Today, teleworking or telecommuting is an increasingly important part of the way that 21st century employers get their work done, meet customer demands, and attract and retain top-quality workers.  It's a work option that is being used by savvy employers who want to take advantage of today's technology to bring out the best in today's workforce, and who want to escape the costs and burdens of yesterday's office infrastructure.

Teleworking allows employees to balance family and work demands, save valuable commuting time, reduce costs, lower stress levels, improve health, and increase productivity.   Telecommuting helps to alleviate congestion on our highways, decrease air pollution, and provide real estate savings for employers.  Employees have more time for civic involvement in their communities, and more time to volunteer in their neighborhood schools.  Employers are able to recruit and retain valuable employees, and create a more diversified workforce by accommodating employees with short or long-term health care situations.  When the best practices for implementation are followed, and telework is positioned carefully and appropriately, it is a powerful "Win-Win" solution for employers, employees, society and the environment.  Responding to the needs of its community, Bowie State University, through the combined interests of government and education, developed the Bowie State University Telecommuting Center.  The Center opened in June 1998, as a Pilot of the U.S. General Services Administration's Interagency Telecommuting Pilot Project.   

Located in the Thurgood Marshall Library, the Center houses professional and technologically advanced workstations.  Federal Clients of the Center have included the U.S.Office of Personnel Management, U.S. General Services Administration, Federal Highway Administration, National Science Foundation, Naval Seas Systems, Homeland Security (Army, Customs, Immigration, Transit Security), Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NIH,  IRS, NOAA, and U.S. agencies of Agriculture, Education, Justice, Transportation, and Environmental Protection, to name a few.

Telework has long been viewed as an essential element for continuity of operations planning (COOP).  The BSU Center currently also serves as a Continuity of Operations site for one federal agency, and conducts COOP exercises to prepare for potential disruptions in this agency's Washington- based headquarters.  A 2006 GAO Audit of this Agency's COOP Plan gave the BSU Telework Center high marks for providing COOP services.

Bowie State University, in Prince George's County, Maryland, is a short 20 miles west from Annapolis, 25 miles south of Baltimore, and 26 miles north of Washington, D. C.   The MARC train stop, a short walk across campus, offers fast transportation to downtown Baltimore and Washington.  Teleworkers have all the resources of the University at their door.   Commuters are invited to swim in the University's pool, run the track, eat in campus dining rooms, conduct research in the library, attend cultural events, and teach or take courses.  The BSU Center is furnished with ergonomic module components, Pentium Internet accessible computers, voice mail, laser printer, copier and fax machine, a lockable file  for personal items, a conference room seating eight, scanner, shredder, microwave, refrigerator, and other small general office equipment.  Users are provided with on site technical assistance. All workstations have high-speed Internet connections and dial up modem access.  Desktop to desktop connectivity is handled on an individual basis. The BSU Telecommuting Center is open 24 hours,  7 days a week. Teleworkers @ BSU work in a  secured area and receive free parking, cold water  and hot coffee!