 Privileged to be joined today by the Dean of the reestablished Howard University College of Fine Arts, Dean Felicia Rashad, who has had a turn as one of America's most iconic actors and a proud alumna at Howard University. So Dean, first congratulations to you and thank you for your time today. Can you first describe the feeling I would imagine for any alumnus coming home? It is a great feeling to be able to lead a college of which you are a product. But at Howard University, I know it's a distinct feeling. Can you kind of describe that emotion for you as of last week? It was reminiscent of freshman year arriving on campus. I was thinking about those that rushed that flood of feelings. Excitement to be there, what to expect, what you couldn't possibly expect, what you know, what you don't know, so much you don't know. Really looking forward to being a part of something great. Because that's what Howard University is. It is great. And I thought a lot about my dad. My father, Dr. Andrew A. Allen, was a graduate of 1945 class from the School of Dentistry. And he loved Howard University. As did his classmates. That class was an exceptional and extraordinary class of men. And he loved Howard University. He talked about it all the time. And in my senior year of high school, he said, darling, you can apply any way you like, but you're going now. And he began to show me all these magazines about the Howard University players at the Abbey Theater in Ireland on a visit that was sponsored by the State Department. He just let me know this was where I had to be. And he was right about that. He was so right about that. That was for you and your sister, I imagine. Right. And then, you know, our connection to Howard goes beyond that. Dr. Ronald Gray, who was also a graduate of the College of Dentistry, is married to my cousin Vivian and two of their daughters are graduates of Howard University's College of Dentistry. So it's a family affair. How did the conversation get started with this particular executive role for you? I think there are theories of how it happens, but how does that work with someone like you who, to put it candidly, you don't really need it. You may love the opportunity, but it's not needed. So how does that conversation, negotiation start for you? Well, there was the idea of it, first of all, which was something that was beyond my thinking. I've been returning to Howard periodically over the years to offer classes in acting, master classes, or, you know, work with students, or to answer questions or just speak. And it never occurred to me to have a role beyond that. Although I was, I did serve two terms as a trustee, and that was adventurous too, because I hadn't ever thought to be a trustee either, you know. So these opportunities present themselves and it's like, do you take hold of that opportunity or not? You know, what do you do? So it's an opportunity that I am embracing. A lot of people don't realize that you have taught acting for theater and cinema for a long time at many stops. No, I didn't realize that. Obviously, this is, you know, the academic environment is nothing new for you. But how do you envision your role, particularly at H.U.? Is it more that, because this is a college that's being reestablished, that you have to think about infrastructure? How can I raise some money? How can I bring partners in? Or do you think that we have to reestablish culture as the priority? Here's the culture of the College of Fine Arts, and here's what I want our students to think and believe about their careers. What is, in your vision, executively, what is the most important thing to you? Well, they're both important. They're mutually important, because programs need support. Yes, a faculty will envision a curriculum, and the faculty will envision a contemporary curriculum in which knowledge is not lost, and there needs to be support. In the College of Fine Arts, there must be support for student production. And when I say student production, I mean in all areas and all departments. So you need both. You just need both to have a robust program. You need both. What is the kind of student that you would expect to want the opportunity at Howard in the reestablished College of Fine Arts? So we know there is no shortage of talent that has come out of that institution. You have helped put some of that talent into and through that institution. But now that you're there, a whole bunch of folks are going to want to come to that institution. So what do you expect? What is the caliber of student that should be prepared for the Howard, particularly the theater training, the acting track, under your vision and under the faculty's advisement and under the faculty's direction? What can they expect or what caliber of student are you looking for? Howard University is an academic institution in which academic excellence is expected. It's a goal as is service to the community. It's expected. So the students at the College of Fine Arts should not be different from the students in liberal arts or engineering and architecture or in medicine or in any of the other colleges. These are people who are here to do the work. That's the caliber of student that I would expect. And when I say do the work, I mean all of it, you know, all of it are disciplines in training and academic disciplines as well. You said a contemporary experience for Howard. What do you think will be different about the college under your tenure versus how you came through as an undergraduate? What are some new things about acting and method that students will need to be prepared for to have opportunities in Hollywood? Because the industry is so different and it's displayed in so many different ways. What are things that actors need to know now that maybe you didn't know or you've seen evolve over time? There are different techniques that develop through time in the theater that many students don't know anything about and are taught in all colleges. And yet they provide a very vibrant experience and extraordinary development for artists who embrace them. There are contemporary approaches to music, you know, and to visual arts as well, still retaining the knowledge from hundreds of years ago. So what that is going to look like? Well, I need to talk to the faculty first. This is collaborative work. This is not something I do on my own. This is in collaboration with the faculty. I'm looking forward to the faculty feeling empowered to do this because they can, because they want to, and they really do. Oh yeah, they do. What is it about teaching and helping younger actors kind of discover their talent, discover their niche? What is it about that excites you? And more particularly, what is it that excites you at a campus level? Because you've been doing this and so it's an extension of that. What excites you most about that? You know, the truth of the matter is every time I teach a course, I feel like I learn more than I teach. Students are great teachers and students who are really committed to the work are the best teachers of all. When you think about your career, you've been so good to the point that people identify you more with characters or a character, which I think we don't have to say, but people identify you with the work that you've done. Do you expect that that is something that will transfer over to this role as a dean where people will know you as, hey, I'm a leader of a college at an esteemed institution because of your work? Or do you think people will kind of show, hey, let's support America's mom and let's be there because of that? What I really want people to support is the university and the university's mission. And each college in the university serves that mission. And the most important factor here are the students. Yeah, that's what I want people to think of, please. And that's what I would love for people to support because that's what this is about. This is why I am accepting this appointment, not because of the way I'll be viewed. No, no, no, no, no. If I, I'm looking forward to working with the faculty and with the administration, with the trustees, with the community, I'm looking forward to working with people because it's really not about me at all. It's not. It's tough for us on the outside to accept that. And I don't mean that as a slight, but you're just that bright of a star, right? And so I would imagine there are some people, just like some people come to Howard and say, I'm coming to Howard because I'm a pledge out for AK. There are some people I'm going to Howard because I want to learn particularly from this professor. You kind of accentuate that experience, right? So I think, do you believe that that could be an asset in a young person's life or an asset in somebody who wants to donate? Or do you really say, I pop up, don't, that's something else. Look at this work here. That's, that's something else. Let's look at the work and I'd rather do the work and talk about it. That's how I am in my profession as well. When I'm working on peace. And of course, you know, for publicity purposes and you, you know, promotional purposes, you grant interviews, but it's always much more exciting to do the work that it is to talk about it. Well, I appreciate being one of those interviews. I would say in your life and in your career, you've had HBCU culture woven so richly through it, even in your work. You know, when we think about human, when we think about, you know, a different world, when we think about, you know, the way that you even extended yourself as a teacher and professor at Yamamata, when we think about the work your sister has done. How intentional have you and your family been in saying, we will directly and indirectly talk about HBCUs over and over and over again? And why was that the case? We never made that our conversation, but I'll tell you what was the conversation. You're going to college and you're going to graduate from the time we were very little. My first college experience was actually in kindergarten because the kindergarten that I attended was at Texas Southern University. Texas Southern University was in the heart of the community in which I lived. All right, there was that. Then my parents and their siblings educated at HBCUs, all of them. Okay, so it's a culture in which I grew. In Houston, Texas at the time that I was growing up, one of the greatest events happened every Saturday night at Jefferson Stadium. There were college football games. We watched Texas Southern play against Alcorn, play against Gremlin, play against Southern Bishop. And it was just, it was a real cultural event. So it was, you were always immersed in HBCUs. As a high school student in Houston, Texas, there was what was called the forensic tournament that happened on the campus at Texas Southern University over the course of a weekend, every single year. And what happened was all of the high schools and junior high schools came to participate. Debate, monologues, one act plays, orchestra, string ensemble, band. I think these are just some of the categories that, that, you know, we participated in. But as a high school student, you know, it was just a flurry of excitement because now you weren't going to really be competing the way you did on a football field. But you were also having a wonderful exchange with students from other schools that you wouldn't meet otherwise. And it was happening on the campus of an HBCU, which we didn't really consciously think of at the time, but it's the truth. And so as you say, it's interwoven into the fabric of life. You grow up that way. That's how I grew. Is that the kind of experience you hope to bring to Washington DC through Howard? Like a lot of youth in that area, like they could have and grow in that experience? It's there already. I don't have to bring it. It's there. Applications at Howard have been increasing every year, not because of me or any one person, but because of what the institution is, you know, and this, I would, I would even go so far as to say, HBCUs have this contain and have and hold and foster this kind of energy. Howard is one. And there are others. Right. The others are great too. Well, let's let's end on that note. And then the final question I would ask is, you know, obviously this does something amazing for Yamamata, and it obviously means a lot to you. But do you think that it offers an opportunity for other actors, tenured such as yourself up and coming? However, to say, how can I how can I find a place at an HBCU, even if I didn't attend one? Is there one for me that I can lend my talent? I can lend my connections. I can lend my philanthropic light. Do you hope that people will follow your lead and say, let me find a place at a campus like this? Truthfully, Haydn considered that possibility. You can't be America's mom and we don't do what mama says. So, you know, I'm looking, I'm looking at it because I think that it's been happening over several years. And so I think when somebody like you says, I'm going to go back and help my school do this. Can you think of other peers? A Tyler Perry in Atlanta, you know what I mean? Beyonce in Houston, Texas. There are other celebrities out of safety. I'm going to put deeper roots down in an HBCU because I saw Alicia Rashid do that. Well, now you mentioned Beyonce. You saw what she did already now. Come on. With this scholarship program. Right. Come on. And her and her great show where she had all the bad. I mean, people are doing what they're doing. It's not because of me. We are all doing what we're doing. So, you know, Tyler Perry is providing opportunities for people. As we speak, people are doing what we're doing. And it's a, it's an exciting time in the midst of so many different kinds of things that are going on in the world. Yes.