The Academy of Art University (AAU or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. Stephens in 1929. In fall 2020, it had 202 full-time teachers, 621 part-time teaching staff, and 7,805 students; it claims to be the largest privately owned art and design school in the United States. The school is one of the largest property owners in San Francisco, with the main campus located on New Montgomery Street in the

South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, situated just south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of the city's museums ...

district.

History

It was founded in 1929 as, ''Académie of Advertising Art'', a school for advertising art, at 215 Kearny Street. The founder, Richard S. Stephens, a painter and editor for Sunset Magazine, led it until 1951 when his son Richard A. Stephens took over, who in 1992 was replaced by his daughter Elisa Stephens. Under her presidency, student numbers increased from around 2000 to 18,000 by 2011, but have since fallen to under 12,000. Forbes estimated the Stephens' family wealth at $800 million in 2015. The school has been participating in the NY Fashion Week event bi-annually since 2005. Every year, the university hosts a spring show that highlights student work from the school's 75 disciplines. The university owns and operates the

Academy of Art University Automobile Museum The Academy of Art University Automobile Museum is a non-profit museum located in San Francisco, California. The museum serves both as a conservator of automotive history and as a tool for students in the industrial design department at the Academy ...

with 200 vintage cars, a collection that started in the 1990s. In 2009, four former admission officers alleged that the school had compensated them based on how many students they could enroll, which is an incentive-based illegal recruitment technique and defrauding of the federal government. The school took in over $1.5 billion in federal aid to be repaid by students since 2006. The former employees became whistleblowers in a federal case, suing the school in U.S. District Court in Oakland in 2009. In May 2016, the city of San Francisco brought a lawsuit against Academy of Art University after possible violations of city land-use laws, including the unauthorized conversion of rent-controlled housing to academic use. In December 2016, the school was ordered pay the city $20 million in fees, purchasing low-income housing and additional low-income housing for seniors. It failed to meet the terms of the agreement and in January 2020 the agreement was amended, requiring the Academy of Art University to pay $37.6 million to the city to build affordable housing. The Academy of Art settled a $60 million case after the Stephens' family LLC's acquisition and use of real estate in San Francisco for illegal student housing. It had converted 33 of its 40 buildings from residential use to private use which were out of compliance with zoning codes, signage laws or historic preservation rules in San Francisco.

Academics

The school offers associate, bachelor'sAcademy of Art University
Peterson's. Accessed January 2014. and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s in about twenty-five subjects. Some courses are offered online.Academy of Art University
''U.S. News & World Report''. Archived 28 August 2016. As of 2015, the school had not published job placement rates since 2006, and was disagreeing with the US Department of Education over whether it is required to do so. Academy of Art University received regional accreditation from the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Sam ...

(WASC) in 2007. The WASC does not require schools to disclose job placement figures. The school is an accredited institutional member of the

National Association of Schools of Art and Design The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), founded in 1944, is an accrediting organization of colleges, schools and universities in the United States. The organization establishes standards for graduate and undergraduate degrees ...

. In interior architecture and design, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (taught or online) and Master of Fine Arts degree are accredited by the

Council for Interior Design Accreditation A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. The

Master of Architecture The “Master of Architecture”(M.Arch or MArch) or a “Bachelor of Architecture” is a professional degree in architecture, qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation (internship, exams) that res ...

degree has, since January 1, 2006, been accredited by the

National Architectural Accrediting Board The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), established in 1940, is the oldest accrediting agency for architectural education in the United States. The NAAB accredits professional degrees in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. r ...

while the Bachelor of Architecture program was granted as of January 1, 2015. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 45% of students who began their studies in fall 2013 completed a four-year degree within 150% of that time (the "6-year graduation rate"). For online-only students, the 6-year graduation rate was 6% and 3% for part-time students in mid-2015. Approximately 35% of all students were online-only in 2015. In 2016, roughly 7% of students completed a four-year degree within the allotted time. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics in 2019, the school's graduation rate for "full-time, first-time" students was 45%. The school has

open admissions Open admissions, or open enrollment, is a type of unselective and noncompetitive college admissions process in the United States in which the only criterion for entrance is a high school diploma or a certificate of attendance or General Educat ...

and an admission acceptance rate of 100%. In 2016, its accreditor expressed concern over low graduation rates; 37% of students who enrolled in 2010 graduated by 2017.

Athletics

The school sports teams, the

Urban Knights The Urban Knights are an all-star jazz fusion band. They released their self tilted debut in 1995. They have a total of 8 studio albums. Overview The Urban Knight's debut album, ''Urban Knights I'', was released in 1995 by GRP Records. Produced ...

, compete as members of the

Pacific West Conference The Pacific West Conference (also known as the PacWest) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in California and Hawaii. T ...

in 14 sports in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

. In the 2014–2015 season, the men's cross country team had a second-place finish and the women's team had a record fourth-place finish, earned at the Pacific West Conference Championships. Valentin Pepiot, their third

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Nationals individual qualifier, was one of the top finishers from the PacWest in the postseason finale. Academy of Art earned a record 10 PacWest postseason honors. For the 2015 indoor and

outdoor track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...

seasons, they had seven All-American honors and one NCAA individual champion in Jordan Edwards.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Past and present faculty of the school include:

References