins Danielle Holley, Gracie Lawson-Borders and Yolanda Pierce as Howard deans who have announced their departure from the university within the past year.
Copy edited by N’dia Webb
