The Culinary Institute of America gives its graduates the distinct ability to tell their potential employers that they were educated by the CIA. Of course anyone in the industry will immediately recognize CIA as a top culinary program and not confuse it with the government spy agency. The CIA has a main campus at Hyde Park in New York with satellite campuses in California and Texas. The culinary school was founded in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946 as a school to educate returning veterans from World War II and provide them with good post-service careers. The facility moved its home to Hyde Park in 1972 and branched to other states in 1995. Students can pursue a formal education and degree in either culinary arts or baking and pastry arts. There are bachelor's degree programs for culinary arts and baking and pastry arts management. The college has a student body of nearly 3,000 with students coming from nearly every state and more than 30 countries.
Le Cordon Bleu is a world-class culinary school that provides classic training in French culinary techniques. Le Cordon Bleu is a network of schools spread across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Many famous chefs have emerged from the school's program, including celebrity chefs such as Julia Child, Giada de Laurentiis and Ming Tsai. The school offers degree courses in gastronomy, hospitality and management. The experienced professional chefs on the faculty act as instructors for students and become mentors and lifelong supporters in student careers. Graduates can use the knowledge to pursue careers in culinary fields, hospitality or as consultants, journalists and authors.
Students interested strictly in a hotel career can choose the Hotel School at Cornell University for a program that started the hospitality education trend. Cornell's School of Hotel Management was the first hospitality management program at a college and is renowned as a leader in the field today. The program started in 1922 and has grown to include a faculty of 60 full-time instructors and a state-of-the art learning facility. Cornell has its own "teaching hotel" on campus --- the Statler Hotel. This is the only Ivy League hospitality program.
Students can earn a Bachelor's degree or enroll in graduate studies in pursuit of a Master of Management in Hospitality degree. There is also a doctoral program. Students here learn from a combination of classroom instruction and unrivaled practical experience.
In a city where there are more hotel rooms per capita than anywhere else in the country, it isn't surprising that the local university has an outstanding hospitality program. The Harrah Hotel College at the University of Nevada Las Vegas is a place where many hospitality industry companies seek out new employees each year. The school offers programs in food and beverage management, lodging management, gaming management, entertainment, private club management and more. Faculty members are among the top experts in their specialty fields, often teaching from personal experience in some of Las Vegas' premier hotel resorts.