Greetings Men of Bowie State University!

Welcome to the 2010-2011 academic year!  This year, we are expecting our enrollment to be very close to the 5,617 that we enrolled last fall, and will likely have about 1,850 male students.  Those of us who are committed to the BSU Male Initiative intend to continue our efforts to extend a helping hand to those who avail themselves.  Based on the testimonies from participants at last year's final gathering for the initiative, the experience was beneficial for many of our students. 

My first objective in writing this letter today is to thank those of you who helped make last year's inaugural version of the Male Initiative successful.  Having committed mentors to work with the protégés was absolutely essential.  Those of you who extended yourselves in this way should feel much gratification in knowing that you made a difference. 

Second, I want to invite all male employees to consider being part of the initiative this year and making the commitment to serve as a mentor.  The commitment is straightforward: make frequent contact with your protégés and give them the benefit of your wisdom and experience in a way that helps them to grow and develop into focused and responsible men.  Ultimately, we believe that this initiative will help improve retention and graduation rates for our young men and, consequently, the university's overall graduation rates. 

If you are interested in making a real difference by helping us to operate this volunteer program to assist our young men, and I hope that you are, please click here.

Sincerely,

Mickey L. Burnim
President