A graduate of the College of Architecture at Virginia Tech, Norma Blizard has been a lecturer at UTSA since 2003. Her focus has been on teaching in the first year in both design and drawing classes. Reflecting her own education, she regards beginning design to be an introduction to a broad range of principles applicable to a variety of fields. In an increasingly virtual world, she is passionate about the necessity of students initiating their design education through working directly with materials in their own hands. The essential need for architecture and interior design professionals to develop an appreciation for details and dedication to good craftsmanship is best acquired by having students demonstrate those qualities in projects they have built themselves. She stresses analytical drawing and the essential act of thinking through sketching for the designer.
In addition to teaching, her interests move increasingly toward the landscape, green spaces, community gardens, native plants and habitat restoration. Along with her husband, Mark Blizard, Norma accompanied the UTSA architecture students studying abroad for the spring semester in Italy, guiding their immersion into an environment of amazing architecture, cultivated landscapes, and daily sketching.