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The Rise · HBCU

Bowie State(Bowie State University)

School colors: Black and gold

Bowie-state-university-torch
Andre Cutair at Bowie State University, 2018-08-23 08:34:21, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bowie, Maryland · Founded 1865 · Bulldog

Public · Four-year · ~6,400 students

www.bowiestate.edu · official site

Founding

Bowie State University traces its origin to School #1, opened on January 9, 1865, by the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People in the African Baptist Church in Baltimore. The school opened at its present location in 1911 with about 60 students and Don Speed Smith Goodloe as the first Black man to head it as principal.

Source: History, Bowie State University, read 2026-09-14.

What the school says about itself

Mascot
BulldogSource, read 2026-09-17.
On the record
  • Bowie State University is Maryland's first HBCU and one of the oldest in the nation. Source, read 2026-09-17.

On the official record

Campus address
14000 Jericho Park Rd, Bowie, MD 20715-9465
Control
Public
Students
~6,400 students
Directory id
162007
OPE id
00206200
Student aid
Takes part in Title IV student aid
Title III Part B list, FY 2026
Listed
Location
14000 Jericho Park Rd, Bowie, MD. See it on the Ledger map.
Where this location comes fromCampus location from IPEDS 2024-25This campus location comes from the federal IPEDS 2024-25 record, used as published, so the pin on the map is the campus.IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, Directory information (HD2024), 2024-25 collection, file dated 2025-09-21, retrieved 2026-09-14: coordinate 39.018185, -76.759721 as published. The Census Bureau geocoder also matched this address exactly on 2026-09-14.

Across newBWS

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, Directory information (HD2024), 2024-25 provisional data collection. Unit id 162007. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/data/HD2024.zip. File dated 2025-09-21.
  2. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education. Higher Education Programs Eligibility Matrix, sheet 'HBCU', dated 2026-06-08. https://www.ed.gov/media/document/fy-2026-higher-education-programs-eligibility-matrix-june-8-2026-114185.xlsx.
  3. History, Bowie State University. https://www.bowiestate.edu/about/history/. Read 2026-09-14.
  4. At a Glance, Bowie State University. https://www.bowiestate.edu/about/at-a-glance/. Read 2026-09-17.
  5. Students: 6,408 total, Fall 2023 (5,288 undergraduate, 1,120 graduate). IPEDS Fall Enrollment 2023, derived variables (DRVEF2023). https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/data/DRVEF2023.zip. File dated 2024-09-30, read 2026-09-17.
  6. About, Bowie State University. https://www.bowiestate.edu/about/. Read 2026-09-17.
  7. School colors: Black and gold. Values as stated. Bowie State University, Wikipedia (revision 1370599111). Read 2026-09-16.
  8. Photograph: Andre Cutair at Bowie State University, 2018-08-23 08:34:21, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowie-state-university-torch.jpg. Retrieved 2026-09-16.
  9. U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder, batch address service, benchmark Public_AR_Current. https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/.

Enrollment is the official 2023 count, rounded. Tap a school for its source.

Machine-readable: /api/v1/hbcus/bowie-state-university · All HBCUs

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