The Culinary Institute of America history

The school moved to Angell Hall (right) on Prospect Street in 1947.

1950: Just four years after its opening, 600 veterans from 38 states had already graduated from the Institute.

Frances Roth, a handsome grandmother and lawyer, who until twelve years ago, had never seen the inside of the kitchen of a public dining room.” –Craig Claiborne, New York Times (April 13, 1959)

1960: In a nod to an ongoing need by food professionals for more training, continuing education is introduced into the curricula.

1965: After nearly 20 years of service to the college, Frances Roth retires, and Jacob Rosenthal is named president.

1969: With more than 1,000 students and facilities strained to the maximum, it’s becoming clear the CIA needs a new home…and a new era is about to begin.

1970: The CIA purchases the St Andrew-on-Hudson Jesuit novitiate in Hyde Park, NY for its new campus.

1971: The Board of Regents of the State of New York grants the CIA a charter to confer an Associate in Occupational Studies (AOS) degree, making it the first culinary college to be so authorized.

1972: The CIA opens the doors to its beautiful new riverside campus in Hyde Park, NY, with its main building named Roth Hall.

1973: The college introduces its first on-campus public restaurant, the Epicurean Room.

Three residence halls are built, and an extensive culinary library, career planning center, and learning resources center are established. “The Harvard of Haute Cuisine.” Life magazine headline for an article about the CIA, May 1979

In 1984, the school's continuing education center (later named the J. Willard Marriott Education Center) opened, and the school improved its teaching kitchens and constructed an experimental kitchen and food laboratory.

1988: Continuing to blaze trails in research and education, the CIA builds the General Foods Nutrition Center to promote nutritional cooking.

In 1990, the school opened a baking and pastry facility, named two years later as the Shunsuke Takaki School of Baking and Pastry.

In 1993, the school opened its Conrad N. Hilton Library and began offering bachelor's degree programs.

In 1995, the school's first branch campus opened, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St Helena, California.

1998: The Hyde Park campus feels even more like, well, a campus when the Student Recreation Center is unveiled to benefit student wellness.

The Apple Pie Bakery Café opened in 2000, and the Colavita Center opened the following year.

2001: The CIA opens the Colavita Center for Italian Food and Wine in Hyde Park, devoted to the study of the culinary traditions of Italy.

2002: In Hyde Park, the newly named and renovated Farquharson Hall always makes people think of Hogwarts!

2004: The CIA launches its intercollegiate athletic program.

In 2005, Anton Plaza opened in Hyde Park while the Ventura Center for Menu Research and Development opened in St Helena.

Also in 2006, the pilot program for the Center for Foods of the Americas opens in San Antonio's historic Pearl Brewery, paving the way for the college's Texas campus.

2009: The Culinary Institute of America launches its AOS degree program in baking and pastry arts at the CIA at Greystone, in the heart of California’s Napa Valley.

2012: The CIA San Antonio opens the doors to Nao, its on-campus restaurant that celebrates the authentic cuisines, cultures, and bounty of Latin America.

2013: The Culinary Institute of America opens The Bocuse Restaurant, which gives students the chance to create and serve new interpretations of classic French cuisine in a stunning open kitchen and sleek modern dining room.

2014: The Marriott Pavilion opens its doors on the New York campus.

In 2015, the college expanded its recreation center and added a new dining facility for students, called The Egg; both are housed in the CIA's Student Commons building.

2016: An exciting evolution of the CIA bachelor’s degree program comes to fruition, as the college confers its first Bachelor of Business Administration degrees to students majoring in food business management.

2017: The college launches its new bachelor’s degree major in hospitality management, opening doors for students to become leaders in this fast-growing segment of the food business.

2018: The college introduces its first graduate degree program—and its first primarily online degree offering—with the Master of Professional Studies in Food Business.

In 2019, the college began offering a Master of Professional Studies degree program in Wine Management.