Howard University will name its fine arts college after famed alumnus Chadwick Boseman. 

University officials said Wednesday the school would be named the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, bearing the name of the acclaimed actor who starred in the movie Black Panther and was recognized for his portrayal of iconic Black figures including Jackie Robinson and James Brown.

Boseman, who graduated from Howard in 2000, died last year from colon cancer. He was 43.

“Chadwick’s love for Howard University was sincere,” Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick said in a statement. “It is my honor to ensure his legacy lives on.”

As a student, Boseman led a protest against the consolidation of the College of Fine Arts into the College of Arts & Sciences, Frederick said. He and other alumni pushed for a separate fine arts college for years after graduating. 

The efforts eventually led university officials to announce in 2018 that it would re-establish the fine arts college.

Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, said in a statement that re-establishing the college brings her husband’s story “full-circle.” She also lauded the university for recently announcing Phylicia Rashad, an alumna and Tony-award winning actress, as dean of the college. 

“Chad was a very proud Bison — both Howard and Ms. Rashad played integral roles in his journey as an artist,” Ledward-Boseman said.

More than 58,000 people signed a petition urging the university rename the fine arts college after Boseman.

After Black Panther was released in 2018, Boseman addressed Howard students at commencement. The academic year had been marked by protests over a financial aid scandal, campus housing issues, and tuition increases. 

“Everything that you fought for was not for yourself, it was for those who came after you” said Boseman, who was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony. “Savor the taste of your triumphs today.”

In his role as King T’Challa of Wakanda in Black Panther, Boseman became the face of a movie that broke ground in the industry. The film, which starred a predominantly Black cast, broke box office records and earned several accolades including the award for Outstanding Cast In A Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2019. 

Boseman spoke about the film’s cultural reach and described how “young, gifted, and Black” actors are often not given space on screens and stages. 

“We know what it’s like to be beneath and not above,” he said. “That is what we went to work with every day … Because we knew not that we would be around during award season or that it would make a billion dollars, but we knew we had something special that we wanted to give the world.”