Culinary Institute of America

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the first to teach culinary arts in the United States, offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees, and has the largest staff of American Culinary Federation Certified Master Chefs. The CIA also offers continuing education for professionals in the hospitality industry as well as conferences and consulting services. The college additionally offers recreational classes for non-professionals. The college operates student-run restaurants on its four U.S. campuses. The school was founded in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut, as a vocational institute for returning veterans of World War II. With a growing student body, the school purchased a former Catholic novitiate in Hyde Park in 1970, which remains its central campus. The school began awarding associate degrees in 1971, bachelor's degrees in 1993, and master's degrees in 2018. Additional campuses were opened in the following years: St. Helena in 1995, Texas in 2008, Singapore in 2010, and Napa in 2016.