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Bowie State University is a public historically black university in Prince George’s County, Maryland, north of Bowie. It is part of the University System of Maryland.

The campus comprises 23 buildings with more than 988,897 square feet (92,000 m2) of space. It is located in Bowie, Maryland between the metropolitan areas of Baltimore (25 miles) and Washington D.C. (17 miles). An on-campus MARC Train station and Metrobus stops provide access to local transit. There are Wi-Fi and public computer labs across campus for student use. 

Twenty-three percent of students live on campus in seven residence halls. Campus events include cultural performances, lectures and sporting events. The oldest building still in use is Harriet Tubman Hall, built in 1921. The 85,000 sq ft (7,900 m2) Student Union Building, which replaced the old Wiseman Center, was inaugurated in 2013. Other recent improvements to the campus have been the US$71 million Fine & Performing Arts Center, with 123,000 square feet for art, music, dance, and theater programs, replacing the former Martin Luther King, Jr., Arts Center.

The US$17.6 million Center for Business and Graduate Studies houses the College of Business, Graduate School, Graduate Admissions Office, the BSU Entrepreneurship Academy and the Bowie Business Innovation Center, the first business accelerator to open at a Maryland HBCU. Other facilities include the Christa McAuliffe Residential Community (CMRC) apartments, the Computer Science Building, a facility serving the computer science and computer technology programs, and the US$6.5 million Center for Learning Technology (CLT), serving the College of Professional Studies.

On campus, the Bowie State Satellite Operations Control Center (BSOCC) is an orbiting satellite operation and control center allowing students to gain hands-on experience. In 2003, he center went fully operational. It is a joint venture operated by the university, the Honeywell Corporation, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. In September 2007, the university began negotiations with Prince George’s County for the transfer of 214 acres (0.87 km2) of land to the school.

According to county documents, the land, valued at US$1.3 million, would cost the university nothing if used “for educational uses including facilities that benefit the welfare of students and faculty in their educational experience at the University”. The addition of this land would increase the size of the university by 63%. The main focus for the land is the development of additional student dorms. The land will also be used to establish several retail businesses that will cater to students and the community.As of 2017, Bowie State has one student newspaper:

The Spectrum.BSU-TV Channel 74 is a cable television station that broadcasts around the clock for the BSU community, and WBSU Bulldog Nation Radio streams programming online. Both stations are operated under the aegis of the Department of Communications. They have converted from analog to digital technology. WBSU Bulldog Nation Radio was launched in 2018 with support from Maryland-based Radio One.

 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bowie State University