Architecture school builds on reaccreditation after 2 years

The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture will be reaccredited after two years in limbo, the latest sign the Scottsdale campus dedicated to the architect may be over a turbulent period.

The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges visited the school at Taliesin West in March and released its findings Wednesday.

The school still has to hear the National Architectural Accrediting Board findings, expected in July.

“It is a very clear announcement that it is a real school, we have undergone tremendous change and built up a significant set of capabilities,” said Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation CEO Phil Allsopp.

Taliesin West, built by Wright in the 1930s, is near Frank Lloyd Wright and Shea boulevards.

The school was given an “on notice” status during its accreditation process in 2005, and the Higher Learning Commission recommended the school solidify its vision, administration, plans for finance and academics.

At the time, the school did not have a dean, the foundation did not have a CEO, enrollment was declining and the faculty had high turnover.

“There was a great deal of turmoil at that time but the entire administration and management of the founda- tion obviously has changed,” Allsopp said.

Since then, Victor Sidy, a Wright school graduate, has been named dean, and Allsopp, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, came in as CEO in April 2006.

Earlier this month, the foundation, established by the architect in 1940, made leadership changes that allow some of its longtime members to step aside in the next few year while making way for new and more diverse members in the traditionally tight-knit community.

There are 19 students enrolled in the architecture school, and each pays $17,088 per year in tuition. There are four full-time faculty members.

Sidy said the accreditation is critical for architect students to enter the profession and that he would like to see an increase in enrollment.

“The history of the school is so strong that, in a way, we are the stewards and inheritors of that legacy,” he said. “We are reminded every day that high quality education is one of the traditions of the school. We are finally in a position to support that.”

The students at the school are called apprentices, and undergo a unique hands-on training program that allows them to build their own structures on the campus and work at the professional firm on site.

The school offers a Bachelor of Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture. The foundation operates Taliesin West and Taliesin, a campus in Spring Green, Wisc., where students spend summer months.