Makola Abdullah
President of VSU in Virginia
Makola M. Abdullah is the 14th president of Virginia State University (VSU). Prior to his appointment as president of Virginia State University, 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).
Early life and education
Abdullah is a Chicago native, graduating from Lake Forest Academy in 1986 where he also served as a school trustee. 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 .
Career
Abdullah served as dean and director of 1890 Land Grant Programs in the FAMU College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture from 2008 to 2011. Prior to this appointment, Abdullah served as associate vice president for research.
From 2011 to 2013, Abdullah served as Florida Memorial's chief academic officer, overseeing all academic, research, and institutional effectiveness programs while also leading the strategic planning and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation efforts.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q106387806. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2016, 2011 and 1890.
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This entry incorporates text from “Makola Abdullah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.