Dear Community Partner:

Over the past twenty- three years, I have had the unique pleasure to serve as the Executive Director of the Maryland Center at Bowie State University (Maryland Center).  Housed on the campus of Bowie State University (BSU), a historically black institution, the Center works collaboratively to champion the goals of the institution, with a specific emphasis on eliminating health, education, and environmental inequities.  Since its inception in April 2000, we are proud to share, the Center has awarded more than 50 million dollars in grants to improve community health outcomes, created a pipeline in workforce development for Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) job opportunities for Bowie State University students, and received the distinguished designation as the first academic mentor in the Department of Defense (DoD) Mentor Protégé Program.  Our efforts produce results and value for our partners. For example, the Center was recently selected as a DoD Nunn Perry Award winner in recognition of excellence in the DoD Mentor Protégé Program.

In addition, the Center established a vibrant ecosystem of small businesses and large system integrators to meet critical regional and national security, defense, and public safety requirements.  In our ecosystem, students, faculty and corporate partners work side-by- side to solve complex digital transformation, foreign malign influence operations and cyber-security challenges.

Moving forward, the Center is expanding its efforts to improve equality for underserved communities by providing opportunities that allow each individual to realize his/her full potential.

Sincerely,