Multi-award-winning TV, film and stage actress Phylicia Rashad plans to step down as dean of Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at the end of her term following the 2023-2024 academic year.

HBCU Gameday reports that Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick announced the news in an email sent Monday (Aug. 7) to the Howard community. Frederick thanked Rashad for her leadership in revitalizing the fine arts program.

“In 2021, Dean Rashad returned to alma mater to lead the re-establishment of the College of Fine Arts as an independent college and to restore it to its rightful place as the center for arts and creativity at Howard University,” Frederick wrote, noting that financial contributions to the fine arts program “increased significantly,” including the centerpiece $5.4 million donation from Netflix, under Rashad’s tenure, according to Gameday.

Rashad’s hiring in 2021 launched an effort to re-establish Howard’s College of Fine Arts as an independent school within the university after it was merged into the College of Arts and Sciences in 1998 to save money, The Washington Post reported in 2021.

The Cosby Show actress was a theater acting major at Howard and graduated magna cum laude from the university with a bachelor’s in fine arts in 1970. Other notable Howard fine arts alumni include the late Chadwick Boseman, Taraji P. Henson, and Roberta Flack.