Fordham University received a generous gift earlier this month when famous actor Denzel Washington donated $2.25 million to the school’s theater program.

Washington gave $2 million to endow the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre and another $250,000 to fund the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship for an undergraduate theater student at the school, according to an Oct. 3 Fordham press release.

‘I wanted to create the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship and Chair in Theatre at Fordham in order to offer the next generation of students positive influences,’ Washington said in the press release.

Washington said in the release that he had a positive influence because of his mentor and professor at Fordham, Bob Stone. Washington said he hopes the donation will bring the same positive influences to students.

Washington graduated from Fordham’s theater program in 1977 and, after being discovered by producers through his work onstage, has been cast in more than 40 films, including two Oscar winners, according to the release. Washington, who is currently filming a movie, was not available to comment.

Bob Howe, the director of communications at Fordham, said the gift was great for the theater program, but having someone of Washington’s public stature made the donation more highly visible.

‘It elevates the profile of the school, it elevates the profile of the theater program,’ Howe said. ‘That he’s a graduate of the theater program speaks well of it.’

Howe said the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship is given to a student studying theater at Fordham. Howe said once the gift is put into an account, the interest from the gift pays the tuition for one student at a time, preferably a minority student from the Mount Vernon, N.Y., school district where Washington grew up.

The same applies to the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre. It’s a faculty position whose salary is paid for by the interest made in the account. The position will go to a working actor who will teach on a semester-by-semester basis, with a new faculty member every semester, Howe said.

‘That gives students access to a level of talent that they might not otherwise get in the classroom,’ Howe said.

This semester’s chair holder is actress and star Phylicia Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show.’

Becca Ballenger, assistant to theater program director Matthew Maguire, said some students were thrilled to learn that Rashad would be their professor. Ballenger has had people write in to congratulate the school on having Rashad as a professor.

‘I think she’s perfect,’ Ballenger said about Rashad. ‘It’s always great to have another perspective, and she’s just a remarkable artist, so to have her perspective is especially special, I would say.’

Ballenger said the donation has allowed more people to see Fordham as one of the pre-eminent theater training programs in the country.

Ballenger said she thought it was incredibly exciting to have someone like Washington, one of Fordham’s highest achieving alumni, give back to the school.

She said: ‘Denzel, who is a person who could give his money anywhere he likes, has decided to give it to us, to trust us, to do really great things with it.’

mjberner@syr.edu 

Published on October 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Maddy: mjberner@syr.edu