School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism

Welcome to the School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism

Mill Lane Confection Lab is Now Open!

Learn more about the bean-to-bar chocolate process in our newest culinary lab.

On behalf of our faculty, staff and students of the School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism at SUNY Schenectady County Community College, I am pleased to welcome you to the School and our website. The SUNY Schenectady School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism is deeply rooted in a history of hospitality. 

The school is housed in Elston Hall, the former historic Hotel Van Curler. Today, the school offers:

Five Associate Degree Programs: 

• Culinary Arts A.O.S.
• Craft Beer Brewing A.A.S.
• Craft Spirit Distillation A.A.S.
• Hospitality and Tourism Management A.A.S.
• Hotel and Restaurant Management A.A.S.

Two Concentrations:

• Culinary Arts A.O.S. - Baking Concentration
• Hotel and Restaurant Management A.A.S. - Beverage Management Concentration

Five Certificate Programs:

• Assistant Chef
• Craft Beer Brewing
• Craft Spirit Distillation
• Hospitality and Tourism
• Mobile Food Service

One Microcredential:

• Fundamentals of Baking and Confections
  Check out Chef Hatalsky and some of our baking students talking about the microcredential program on Spectrum News!

These programs are designed to enable our graduates to go directly into the workforce or to transfer on to pursue their bachelor’s degrees.

What sets us apart from other hospitality schools is our emphasis on hands-on experience. Our Hotel and Restaurant Management A.A.S. and our Culinary Arts A.O.S. degree programs each contain a 600-hour work experience requirement that we feel is invaluable in reinforcing the theoretical experience gained in the classroom. Our Hospitality and Tourism Management A.A.S. and our Craft Beer Brewing A.A.S. each contain an internship course that is required within the curriculum.

In addition, our a la carte restaurant (the Casola Dining Room), our banquets and special events (Van Curler Room and Lally Mohawk Room), our bakeshop (Pane e Dolci) and our butcher shop (Boucherie) provide practical hands-on experience while students participate in classes on campus. Off campus, we have numerous internship opportunities for our students. Most notably for more than 30 years we have sent our students to Disney Land and Disney World to participate in the Disney Internship Program, to the Kentucky Derby with Levy Restaurants, and all over the United States and Canada participating in golf tournaments and music festivals with Spectrum Concessions. These are great opportunities for our students.

In 2012, we were awarded our first Exemplary status from the American Culinary Federation, as we were granted two concurrent seven-year terms of accreditation with no areas of non-compliance. Today, we are one of two post-secondary program in culinary arts accredited by the American Culinary Federation with Exemplary status in New York State. We are extremely proud of this accomplishment!

This is a very exciting time to be in the hospitality industry. We look forward to seeing you as you begin your educational journey and hospitality career.

David E. Brough, Ph.D., CEC, CCE, CCA, AAC
Dean