Denzel Washington has recently donated $2.25 million to his alma mater Fordham University. The distinguished actor wants to fuel the acting chapter at the school so $2 million of the donation will endow the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre.  This program will allow high caliber professionals to come to the school and teach a class once a semester to help students who are interested in acting. It doesn’t stop there either!

Phylicia Rashad (Claire Huxtable from The Cosby Show) is in it on too! The actress will be one of the first teachers for the class with a course titled Creating A Character. $250,000 of the donation will fund the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship. Recipients of the scholarship have to be a minority, an undergraduate theatre major, and preferably a graduate from the Mount Vernon, NY school district (Denzel grew up in the Mount Vernon area so that figures).

Denzel remarks on the grand donation:

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. Phylicia Rashad, as the inaugural holder of the chair, will provide the care, compassion and that extra push to help take students where they’re meant to go.

Now that’s how you give back to the community! What do you think of Denzel’s community efforts? Would you apply for the Denzel Washington Endowed Scholarship?

Spotted @EntertainmentRundown