Mr. Samuel Fischer Scott, an alumnus of Virginia Union and Portsmouth native, served as the first director with the primary focus of maintaining the solvency of the school.

Dr. Lyman Beecher Brooks, a Virginia Union alumnus, succeeded Mr. Scott as director in 1938, and served as provost, 1963–1969, and the first president 1969–1975.

[7] In December 2013, the university was placed on probation by its regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, for "financial and governance issues.

[15] Located on the former site of the 50-acre (202,343 m2) Memorial Park Golf Course, which the city of Norfolk sold to the school for one dollar, the campus now encompasses 134 acres (0.5 km2) of land and 31 buildings.

The Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall is a large health, physical education, and ROTC complex with a seating capacity of 7,500.

The three-story building, which includes a game room, a dining area, a new bookstore, a wellness center (work-out facility), student lounges, and administrative offices, marks the first of two major projects for NSU.

In January 2015, the construction of the New Nursing and General Classroom Building was completed, and in the fall 2017 NSU opened a new G.W.C.

Brown Memorial Hall, a three-story, 154,000-square-foot academic building, which houses the School of Business, College of Liberal Arts, and Mass Communication and Math Department.

The building also houses the box office, costume shop, scene shop, mainstage theater, studio theater, amphitheater, as well as drama faculty offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, study areas, and student lounges.

Once completed, the 193,424-square-foot residential facility will include a central two-story amenity space and 740 beds for first-year students.

Other recent construction on the campus include the new police station (2007), the Marie V. McDemmond Center for Applied Research (2006), and the Spartan Suites Apartments (2001), and state-of-the-art library (2012).

In 2018 they were featured in the official music video for the song Heavy Metal by French house act Justice.

[20] All nine of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations currently have chapters at Norfolk State University.

Additional other academic, honor, band, religious, and service fraternities and sororities are present on campus as well.