In general, to teach in the Department of English and World Languages (DEWL), an officer must:

• be in the grade of O3 or above (primary focus on year groups 2018, 2019, and 2020)
• be a career course graduate
• be Company Grade Key Development (KD) complete (No later than the start of graduate school)

World Languages Division (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish)

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

Applicants for World Languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish): Possess the aptitude to teach one or more of the languages within the DEWL based on your Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) score (2/2 or higher) and a candidate interview

1. To qualify as a direct hire, you must have a master’s degree and a 2/2 DLPT in the desired language that you want to teach
2. ACS applicants can or are willing to complete a master’s degree by attending grad school and are recommended to have a DLPT.

English Division

DEWL recruits outstanding junior officers passionate about the humanities to join the English Division. It is interested in qualified officers, usually captains at the 5–7-year time-in-service mark, who hold an undergraduate degree in English or related fields in the humanities. Selected applicants attend a two-year program to earn their master’s degree in English or related academic fields, followed by a three-year assignment to the department, teaching core courses in this discipline. General qualifications include successful completion of a KD assignment, overall military record, undergraduate performance, and a passion for English and Humanities.

• To qualify as a direct hire, you must already have a master’s degree
• ACS applicants can or are willing to complete a master’s degree by attending grad school.

Graduate study concentrations such as Area Studies may only be considered case-by-case and approved by the DEWL Chain of Command.

You can apply to join the rotating military faculty through the Army Advanced Civil Schooling (ACS) program or a direct fill assignment (if you already possess at least a master’s degree and display proficiency in the language). If selected to teach in DEWL, the Army will grant you a full scholarship to earn a graduate degree from a U.S. university of your choice (concentrating in literature, linguistics, or second language acquisition). 

After completion, rotating military faculty members will serve on a three-year utilization tour teaching foreign languages at USMA.

Once you are accepted as an instructor, you will work with your specific language section’s Program Director (senior Ph.D. faculty member) and Desk Chief (or senior military faculty) to determine which schools to apply to, based upon programs that have worked well with USMA in the past and your academic interests. After receiving your acceptance letters, you and the Program Director will work together to determine which university is the best fit

This period is needed for us to get HRC approval for officers to attend graduate school (approximately 6 months) and then to give officers time to apply to various graduate schools (most universities have application deadlines of November or December of the year before beginning grad school).

Yes, you can. If selected, the Army will change you over to the ACS program.

Suppose you graduate with a language department-related degree (English) or demonstrate language proficiency (World Languages -Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish - through your DLPT score) and interview with DEWL. In that case, you can potentially serve as a DEWL instructor.

Stay in contact and work with the language section’s Program Director to determine which schools you should apply to and what courses of study you should focus on.  Contact MAJ Antonio Mendoza or CPT Hannan Stark for a list of Program Directors.

The total number varies yearly, but about 40 fully qualified candidates generally compete for 4 to 10 slots.