How to Become a Teacher at the Naval Academy
The U.S. Naval Academy is a unique academic environment that requires instructors who understand the challenges facing midshipmen. Midshipmen face time constraints because of military and physical training requirements. Balancing the military, physical and academic requirements can be difficult and instructors at the Naval Academy must take this into consideration when lesson planning. In addition, professors at the Academy must gear their instruction toward the overall goal of producing well-educated military leaders.
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Instructions
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Earn a Ph.D. A Ph.D. is needed from an accredited school to teach at the Naval Academy. Earning a Ph.D. requires completing a rigorous graduate school course and usually writing a dissertation and having it approved. This step can take more than five years after you have completed a four-year college degree. Note that the Naval Academy does include teaching spots for active duty military officers and these generally require just a master's degree. These positions tend to last from two to three years and are considered shore duty.
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Write a letter of interest. A serious candidate for a teaching position should write a well thought-out letter of interest to the faculty chair in the department with the vacancy. The letter should highlight why the candidate is right for the U.S. Naval Academy. It should stress an understanding of the leadership mission of the school. It should also clearly establish the expertise in the subject matter and a strong interest in teaching rather than in doing research.
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Provide references. References should be sent to the human resources department. The references should be tailored, if possible, to the unique environment at the Naval Academy. Academic references from other professors are useful. References from supervisors at universities or colleges carry great weight. Another reference that might be useful would be from a former student who now serves in the military. Such a former student could demonstrate the value of the instruction in the context of military challenges.
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Send a resume or curriculum vitae. You should create a tailored resume for a Naval Academy position. It should establish academic credibility and accomplishments. Highlight academic achievement, class standing, published writing and research. In addition, it is important to impress upon the Naval Academy that your teaching skill is a core strength. Teaching is stressed at the Naval Academy, and the desire to teach in front of class rather than to do research is important. Midshipmen evaluate instructors at the end of each term and the evaluations really matter. A trend of bad evaluations from midshipmen can end a teaching career at the Academy.
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Tips & Warnings
Stressing military ties during interviews will help. Showing an understanding of the mission of the Navy and of the Naval Academy is a good move. Having an understanding of how a subject matter is later applied to military leadership is useful. For example, a history professor could stress the problem-solving aspects and dilemmas faced by historical leaders in class. You could emphasize how you would expose midshipmen to crisis management and problem solving to help them solve future challenges.
No college is perfect and teaching at the Naval Academy requires fortitude. Bruce Fleming, a professor for 23 years at the Naval Academy, recently wrote an article critical of the admissions policy and environment at the Academy. He believes the academies sometimes produce burnt-out graduates who are sick of petty rules divorced from military reality. He fears many students come out of the Academy disillusioned rather than improved by the experience. Fleming points out some of the smartest undergraduate students in the nation are subjected to what he calls some of the dumbest rules imaginable, and this occasionally is a recipe for disaster and disillusionment.
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