Dr. Mark Gagnon, Ph.D.

Dr. Mark Gagnon is an associate professor in the Department of English & World Languages (DEWL) at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York, where he directs the German language program.

He graduated from USMA in 1990. Initially stationed in Germany as a field artillery officer, he completed a branch transfer to the Quartermaster Corps in 1994 and served with the 10th Mountain Division Infantry at Fort Drum, New York. 

After earning a master’s degree in German from the University of California, Irvine, in 1999, Gagnon completed a tour as a German instructor at West Point. He changed career concentration to a foreign area officer with a regional focus on European and returned to Germany for a tour at the George C. Marshall Center, European Center for Security Studies, in Garmish-Partenkirchen. 

Gagnon was appointed as academy professor of German in the former Department of Foreign Languages (now DEWL) in 2003 and received his doctorate in German from Harvard University in 2006. In 2010, he deployed for a year to Baghdad as the theater linguist manager, coordinating all interpreter and translation support in the Iraqi Theater of Operations. 

In 2020, he retired from active duty. 

Gagnon’s awards and decorations include Army Parachutist’s Badge, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal, as well as the Army Commendation and Achievement Medals and the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge (Gold). 

He lives with his family in Cornwall, New York.