Since its founding in 1802, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has prepared young men - and recently young women - for careers as officers in the army and for a lifetime of service to the nation. To honor its bicentennial, the USMA Department of History hosted a multi-disciplinary conference that provided an opportunity for serious study of the Academy and its place in American society.

Includes papers from a conference held 7-9 March, 2002 at the Academy.

Part I.West Point and officer professionalism. -- West Point and officer professionalism, 1817-1877 / William B. Skelton -- West Point's contribution to the Army and to professionalism, 1877 to 1917 / Theodore J. Crackel -- Part II. Distinguished West Pointers. -- General George S. Patton, Jr., at West Point, 1904-1909 / Carlo D'Este -- Henry H. Arnold at West Point, 1903-1907 / Dik Alan Daso -- Leslie R. Groves, West Point, and the atomic bomb / Robert S. Norris -- Principled leadership : Creighton Williams Abrams, class of 1936 / Lewis Sorley -- Part III. Challenges and changes. -- West Point, the Jacksonians, and the Army's controversial role in national improvements / Robert P. Wettemann, Jr. -- The rocky road to reform : John M. Schofield at West Point, 1876-1881 / Donald B. Connelly -- The West Point centennial : a time for healing / Frank J. Walton -- Challenge and change : West Point and the Cold War / Brian McAllister Linn -- West Point and the post-Cold War drawdown / Gerardo V. Meneses -- Part IV. Women and minorities. -- The trial, tribulation, and pardon of Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, USMA 1877 / Thomas M. Carhart III -- Chinese cadets at West Point / Charles D. Krumwiede -- The lives of West Point's Buffalo Soldiers / Tanya Kabel-Ballard -- The crucible of duty : West Point, women, and social change / Lance Janda -- Part V. Educating future leaders. -- The evolving USMA academic curriculum, 1952-2002 / George B. Forsythe and Bruce Keith -- The history of history at West Point / Robert A. Doughty and Theodore J. Crackel -- Evolution of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at USMA / Peter Anderson and James B. Dalton, Jr. -- Evolution of sociology at West Point, 1963-2001 / Morten G. Ender and Thomas A. Kolditz -- The history of law instruction at West Point / Patrick Finnegan -- Teaching foreign languages at West Point / Patricia B. Genung -- National security studies at West Point / Jay M. Parker -- Computing at West Point : revolution to purposeful evolution / Kenneth L. Alford, Gregory J. Conti, David B. Cushen, Eugene K. Ressler, Jr., William Turmel, Jr., and Donald J. Welch -- 201 years of mathematics at West Point / V. Frederick Rickey and Amy Shell-Gellasch.