About the Office of the Dean

The United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which is the accreditation granting unit of the Middle States Association of Higher Education.

USMA was first accredited by Middle States in 1949 and has been reaccredited each successive decade. Middle States accreditation was reaffirmed in 2015. Information on Middle States, its standards for accreditation, and member institutions is available at http://www.msche.org

Learn more about West Point's Assessment and Accreditation.

All academic programs and majors are led by the Dean of the Academic Board.

The Dean's mission is to:

Educate and inspire leaders of character who think critically, internalize their professional identity, and employ their education to help build the Army and the nation's future by delivering top-tier undergraduate curriculum that leads to a Bachelor of Science degree and developing the leadership abilities and character of cadets in and out of the classroom.
To develop all faculty and staff with special emphasis on preparing rotating military faculty to return to the operational force.
To provide intellectual capital to the Army and the nation through faculty, center, and cadet research.
To strengthen civil-military relations by engaging with civil society.

Contact the Office of the Dean at (845) 938-2000.

Strategic Documents

Course Catalog

The Redbook is the West Point catalog containing academic curriculum and course descriptions. The name "Redbook" is derived from the red covers with which the printed catalog booklets were once bound. For the most up-to-date information, view the online version of the Redbook.

Recent Redbooks:

Academic Program Goals

The purpose of USMA’s Academic Program is to establish the intellectual foundation for service as a highly educated commissioned officer and to develop in cadets the knowledge and skills necessary for service and continued growth as an officer in the U.S. Army.

In coordination with the Military, Physical, and Character Programs, the Academic Program develops in cadets a professional self-concept as an officer, nurturing each cadet’s competence, character, and confidence to act decisively on matters of concern to the nation.

The content and process of cadet education and development within the Academic Program enables cadets to understand the interrelated roles of a commissioned officer - soldier, servant of the nation, and leader of character - and to incorporate these roles into their own emerging professional identities.

Educating Future Officers

Educating Future Officers and our strategy center on our faculty model. This model blends recent operational experience in the Army with disciplinary expertise and the best pedagogical approaches, all grounded in the values and mission of USMA, and sustained by faculty development tailored to each individual faculty member.

The faculty’s development of cadets is not limited to the classroom. Our faculty, who have been recognized as the most accessible to students in higher education, spend immeasurable hours with cadets out of the traditional academic environment. Whether through additional instruction, formal or informal mentorship programs, or supervising extracurricular activities, faculty constantly engage cadets.

This frequent contact provides cadets invaluable mentorship on personal and professional conduct while simultaneously modeling selflessness. The faculty are exemplars of how to both think and act like a professional.

Our faculty model also enables West Point to provide intellectual capital to the Army and the Nation through the contributions of faculty, staff, cadets, and centers. We strive to be the intellectual engine of the Army’s innovation ecosystem.