Notre Dame graduate and former faculty member Jameson Kuper (’06) has taken a teaching position at the United States Naval Academy.

Kuper, a current Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2) in the United States Navy and math teacher at Cape Central High School, has taken a three-year definite recall to active duty to teach math at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

“I’ll be teaching three sections of Calc I first semester, three sections of Calc II second semester, and one five-week section of Calc II in summer 2025,” Kuper said.

Once his first year of teaching is complete, he will have more choice in courses. He says he is hoping to teach “statistics or probability with naval applications,” as his post-graduate work is in applied math.

The United States Naval Academy takes 10 reservists a year for three-year tours. There are 30 reservists on staff in a given year.

Kuper said his appointment was not expected based on the typical resume of a United States Naval Academy teacher.

“I was surprised to get this position because it is usually reserved for Lieutenant Commanders or Commanders (O-4, O-5),” he said. “Right now, I’m just a Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2), but I will put on Lieutenant (O-3) in April 2025. I was told that my background in mathematics teaching is what got me the position. A lot of the professors that take these three-year tours in the math department are generally nuclear engineers who have worked on aircraft carriers, so they have a ton of experience in the real world, but haven’t ever taught in the classroom. I am kind of the opposite. I don’t have much experience in the real world when it comes to driving ships or nuclear engineering, but I do have experience in teaching upper-level math and developing curriculum to meet students’ needs.”

Kuper is excited about his appointment and hopeful that he can make a positive contribution to the United States Navy.