The Culinary Institute of America

Your Introduction to the CIA!

Learn to cook in the CIA? Not really! ;)

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary institution with a main campus in Hyde Park, NY and satellite campuses in Napa Valley, CA and San Antonio, TX.

Culinary education is more than cooking; it is all aspects of food preparation. From suppliers to employees, there are plenty of people in the food industry who are not chefs or cooks that must be associated with. A good culinary arts program takes this into account and teaches students how to be successful chefs, cooks, and culinary artists inside and outside of the kitchen.

Started in 1946 by a Frances Roth and Yale University First Lady Katharine Angell in New Haven, CT, the Culinary Institute of America has become a leader in culinary education.

The Hyde Park, NY campus offers bachelor and associate degree programs in culinary arts and baking & pastry arts with certificate programs in culinary arts and wines and beverages. The Napa Valley, CA campus hosts only the associate degree programs already listed and various advanced level certificate programs to include advanced wine and beverages and advanced culinary arts. The San Antonio, TX program only offers certificate level instruction.

The school's Bachelor of Professional Studies degrees and Associates in Occupational Studies both include hands on experience but the bachelor's program includes more management type of training. The bachelor programs are 38 months long and the associate's program is 21 months.

For those pursuing the bachelor degree program, the CIA offers students the opportunity to travel to special Wine and Food seminars on the west coast, in Spain, or Italy. Each trip is limited to 25 students so it is recommended that a student work hard to maintain minimum qualifying standards. Students who want to attend a seminar should have: a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, a faculty written letter of recommendation, a resume, an essay, a valid passport, an application, good contact information, and a copy of your transcripts.

What is unique about the CIA is that they seemed to have tailored certain immersion techniques to teach students about locally prominent culinary aspects. For example, San Antonio classes may emphasize Latin American cuisine through field trips and out of the class room training while Napa Valley students may visit a wine orchard as part of their studies.

California and New York students have the unique opportunity of being able to work in on campus restaurants that are operated by CIA students. Students are given the opportunity to serve real meals for real customers in a real restaurant. The experience is priceless and fast paced.

Those fortunate enough to live near a campus who are thinking about the culinary profession may be able to sign up for various certificate or weekend intensive courses designed to expose the students to culinary basics in a short amount of time.

Credits earned from some non-degree granting programs and courses for not degree seeking students may be eligible for transfer to an associate's or bachelor's degree program should the student decide to pursue the education.

The Culinary Institute of America, a non-profit college which offers degree programs, has long been one of the premier culinary education institutions in the US, with three locations. Students spend an average of over 1,300 hours in the kitchen workshops, more than any other culinary school in America.

How the Culinary Institute of America was born

The concept of The Culinary Institute of America was born in 1946. It was the brainchild of two women, Frances Roth and Katharine Angell. Roth was a Connecticut attorney who wanted to establish a school that would become “the culinary center of the nation.” It wasn’t until she teamed up with Katharine Angell, who was married to Yale University President James Rowland Angell, that the idea became reality. On May 22, 1946 the New Haven Restaurant Institute became the first school of its kind in the US, and was founded specifically to train returning veterans of WWII in the trade of culinary arts. The school was originally and continues to be chartered as a non-profit school. The first class had 50 students in attendance, the faculty consisted of a chef, a baker, and a dietitian. In 1947 the name was changed to the Restaurant Institute of Connecticut.

Four years after opening the school boasted 600 graduates from 38 states. In 1951 the name was changed a final time to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), to reflect the national scope, and the increasing diversity of its student body. Continuing education was introduced into the curriculum in 1960, to address the ongoing need of food professionals.

Frances Roth retired in 1965 and Jacob Rosenthal was named as school president. The student body had grown to 400 students.

The ongoing history of the CIA

By 1969 it was clear that the CIA, running double-class sessions to accomodate over 1,000 students, and with a backlog of applications, was quickly outgrowing its facilities in New Haven, even with the lease of an auxiliary campus. A search was begun for a new home, with properties as distant as Atlanta and Chicago up for consideration. But it wasn’t until the school looked at the former St. Andrew-on-Hudson Jesuit novitiate in Hyde Park, NY that it found its new home.

In 1971 the Board of Regents of the State of New York granted the CIA a charter to confer an Associate in Occupational Studies degree, the first culinary school in the US to offer such a degree. The school opened at its new home in Hyde Park, NY in 1972. The new campus was well situated in the Hudson Valley, and offered a beautiful parklike setting stretching down to the riverbanks, and a stately building renamed Roth Hall to honor founder Frances Roth. In 1973 the CIA opened the Epicurean Room and Rabalais Grill, later renamed the Escoffier Restaurant. The on-site restaurant gave students important experience in the demands of culinary management.

Master Chef Ferdinand Metz took over as the college’s next president in 1980, and with his coming the school became authorized to administer the American Culinary Federation’s exam for Master Chefs.

Three additional restaurants were opened on the campus in the early 1980’s. The American Bounty Restaurant was devoted to serving traditional American cuisine, the Caterina de' Medici Restaurant specializing in Italian cuisine, and St. Andrew’s Café, originally founded to offer nutritional cooking. This was followed by the opening of the CIA’s continuing education center, the upgrading of all on-campus kitchens, and the building of an experimental kitchen and food laboratory. Later in the decade came the opening of the General Foods Nutrition Center, which now houses the revamped St. Andrew’s Café.

With the 1990’s came the introduction of bachelors degree programs, the opening of the college’s new baking and pastry facility, and the opening of another campus, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena in the Napa Valley, California. In Hyde Park, the Conrad N. Hilton Library opened and quickly rivalled the Library of Congress with its culinary collection. CIA at Greystone opened the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, which offered a special focus on food and wine pairing. The Greystone campus is every bit as historically attractive as its counterpart in Hyde Park, while retaining a unique California Mission flavor.

In 1998 the Hyde Park campus opened its Student Recreation Center, featuring facilities for basketball, tennis, racquetball, weightlifting, swimming and running, as well as a game room, a lounge, a café, and a pub.

At CIA Greystone the first Worlds of Flavor® Conference & Festival was held in 1998. Because of its overwhelming success it became an annual event that turns the Napa Valley campus into a center of world food and culture.

The Apple Pie Bakery Café opened in 2000 at the Hyde Park campus to support the baking and pastry curriculum with an onsite work experience. This was followed in 2001 by the opening of the Colavita Center for Italian Food and Wine in Hyde Park, devoted to the studies of the culinary traditions of Italy. The Colavita Center becomes the new home for the college’s Ristorante Caterina de' Medici.

Dr. Tim Ryan became the first president of the CIA who is also an alumnus and a former faculty member. Dr. Ryan also earned his certification as a Master Chef at CIA, along with a doctorate in education from U. Penn and a bachelor’s and MBA from the U. of New Haven.

In 2005 the Anton Plaza was added to the Hyde Park campus, which allowed for special events and student activities. The Greystone campus saw the addition of the Ventura Center for Menu Research and Development.

The Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio Texas opened its doors in 2008. The new campus was opened to explore Latin American cuisines, and offers a certificate program in culinary arts. The Pearl Brewery site is the home of the San Antonio Campus.

CIA Culture

Because the CIA is a non-profit organization, the focus remains on the needs of the students, rather than shareholder needs as with many other culinary schools in the US. The CIA is a fully accredited college, receiving its accreditation from both the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology. There are five student operated restaurants on the main campus.

Many of the students who attend the CIA receive some form of financial aid. Students may receive an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree in one of two tracks, culinary arts or baking & pastry arts. The faculty at CIA is highly qualified, with more chef instructors certified by the American Culinary Federation than any other college in the world. The student to faculty ratio is approximately 18 to 1.

The Hyde Park campus, a former Jesuit Monastery, is within daytrip range of New York City, with Amtrak rail service from nearby Poughkeepsie. It is also within easy driving range of many of the top Catskills resorts. The Greystone campus location is in the heart of California wine country, which gives it a unique feel. Its main building is the historic former Greystone Manor, surrounded by herb gardens put to good use by the students. The San Antonio facility is part of the historic Pearl Brewery redevelopment on the San Antonio River just north of the downtown area. Each CIA location takes advantage of region-specific culinary tastes.

The CIA Greystone Campus is also the home of the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies. Certification classes for chefs and sommeliers are available. Because of its location in the center of the Napa Valley, the courses are an immersion into wine culture literally from the ground up, and include walks through the vineyards with area viticulturists, tastings with winemakers in their cellars, and an intense study of food and wine interaction. The courses include the foundation of wine, the business of wine, wines of the world, wine and immersion.

Notable CIA Alumni

Chef Todd English, listed in James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who in Food and Beverage in America, and named the 1991 James Beard Rising Chef, and the 1994 Best Chef in the Northeast. His many US restaurants routinely take honors and get written up in top publications such as Gourmet and Zagat. The best known of his restaurants is Olives in Boston. His tv credits include hosting three national PBS series: Cooking Under Fire, Cooking with Todd English, and Food Trip with Todd English. He’s appeared on Iron Chef USA, on Martha Stewart Living, The Today Show, Bobby Flays Food Nation, and many other shows. English has authored or co-authored three top cookbooks, all published by Simon & Schuster.

Chef Cat Cora, founder of Chefs for Humanity, Executive Chef for Bon Appetit Magazine, Chef Council president for Macy’s Culinary Council, spokesperson for UNICEF, and the first female Iron Chef in its franchise history. Cora made her tv debut in 1999 as co-host of Food Network’s Melting Pot with Rocco Di Spirito, then later hosted My Country My Kitchen: Greece, Date Plate and Fine Living’s Simplify Your Life. In 2006 she was paired with Wolfgang Puck in NBC’s Celebrity Cooking Showdown. Cora has authored two cookbooks.

Chef Anthony Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel’s tv show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, host of the Food Network’s A Cooks Tour, bestselling non-fiction and cookbook author, and an Emmy Award winner. Bourdain has often been a guest judge on Bravo’s Top Chef. His articles have appeared in Bon Apetit, Gourmet, Maxim, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, among others. In 2008 Bourdain was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. His book, Cook’s Tour, was named Food Book of the Year in 2002 by the British Guild of Food Writers. Named Food Writer of the Year in 2001 by Bon Apetit for the book Kitchen Confidential.

Chef Larry Forgione dubbed “The Godfather of American Cuisine” by the press, named America’s Best Chef by the James Beard Foundation, former owner and chef of NY Times 3 star restaurant An American Place in Manhattan. He opened another location in St. Louis, which is still in operation. He later opened The Beekman 1766 Tavern in the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck, NY, which was named one of Esquire’s “Best New Restaurants. Co-founder of American Spoon Foods, a specialty food company in northern Michigan. Forgione’s cookbook, An American Place Cookbook, received the James Beard Foundation’s best American cookbook award. Forgione is the co-founder of the City Meals-on-Wheels Chefs Tribute to James Beard. He founded the farm to table movement in America.

Chef Sara Moulton, host of the Food Network’s Cooking Live, Cooking Live Primetime, and Sara’s Secrets, executive Chef of Gourmet Magazine for 25 years, food editor of ABC-TV’s Good Morning America, and top cookbook author. Moulton also hosted the PBS series Sara’s Weeknight Meals. In 2002 Moulton was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. Moulton was co-founder of the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance, and a teacher at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School (later renamed the Institute of Culinary Education.)

Culinary Institute of America's Curriculum

Educational Programs offered by the CIA at Hyde Park, NY

• Bachelor of Professional Studies in Culinary Arts Management
• Bachelor of Professional Studies in Baking and Pastry Arts Management
• Associate in Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts
  
• Associate in Occupational Studies in Baking and Pastry Arts
• Accelerated Culinary Arts Certificate Program
• Culinary enthusiast classes

Educational Programs offered by the CIA at Greystone in Napa Valley, CA

• Associate in Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts
• Associate in Occupational Studies in Baking and Pastry Arts
• Accelerated Culinary Arts Certificate Program
• Wine Studies Certifications
  
  • Advanced Certified Wine Professional
  • Certified Executive Chef
  • Certified Hospitality Educator
  • Certified Master Chef
  • Certified Wine Educator
  • Diploma Wines and Spirits
  • Master Sommelier
• Culinary enthusiast classes

Educational Programs offered by the CIA San Antonio, TX

• Accelerated Culinary Arts Certificate Program (credit transferrable to other CIA locations)
• Professional Development Seminars and Workshops for working professionals
• Culinary enthusiast classes