Prospective Military Faculty

Work at West Point

Working at the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point is a personally and professionally rewarding experience. West Point employs a number of military staff and faculty in a variety of roles - both inside and outside of the classroom.  Regardless of the position, teaching at USMA  means developing the next generation of Army officer as well as being part of the intellectual center of the Army at a unique, historic post about one hour from New York City. Military faculty do NOT need to be a West Point graduate to apply. 

USMA offers opportunities to advance your career that you won't find anywhere else:

  • The opportunity to pursue an advanced degree from a top tier institution – without using your GI bill benefits.
  • The opportunity to work with and learn from civilian counterparts in graduate school for two years, developing skills your peers do not often develop until much later in their careers.
  • Numerous opportunities to mentor and be mentored.
  • The opportunity to interact with Army senior leaders. 
  • The opportunity to work with top-tier military and civilian staff and faculty.
  • Opportunities for travel with cadets on internships, research trips, and in support of sporting events or extracurricular clubs.
  • The opportunity to develop a network that will pay dividends both as you continue to serve and long afterwards.
See what former faculty and staff say about working at West Point.

Facts about Former Faculty

25+

Currently serving general officers worked as rotating faculty members at USMA​

140+

Currently serving colonels worked as rotating faculty at USMA and went on to command at the battalion and/or brigade level​

50+

 Retired 3 and 4 star generals served as rotating faculty at West Point including GEN(R) David Petraeus and GEN(R) Martin Dempsey​

75%

Rotating faculty selected for resident Command and General Staff College (CGSC)

Opportunities for Commissioned Officers

Commissioned officers can join the military faculty at West Point in one of two ways: 1) Rotating military faculty consisting of of active-duty captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels and 2) Permanent faculty positions, which are usually for lieutenant colonels and colonels.​

  • Rotating military faculty often obtain an advanced degree through the Army Advanced Civil Schooling (ACS) program, attending a top-tier university for 15-36 months before moving to West Point, although some positions do not require personnel to obtain an advanced degree.  Other personnel who already possess a master's degree or PhD can get a permanent change of station (PCS) directly to USMA as a direct hire without going to graduate school en route.​

  • Permanent military faculty positions involve leaving one’s basic branch and joining Functional Area 47 career group or becoming a Professor USMA (PUSMA). ​

Positions exist in a number of different departments and organizations, each requiring different knowledge, skills, and abilities.   

While the majority of positions at West Point are for commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers can also find roles at West Point as tactical NCOs and can participate in the Benavidez Leader Development Program.

Former Faculty on Their Experience at West Point

Working at West Point is a career-enhancing assignment, with numerous rotating faculty going on to become commanders at the battalion and brigade levels.  Several recent and current general officers have also served as faculty at West Point.

Apply for an Assignment to West Point

An assignment to West Point as a rotating faculty member requires officers to submit an application through the CAC-enabled TEACH system. You can learn more about the TEACH system on the Teach Application Help page

Assignments for permanent faculty entail a different process. Notification of permanent faculty openings are normally posted in ALARACT messages and on the West Point website.

Our best advice is to START EARLY. To initiate your application and begin the process of joining our team, click here to start the CAC-enabled TEACH application process. If you have already started a packet, click here to log in.

If you have additional questions, please visit our TEACH Application Help page or our Military Faculty FAQs page.

Information by Directorate/Department

Learn more about specific roles and requirements for teaching at West Point – including the degree you can earn and the courses you might teach.

Selection for Admissions Officers is highly competitive. We generally select two to three Key Developed (KD) Captains to attend a two-year Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program, with a three-year follow-on assignment to the Directorate of Admissions. Our officers attend high-quality graduate programs to obtain their master’s degree at a school of their choice. As Regional Commanders, our officers recruit the highest quality candidates, perform a variety of professional services, and provide outreach for the Army. An assignment in Admissions is a challenging and rewarding developmental experience. 

The mission of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership is to educate cadets in the behavioral, organizational, and sociological sciences to prepare them for careers as commissioned leaders of character, to inspire in them the values of Duty, Honor, Country and to provide the developmental opportunities for cadets and faculty that lead to personal and professional excellence during a career of service to our Nation and our Army.

The mission of the Brigade Tactical Department (BTD) is to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character who lives honorably, leads honorably, and demonstrates excellence. Cadets will be committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.

A tactical officer (TAC) is the legal company commander of a cadet company and the primary integrator at the United States Military Academy. They assess the potential and oversee the holistic development of cadets as required by the physical, military, academic, and moral-ethical programs. Tactical officers coach, teach, and mentor the cadet chain of command by empowering them to take ownership and responsibility for their cadet company.  

Consider applying for the Eisenhower Leadership Development Program (ELDP) to help shape the leaders of tomorrow’s Armed Forces, nation, and world.  

The mission of the Department of Chemistry and Life Science is to educate cadets with a firm foundation in the fields of chemistry, life science, and chemical engineering, so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character who can leverage their understanding of science to implement solutions using appropriate problem-solving skills; and to inspire cadets to a career in the United States Army and a lifetime of personal growth and service to the nation.

The mission of the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering is to educate, develop, and inspire agile and adaptive leaders of character who design and implement innovative solutions and win in complex environments as trusted Army professionals.

The mission of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is to educate and inspire cadets to be leaders of character, prepared to think critically, innovate and apply engineering and technology expertise as Army officers.

The department recruits outstanding junior officers with a passion for the humanities to join the Department of English and Philosophy. We are interested in qualified officers, usually Captains at the 5-7 year time-in-service mark, that hold an undergraduate degree in English, philosophy, or related fields in the humanities. Selected applicants attend a two-year program to earn their master’s degree in English or philosophy, followed by a three-year assignment to the department, teaching core courses in each discipline. General qualifications include successful completion of a KD assignment, overall military record, undergraduate performance, and a passion for the disciplines of English and/or philosophy.

We are interested in qualified officers (usual captains at the 5-7 years’ time-in-service mark) who possess the aptitude to teach one or more of the languages within the DFL, based on your Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) score (2/2 or higher) and interview. You will then attend two years of graduate school for the purpose of obtaining a master’s degree in the language that you will teach, followed by a three-year assignment to the Department of Foreign Languages as one of our rotating faculty. Selection is based on a successful career, including company (battery, troop) command, undergraduate performance, and your willingness to participate in the program.

The mission of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering is to enhance the intellectual, character, and military development of all cadets within the context of a core course in physical geography, a three course engineering sequence, four distinct majors, and a diverse offering of elective courses and to support the continued development of faculty and staff.

The mission of the Department of History is to educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets through the discipline of history so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.

The mission of the Department of Law is to educate and inspire cadets to be leaders of character who are critical thinkers, creative problem solvers, effective communicators and agile decision makers in a rapidly changing and often ambiguous world.

If you are a military officer seeking a rotating faculty position within the Department of Mathematical Sciences, use the link for TEACH (https://teach.westpoint.edu/) to initiate your application and begin the process of joining our team.

Our military faculty includes both rotating and permanent positions. Our rotating military faculty consists of active-duty captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels. You can apply to join the rotating military faculty through the advanced civil schooling program (masters or Ph.D.) or through a direct assignment. Our permanent faculty positions are for lieutenant colonels and colonels with their Ph.Ds.

Defense and Strategic Studies (DSS) is an interdisciplinary major focused on understanding conflict, war, security, and defense by emphasizing a wide array of methodological approaches from the fields of military science, political science, international relations, economics, history, anthropology, and sociology to frame and analyze national and international security issues. 

Our military faculty includes both rotating and permanent positions. Our rotating military faculty consists of active-duty captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels. You can apply to join the rotating military faculty through the advanced civil schooling program or through a direct assignment.  

Ideal Candidate 

The department recruits outstanding junior officers annually to attend graduate school in anticipation of joining our faculty.  Officers should be between their 6th and 9th year of service at the start of graduate schooling and be prepared to earn a Master's degree in physics, nuclear engineering, or a closely related discipline. General qualifications include successful and outstanding service through key developmental assignments as a captain, an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or above, and qualifying GRE scores. Undergraduate degrees outside our disciplines are not disqualifying, but a technical background is preferred.  

The William E. Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic (SCPME) serves as the proponent for the Character Program which helps Cadets understand what it means to be a commissioned leader of character who achieves the West Point Leader Development System's outcomes of living honorably and leading honorably.

The mission of the Department of Social Sciences is to educate, develop, and inspire Cadets through core courses and academic majors in economics and political science, interdisciplinary minors, and related cadet development activities, and to attract, develop, and employ a faculty that excels in teaching, cadet development, scholarship and outreach, in order to prepare cadets and faculty to serve as leaders of character who make distinguished contributions to the Army and the Nation.

Systems engineering is “an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems. It focuses on defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem.” Engineering management is “the art and science of planning, organizing, allocating resources, and directing and controlling activities which have a technological component.” 

We look for officers with undergraduate degrees in systems engineering, engineering management, operations research, mathematics, traditional engineering (civil, mechanical, environmental, etc.), computer science, management, economics or a closely related field. Our diverse background as a faculty is the strength of our department as we teach cadets the full spectrum from classical engineering to business management.

Welcome, prospective military faculty!

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