page_title: History of the Culinary Institute of America
section_title: Recent history: 2000–present
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Culinary Institute of America / Recent history: 2000–present
caption_attribution_description: English: Copia in Napa, California.
context_page_description: The history of the Culinary Institute of America began in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut, where it was founded as a vocational institute for returning veterans of World War II. With a growing student body, the Culinary Institute purchased a former Jesuit novitiate in Hyde Park in 1970, which remains its central campus. The school began awarding associate degrees in 1971 and bachelor's degrees in 1993. The school opened its St. Helena campus in 1995, its Texas campus in 2008, its Singapore campus in 2010, and its Napa campus in 2016.
context_section_description: The Apple Pie Bakery Café opened in 2000, and the Colavita Center opened the following year. More residence halls were built at the school's Hyde Park campus in 2004. In 2005, Anton Plaza opened in Hyde Park while the Ventura Center for Menu Research and Development opened in St. Helena. The school's third campus opened in 2008 in San Antonio. Two years later, the CIA opened a campus in Singapore consisting of a facility on the campus of Temasek Polytechnic. In 2012, the CIA began offering a bachelor's degree program in culinary science, and in 2014 introduced a bachelor's degree in applied food studies. 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. In the same year, the college acquired a portion of Copia, a museum in downtown Napa, California that operated from 2001 to 2008. In 2016, the college opened a campus, the Culinary Institute of America at Copia, which houses the CIA's new Food Business School. The college, which was outgrowing its St. Helena campus, purchased the northern portion of the property for $12.5 million (it was recently assessed for $21.3 million). In September 2016, the college replaced its Bachelor of Professional Studies business management program with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree program in food business management.
  On April 23, 2008, amid complaints directed toward CIA president Tim Ryan, the school's teachers' union approved a vote of no confidence, with a vote of 85 to 9. The faculty described poor equipment, falling academic standards, and little support in the administration for complaints as causes. The largest complaints, laid out in a thirteen-item list, included outdated technology, poorly-designed uniforms, substandard school-bland kitchen equipment, overcrowded classes, complicated schedules, and poor record-keeping. The document described President Ryan as taking an autocratic style, ignoring staff input, and retaliating against criticism. Ryan later met with union representatives and described coming improvements in scheduling and curriculum. As a result of the event and changes made, the board confirmed unanimously their confidence in him and extended his contract.
  Following the approval, students began organizing a protest, including creating several student groups on Facebook, and hanging "Fire Tim Ryan" signs in dorm rooms. The students described further complaints including the administration's close ties with the corporate food industry and less challenging kitchen tasks, such as frying frozen waffle fries. In May the school prevented the campus newspaper from writing about the issue, which prompted its editor to resign. The school later apologized and allowed a full report in the paper's next issue. Ryan held that he was trying to prevent students from being involved in a conflict between the faculty and administration.
  On April 23, 2013, About 90 students left classes to protest a recent trend of less enforcement of a school policy. The policy, requiring applicants to have professional kitchen experience, has varied from three months to a year, and is currently six months; a 2011 revision allowed front-of-house service to count for the requirement. The protesting students signed letters to teachers and the school administration, gave speeches, and donned name tags with their student loan debt written on them.
  In May 2017, the college announced it will be offering a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management starting September 2018.
caption: Copia, now the CIA at Copia campus
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