WASHINGTON — Phylicia Rashad typically shuns the spotlight and had to be convinced to take on the role of Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
The dean agreed to stay in the role for three years and is preparing to move on, as her students graduate this week.
She sat down with WUSA9 Anchor and Howard alum, Lesli Foster, for a fascinating conversation about Rashad’s journey from student to dean as she ponders her own future.
Lesli and Dean Rashad met at the Ira Aldridge Theater on the stage where Rashad took her first acting classes at Howard.
“This is the space in which I performed and rehearsed," said Rashad, as she reflected back on those days. “This is the space in which I received acknowledgment.”
A space — where Rashad has returned after years of making her mark on and off Broadway stage, plus roles on big and small screens.
Rashad graduated from Howard in 1970, and a decade later, became a household name as the beloved Clair Huxtable on "The Cosby Show."
In the years that followed, she continued to act, direct, teach master classes on other college campuses from Howard, to Fordham University, NYU and Carnegie Mellon to name a few.
She also served as a university trustee.
But it was her mentee and another Howard alum, the late Chadwick Boseman, who would urge her to consider something new.
Boseman and others were advocating for Howard to reinstate the College of Fine Arts.
“He said, yes it’s going to be coming back. It’s going to be reestablished, and I think you should be the dean. I looked at him and laughed, I did. I said, please. 'Chile, please.'”
Rashad wondered whether she could fully devote her time to the demands of this role and maintain her other creative commitments. She wasn’t ready to retire just yet.
And then – Boseman passed away.
Eventually, Rashad thought about it again. She decided to go through the process and embrace this new opportunity.
“The biggest thing in arriving as dean to this unit that had not been its own unit for over two decades, was there was no infrastructure,” said Rashad.
The faculty – which she considers the lifeblood of any institution – needed assurances about their own personal development.
Students arrived with high expectations.
She needed collaborators and corporate sponsors.
A full plate mission during her short three-year tenure here at the school with a new name: The Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.
“His name is not here because he was 'Black Panther,' his name is here because he was a scholar,” said Rashad. “As a student, he wanted to know everything there was to know about theater, about art, about music.”
Rashad says knowing the school was named for Boseman made her doubly proud. And, she worked to reframe the importance of arts education and the essential role it plays in human development.
“One of the things that I hoped to do was to create a narrative, a narrative that would expand understanding of what the arts are, their value to humanity and their academic value to this institution.”
During her three-year tenure, Rashad also brought in other high-caliber talent to support the arts training already here and helped expand pathways for students to showcase their work across the nation.
She helped secure money for a memorial scholarship in Chadwick Boseman’s name and centered people in the process.
When she was asked to speak during a Sunday chapel ceremony – she turned that into an opportunity for the College of Fine Arts to curate a service with music and artistry.
This humble head of school prefers to build community and you see it in her interactions with students and faculty, in the art that adorns the walls in her office and in her family legacy at Howard.
Before Rashad and her sister, the legendary entertainer Debbie Allen attended this college on hilltop high, their father, Dr. Andrew Arthur Allen paved the way. He graduated from Howard’s dental school in 1945.
And it’s hard to overstate the impact of her mother, Vivian Allen. She just turned 100 last year and has been one of her biggest champions.
Through tears, Rashad conveyed the depth of her devotion for her mother.
"I’m so thankful for her,” said Rashad with eyes swollen by emotion. “It’s a real gift to have a mother who loves you and who insists – insists that you insist on achieving your human potential."
After spending the past three years, as one of the biggest advocates that same potential in others, we wondered what’s next for Rashad?
Maybe a return to her Broadway roots?
The answer and the joy is in the unknown.
“I don’t always know what’s next,” said Rashad, channeling her inner Clair Huxtable voice. “And I like that because it’s what I don’t know that interests me most.”
We do know what’s next, in the short term for Rashad.
Spending time at home with family and her cat plus and some moments to refresh.
As for her advice for students who will graduate this weekend, Dean Rashad says she hopes they’ll continue to grow, understand that they’ll never have all the answers – and work to bring about a new level of kindness in the world.
That is certainly a hallmark of her tenure at Howard.
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