On 19 April, fifteen Art, Philosophy and Literature and Social Sciences majors participated in a one-day visit to Vassar College as part of the Mellon Civilian-Military Initiative sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  The initiative’s purpose is to encourage collaboration between service academies and other institutions of higher education.  The day’s events included lunch with Vassar students and faculty, campus tours, class visits, and attendance at a reading by Benjamin Busch, a Vassar graduate and United States Marine Corps veteran of Iraq who has just published a book of memoirs entitled Dust to Dust.  Also participating in the visit were Department of English and Philosophy Deputy Head COL Scott Krawczyk, LTC Peter Molin, also of the Department of English and Philosophy, and COL Suzanne Nielsen, Department of Social Sciences.  The representatives from USMA were joined by COL Kathleen Harrington, the Head of the Department of English at the United States Air Force Academy, and LTC Martha Fontain, formerly of the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering at West Point and now stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  The military faculty participated in a roundtable discussion with Vassar faculty and met separately with Vassar President Dr. Catherine Bond Hill and Vassar’s Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Jon Chenette.