Welcome to the Culinary Institute of America
  •  
     
     
     

    CIA Associate Degree Programs

  • Feed Your Passion and Creativity

    You’re going to love our associate degree programs because you’ll be doing what you love! You’ll get creative in our kitchens and bakeshops, and learn in courses that are 100% focused on food. Discover new ingredients, techniques, flavors, and so much more. Then put it all into practice during your internship, and by preparing and serving food in our public restaurants and bakery cafés.

    Choose your major, master your mise en place (French for “everything in its place”), and get ready to succeed in the food world.


    Associate Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts

    Baking and Pastry Arts

    Looking for a creative career with a sweet payoff? Major in baking and pastry arts. In less than two years, you’ll learn to craft high-end breads, chocolates, confections, pastries, and plated desserts.



    Associate Degree in Culinary Arts

    Culinary Arts

    Love to cook? Want to be a top chef or restaurateur? The culinary arts major is for you. You’ll explore global cuisines, develop creative menus, manage staff, and gain key organizational skills.


  • Real-World, Live-Action Classrooms

    You just won’t find this many opportunities to get real in the food world anywhere else—the most on-campus, student-staffed restaurants around, and an internship at one of 2,000+ leading food businesses (that’s a lot of industry contacts!)

  • Have Prior Work Experience? Go Turbo!

    Earn your CIA degree in as little as 15 months with this accelerated degree program option. Learn more >
  • Kersti Bowser, CIA culinary arts alumni, is owner of Gourmet Butterfly Media & Special Events

    Alumni Spotlight

    Kersti Bowser ’01
    Owner, Gourmet Butterfly Media & Special Events
    “There is a clear difference in students who come out of the CIA versus other schools.”
    Read More  
    Alain Dubernard, CIA Department Chair—Baking and Pastry Arts, CIA San Antonio.

    Faculty Spotlight

    Alain Dubernard
    Professor and Team Leader—Baking and Pastry Arts
    Education
    Diploma, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico City, Mexico. Escuela Panamericana de Hoteleria (Hotel Management School), Mexico City.
    Read More  
  • Did You Know?


    Our faculty literally wrote many of the definitive culinary books that other colleges teach from—including, The Professional Chef.
    Learn More