![[photo, Martin Luther King, Jr., Communications Arts Center, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/25univ/bowie/images/1198-1-306.jpg)
Bowie State University evolved from the first school opened in Baltimore by the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People in 1865. The school reorganized in 1893 as the Baltimore Normal School for the training of teachers. In 1908, the General Assembly designated it as Normal School no. 3, a State institution (Chapter 599, Acts of 1908). After relocation to Prince George's County, the School by 1914 was known as the Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie. It was renamed the Maryland Teachers College at Bowie in 1935 and Bowie State College in 1963 (Chapter 41, Acts of 1963). On July 1, 1988, the College became Bowie State University (Chapter 293, Acts of 1988). In 1988, the University also joined the University of Maryland System, now the University System of Maryland (Chapter 246, Acts of 1988).
Martin Luther King, Jr., Communications Arts Center, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland, February 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
![[photo, Computer Science Building, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/25univ/bowie/images/1198-1-300.jpg)
Today, Bowie State University is the regional comprehensive university serving central Maryland. The University offers masters' degrees in eleven fields, from organizational communications and human resource development to computer science and management information systems. It also provides an honors program, Army ROTC, and athletics, fielding teams in ten intercollegiate sports in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The University's interdisciplinary College of Excellence strengthens the freshman and sophomore experience, preparing students for later graduate and professional study. Bowie State University also is the nation's first historically African-American institution to offer graduate programs in Europe.
Computer Science Building, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland, February 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
Within the University are four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education, the School of Education, and the School of Professional Studies.
The School offers courses in the evenings and on weekends. Classes also are held at off-campus sites such as Andrews Air Force Base Center (Camp Springs); Fort George G. Meade Center (Odenton); Southern Maryland Higher Education Center (California); University System of Maryland Shady Grove Center (Rockville); Montgomery College (Rockville); and Garrett Community College (McHenry).
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