Earlier this month, Southwestern University President Laura E. Skandera Trombley presented the Martha Diaz Hurtado College-Town Award to local artist Norma Clark ’97, P’00 for her contributions to the university and to the Georgetown community. 

Clark is a first-generation college student who began her studies at Southwestern in studio art in the fall 1970. She left in spring 1972 to work and raise her family, but she returned to the university as a nontraditional student in 1992 to complete her degree five years later. After graduating from SU, she earned her master of fine arts from Vermont College of Norwich University in 2000. She specializes in abstract art and has exhibited her work in Georgetown, Austin, Dallas, and Atlanta. In addition to recently completing a mural for the city of Georgetown called Preserving History, Clark was specially commissioned by Southwestern for a piece titled Shaping the Future, which is now displayed in the Commons in McCombs Campus Center.

“We’re here to celebrate an individual who represents the best of who we are in Georgetown and at Southwestern University,” Trombley said at the virtual Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Awards ceremony. “This is an individual who practices caring, commitment, and community … [and is ] a role model for us all.”

During the event, Clark accepted her award with grace and gratitude. “It means so much to me that the work that I am so passionate about resonates with others,” she said. You can watch Trombley’s introduction and Clark’s heartfelt acceptance speech here.

Named for a staff member who served Southwestern for more than 20 years, the Martha Diaz Hurtado College-Town Award was created in 2006 to honor Georgetown residents, organizations, or businesses whose exemplary efforts have enhanced the college-town environment for students, faculty, and staff at Southwestern. Previous recipients of the award include the Williamson County Sun, the Downtown Georgetown Association, Gary Nelon, Mel Pendland, Douglas Benold, Ellsworth Peterson, Esther Weir, Barbara and George Brightwell, the College-Town Committee, Scott Alarcon, First Texas Bank, Jim Wilson, Carolyn Holloway, Jerry Pate, Crestview Baptist Church, and the W. D. Kelley Foundation. The university continues to celebrate and recognize the incredibly generous commitment that all these recipients have made to Southwestern University and the Georgetown Community.