Aaron Betsky Named Dean of Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture

Besky said upon his selection as Dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture: "I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to continue the work that for so long made Taliesin into a workshop for reinventing American architecture. I look forward to continuing its traditions and making the School into the best experimental school of architecture in the country." Scottsdale, Arizona, and Spring Green, Wisconsin, are home to, respectively, Wright's Taliesin West and Taliesin, the two locations of the school's "immersive educational communities."

Most recently Betsky headed the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006-2014), during which time he oversaw the renovation of the institution's building and helped to raise $80 million. This fundraising ability, coupled with Betsky's apparent enthusiasm for his new role, will be a valuable asset at the school, since it needs to raise $2 million before the end of the year. According to Architect Magazine, where Betsky is a regular blogger/critic, the fundraising campaign is "well underway," with galas scheduled for Los Angeles and Scottsdale in the coming months.

The $2 million sum comes after the school's accreditation was threatened by new rules of the Higher Learning Commission, which determined last year that accredited schools must be independent. The Frank Lloyd School of Architecture, though, exists as part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The $2 million ($1 million by the end of March with the balance at the end of 2015), combined with a $7 million gift from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, will enable the school's independence and accreditation once the new rules take effect in 2017. Regardless of the school's recent difficulties, this past year has seen the highest number of new students since Wright started the school as the Taliesin Fellowship in 1932.

Before his stint at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Betsky served as director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (2001-2006) and curator of architecture and design at SFMOMA (1995-2001). He has written a dozen books and is working on two more, one on modernism and one on the Venezuelan practice Urban Think-Tank. Also, he is co-directing the 2015 Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism and teaching an architecture studio at the University of Cincinnati.

Betsky is succeeding Victor Sidy, who served as dean since 2005 and is returning to professional practice.