Frances Halsband

From 1991 to 1994 Halsband was dean of the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute, and she has taught at Harvard University, Columbia University, Rice University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley and other institutions. She was the first woman president of AIA New York and The Architectural League of New York. She is a former commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Commission. In 2018 Halsband lead a successful effort to amend the AIA Code of Ethics to prohibit harassment or discrimination and commit to fostering a professional environment of mutual respect and equity. In recognition of this effort she was named one of Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 25 Newsmakers. In 2019 she received an Honorary Doctor of Design from the NewSchool of Architecture San Diego.

Halsband's interest in architecture was sparked by her grandmother and her mother, who were both involved in the field of art. She originally attended Swarthmore college as an English major, though she took an interest in hanging out at Penn with architecture students. She decided to switch to an art history major because of this to minimize the time she had to spend in class at Swarthmore. The time she spent at Swarthmore College made her decide to attend Columbia University for architecture classes where she made connections with important people. Once she finished her studies at Columbia, she began her work at Mitchell Giugola Architects, where she worked under Robert Kliment. After he had been her boss for a few years, they decided to start their firm together in 1972.

She received her B.A. at Swarthmore College in 1965 and a master's degree from Columbia University in 1968. She has served on juries for design awards, chaired the 1999 American Institute of Architects Committee on Design, and served as AIA New York's first woman president in 1991. Halsband and Kliment were married in 1971 in Woodstock New York. Their son, Alexander Halsband Kliment was born in 1979. They made their home in New York City and Woodstock New York. Kliment retired from KHA in 2013, and passed away in 2017.

Frances Halsband FAIA (born October 30, 1943, in New York City) is an American architect and educator. She is a founder, with Robert Kliment, of Kliment Halsband Architects, a New York City design firm widely recognized for preservation, adaptive reuse and master planning projects. Significant works include The Brown University Framework for Physical Planning, Long Island Railroad Entrance at 34 Street, Visitor Center at Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library, Mount Sinai Ambulatory Surgery Facility Kyabirwa Uganda. The firm received the AIA Firm Award in 1997 and the New York AIA Medal of Honor in 1998.