On February 1, 2016, Makola M. Abdullah, Ph.D., became the 14th President of Virginia State University (VSU). Under President Abdullah’s leadership, Virginia State University has experienced extensive achievements and successes to include:

1. Implementation of a new 2020-2025 Strategic Plan: Preeminence with Purpose to chart the university’s path to continued growth and excellence.
2. A $30-million gift to VSU from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the largest single donor gift in the university’s history.
3. Increased 4-year graduation rate to the highest recorded in the history of VSU.
4. Implementation of a new initiative to provide free tuition for an estimated 300 Pell eligible, first-time freshmen from area high schools.
5. Establishment of the John Mercer Langston Institute for African American Political Leadership to assess, develop, and empower African American leaders.
6. Establishment of the University’s Advisory Board for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning Intersex Ally+ (LGBTQIA+)
7. In June of 2018, the university was named the HBCU of the Year and awarded Best Board of Trustees of the Year and Female Student of the Year by HBCU
8. Digest, an online blog. Additionally, in 2017, President Abdullah was named the HBCU Male President of the Year.

Dr. Abdullah is an active member on numerous boards and committees to include Chair of the Council of 1890s Presidents for Association of Public Land-grant Universities (APLU); Presidential Board of Advisors White House Initiative for Historically Black Colleges; Vice Chair of the Council of Presidents for Virginia Institutions of Higher Education and the Task Force for the Identification of the History of Formerly Enslaved African Americans in Virginia.

Prior to his appointment as president of Virginia State University, Dr. Abdullah served as provost and senior vice president at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. (2013-2016), provost and vice president for academic affairs at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, Fla. (2011-2013), and dean and director of 1890 land grant programs at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Fla. (2008-2011). 

Dr. Abdullah is a Chicago native. He earned his undergraduate degree from Howard University in civil engineering and his doctorate and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Northwestern University. He is the youngest African American to receive a Ph.D. in engineering. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. 

He and his wife, Ahkinyala Cobb-Abdullah, Ph.D., are the proud parents of a son, Mikaili, and a daughter, Sefiyetu, who both are college graduates.