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Tag: VSU

Skanska tops off VSU academic commons building

New York-based development and construction firm Skanska USA held a topping-out ceremony this week for the $120 million Alfred W. Harris Academic Commons building being built at Virginia State University.

The 175,000-square-foot building replaces VSU’s Harris Hall and Daniel Gymnasium and consolidates its College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Education into one complex. It will be the largest building ever constructed on VSU’s Petersburg-area campus in Ettrick.

VSU’s $120 million Alfred W. Harris Academic Commons is on track to be completed in 2025. Rendering courtesy Skanska

The topping-out ceremony marks the milestone of 800 tons of steel being installed, along with other construction milestones including:

  • 700 cubic yards of concrete foundations;
  • 5,766 square feet of concrete block foundations;
  • 22 castellated beams, each 106 feet long;
  • 35,719 square feet of brick veneer;
  • 23,527 square feet of metal panels;
  • and 16,600 square feet of 12-inch glazed concrete blocks around the pool.

The project started in January and will be completed in 2025. The three-story facility will have academic classrooms, media labs, broadcast production labs, multipurpose auditoriums, art and design department ceramic labs and studios, a black box theater and scene shop, distance learning technologies, faculty offices and support space. It will also have an elevated running track, six basketball courts and a natatorium with a six-lane, 25-yard competition swimming pool and diving boards.

 

Education 2023: MAKOLA M. ABDULLAH

Abdullah received the ultimate show of support from VSU in 2022, when he signed a multimillion-dollar deal to stay on as president through 2029.

The public historically Black university was struggling financially when Abdullah arrived in 2016, but he has since righted the ship, leading the school to a budget surplus. VSU was ranked No. 26 in U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Overall HBCUs this year, and it was named HBCU of the Year in 2018 by HBCU Digest.

Abdullah is a member of President Joe Biden’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, chairing the infrastructure committee. He is also board chair-elect for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

A native of Chicago, Abdullah has an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Howard University and master’s and doctoral degrees in the same discipline from Northwestern University. Before arriving at Virginia State, he worked in a variety of executive roles at universities in Florida.

Two HBCUs eye region for satellite campus

Northern Virginia economic development officials are working with Virginia’s two public historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to establish a joint satellite campus in the region that officials say would fill a gap in higher-ed offerings in Virginia’s largest population center.

The presidents of Virginia State University and Norfolk State University have been talking with members of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission about the project since June 2021. The schools are expected to start serious discussions about potential locations with the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance this fall, says Fairfax County Economic Development Authority President and CEO Victor Hoskins.

More than one of the area’s 10 jurisdictions has expressed interest in assisting the campus with permitting and financial investment, says Hoskins. The campus will likely be a joint venture between the two schools, and could be co-located with another university that already operates a Northern Virginia campus.

NVRC Chair and Dumfries Town Councilwoman Cydny Neville — a VSU alumna — spearheaded the effort after noticing friends crossing state lines to attend HBCUs because Virginia does not have one north of Richmond.

She and NVRC Executive Director Robert Lazaro say access to public transportation will be important for the campus. The universities also will need to determine which degree programs will be needed, how many students such a campus could hold and other operational aspects.

The effort comes at a time when Northern Virginia is a booming market for higher ed. The University of Virginia, George Mason University and Virginia Tech have invested in satellite campuses in the region. Since Amazon announced it would build its HQ2 headquarters in Arlington, Hoskins says, 18 schools from across the country have expressed interest in establishing outposts in the region.

Neville and Lazaro say VSU and NSU could make degree completion more accessible for a large part of the region’s population. Both schools’ annual in-state tuition — about $9,600, not including room and board — is among the lowest in the state.

Affordability — along with the supportive environment that many Black students seek from HBCUs — could help more first-generation and lower-income students access the wealth-building potential of a college degree, Neville says.

“This would be a major paradigm shift for the educational attainability of the people in this region,” she says.