Bowie State University was founded in 1865 by a group of 46 local businessmen, lawyers, Quakers and clergy with the intention of creating places to educate Maryland’s newly emancipated citizens. The school was relocated to Bowie in 1911 and became a teacher education institute. In 1963 Bowie became a State Liberal Arts College and began offering majors in English, General Social Science and History. In 1988 the college became Bowie State University and received an award from NASA in recognition of the quality of its teaching in the fields of science, technology, maths and engineering.

Today Bowie is home to over 5,500 students representing many diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The college offers over 20 undergraduate majors and 38 master’s, doctoral and other postgraduate programs focusing mainly on science, technology, business and education. Programs are split into four colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Education and the College of Professional Studies. The university boasts access to modern computing facilities as well as its own satellite operations control centre managed in conjunction with NASA.

The university’s 300 acre suburban, wooded campus is home to 24 buildings including residence halls and the administrative and academic buildings which make up the university. Other notable buildings on campus include the Fine and Performing Arts Center and the Center for Learning Technology. The location of the campus in Bowie, Maryland puts it within easy reach of the cities of Baltimore and Washington D.C.