Diversity Trailblazer Sidney Poitier Lends Name to Arizona State University Film School - Hollywood Reporter

Legendary actor Sidney Poitier has leant his name and reputation to Arizona State University's Sidney Poitier New American Film School amid plans to establish campuses in three cities across Arizona and California.

By having Oscar winner Poitier — who in 1964 became the first Black winner of the best actor Oscar for the Arizona-shot Lilies of the Field — lend his name to its film school, ASU is looking to demonstrate that the institution includes, and does not exclude, students of color and first-generation immigrants.

"We've decided to grow the institution and diversify the institution by not becoming more selective, because selectivity is creeping social disruption in a negative way," ASU president Michael Crow tells THR, adding that Poitier symbolizes ASU's quest for inclusion and diversity by having come to Hollywood and movie stardom as an immigrant, by way of New York City and the Bahamas.

After the Lionsgate exec reached out to the Poitier family, they agreed to lend his name to the Sidney Poitier New American Film School as a symbol of ASU's mission of diversity and innovation for the institution.

Sidney Poitier New American Film School students will also get hands-on experience with Hollywood technology through partnerships, including with the John Hughes Institute and Dreamscape Immersive, the virtual reality company.