Just weeks after announcing legendary actress Phylicia Rashad would be overseeing its College of Fine Arts, Howard University is now naming that school after late actor Chadwick Boseman reports The Washington Post.

The Black Panther actor graduated from the esteemed HBCU in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts in directing. In 2018, he was the university's commencement speaker. 

While both Rashad and Boseman are alumni of the school, the two actors aren't without a special connection of their own: Rashad served as one of Boseman's Howard professors in the 1990s. 

"I remember his smile and his gentle way," Rashad said of her former student. "I remember his unending curiosity and his love of study, studying many things all of the time."

Last August, Boseman's untimely death due to colon cancer, stunned the nation. He was just 43 years old. 

The move to rename the school after the South Carolina native comes a year after a Change.org petition which amassed nearly 60,000 signatures requesting the College of Fine Arts be named after Boseman. 

"During his time at Howard, he was a vocal advocate to sustain the College of Fine Arts, rather than allow it to be minimized to the Division of Fine Arts and become absorbed by the College of Arts and Sciences," the petition stated of Boseman, in part. "He also participated in a multi-day protest in opposition of the university's efforts. Though the students were unsuccessful at the time, change would come years later."