The CIA also offers continuing education for professionals in the hospitality industry as well as conferences and consulting services.

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 Jesuit novitiate in Hyde Park in 1970, which remains its central campus.

[7] With assistance from Yale University, the school purchased the Davies mansion in New Haven's Prospect Hill neighborhood.

Enrollment grew to approximately 1,000 students by 1969, beyond the capacity of its original campus, so the school purchased the St. Andrew-on-Hudson Jesuit novitiate in Hyde Park, New York in 1970.

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.

[14] On April 23, 2008, the school's teachers' union approved a vote of no confidence regarding CIA president Tim Ryan, the result was 85 to 9 against him.

[15] A thirteen-item list of complaints included outdated technology, poor-quality classes, and bad dining hall meals.

[15] In the course of the controversy, the school prevented the campus newspaper, La Papillote, from writing about the issue, which prompted its editor to resign.

Food served at the American Bounty Restaurant highlights Hudson Valley produce and is prepared in the style of cuisines of the Americas.

[18] The school also frequently creates on-campus pop-up restaurants, including Post Road Brew House.

The second of the campus' pop-ups, the gastropub opened in February 2016 in the General Foods Nutrition Center (formerly St. Andrew's Cafe).

The Gatehouse Restaurant offers contemporary dishes using regional ingredients, and the Bakery Café by illy serves food prepared by students in the college's baking and pastry arts degree program.

The campus formerly operated the Conservatory Restaurant, which was run by students of the Farm-to-Table concentration of the bachelor's degree program.

[25]: 87  The school's board of trustees has 24 members, including Ralph Brennan, Thomas Keller, Michael Mina, Robert A. Muh, Charlie Palmer, Roy Yamaguchi, and chairman Jon L.

[25]: ii [28] There is proportionately a large number of departments[clarification needed], for operating various functions related to foodservice classes and restaurants.

[25]: ii On September 27, 2015, the Culinary Craft Association (CCA), a union at the school, protested the CIA's outsourcing of jobs.

[4] The school's website shows faculty instructors and professionals from food, beverage, and hospitality industries, including American Culinary Federation Certified Master Chefs, Retail Bakers of America Certified Master Bakers, sommeliers, dietitians, food industry executives, historians, and other academics.

The college partnered with Epicurious in running an online cooking school featuring a variety of culinary classes.

[38] The CIA's California campus also runs an accelerated culinary program for students who already have at least a four-year bachelor's degree in hospitality, food-service, or another related field.

[39] The CIA holds various conferences, summits, and retreats for professionals in food and related industries, focusing on topics such as world cuisines, flavor development, health and wellness, nutrition science, volume foodservice, sustainability, and technology.

[44] The school's Archives and Special Collections department is located in the Hyde Park campus' Conrad N. Hilton Library.

Highlights of the collection includes a Roman amphora displayed in the Archives Reading Room, menu covers for New York City's Chanterelle Restaurant which were designed by notable artists, and a 1556 Latin edition of Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae, volume 15.

[45] The Greystone campus maintains the Margie Schubert Library, located adjacent to the school's teaching kitchens.

The school's general cookbook, The Professional Chef also has an interactive iPad edition that PC Magazine called "a new frontier for books.

[57] Beginning in April 2007, the school hosts the CIA Leadership Awards event annually to honor people for success and achievements in the foodservice industry.

The events are organized as fundraising dinners, with CEOs and other prominent members of the industry attending, sponsoring student scholarships.

Journalist Michael Ruhlman, in his first book about the CIA, The Making of a Chef, documents his experiences as he passes through the classes at an accelerated rate.

[87] The book Beaten, Seared, and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef at The Culinary Institute of America by Jonathan Dixon, describes from first-hand the experience of a student at the CIA.