"Going to school is only one of the first steps to understanding what to do in a kitchen." -Allen Susser

Culinary Arts

The Culinary Arts Program was initiated in 1984 in response to the demand for professionally trained cooks for local resorts and restaurants. This 22 year program has evolved in multiple ways to assist in developing new standards of excellence in Culinary Arts education for our diverse student and industry needs of the future.

Our state-of-the-art facility includes an advanced technology demonstration classroom, 10,000 square feet of teaching kitchens.  The Artichoke Grill Lunch Restaurant and Desert Oasis Dining Room, both open to the public, provide training for our basic program students where the training is intense, stimulating and exciting.

All of our courses and degrees offer unprecedented opportunities in an industry that accounts for more than 9 million jobs annually in the United States.  Our students are diverse in background, experience and age, yet all are able to obtain the kind of education that enables them to succeed  in a vital and vibrant industry that will be the number one employer in the nation for years to come.          
                                                                                                  

We are proud to be accredited by the American Culinary Federation as well as the North Central Association of Colleges.  These accreditations provide our students countless job contacts and opportunities nationwide as well as transfer to regionally accredited institutions including Northern Arizona University, Arizona State University, Johnson & Wales and Les Roches Swiss Academy, for advanced degrees in a variety of hospitality nutrition and culinary arts areas.

Mission and Goals

The mission and goals of the Culinary Arts Department at Scottsdale Community College are to provide our students with dynamic, flexible and diverse programs that offer essential and effective training to take the passion for cooking to the next level of expertise, skill and knowledge.  To enable the fulfillment of this mission, the Culinary Arts Department is committed to:

• Providing students with the highest quality of education while providing the industry with highly skilled employees.
• Maintaining updating and expanding courses, programs and facilities to provide students with an education that is responsive to industry and career needs.
• Offering a variety of educational options to conform to the diversity of our student population.
• Continual development, evaluation and assessment of the programs that are offered to ensure the highest quality of our courses and programs offered.
• Enhancing continuous career growth through a climate conducive to life long learning and professional development.
• Participating in community outreach and active involvement in service partnerships.
• Providing a variety of non-credit educational programs for interested members of the community. 

Both the Certificate Program and AAS Degree that are available in Culinary Arts.