Michael Eric Dyson, a best-selling author and Georgetown University professor, will speak at UNC Pembroke on January 24.

Dyson’s visit is part of the 2018-2019 Distinguished Speaker Series. It also coincides with the university’s Martin Luther King (MLK) Week of Service. His talk begins at 7:30 p.m. at Givens Performing Arts Center.

“We are very excited our committee selected Dr. Dyson to visit UNCP,” said Abdul Ghaffar, director of Campus Engagement and Leadership. “He is a prolific best-selling author and respected collegiate educator.

“He embodies our goal for the speaker series which is to provoke thought and stimulate conversation around some of the most compelling issues, stories and events of the world and to encourage students to participate in activities that develop their intellectual curiosity.”

Admission is free for UNCP students with valid ID, $5 for faculty and staff, and $10 for the public.

Tickets can be purchased at uncp.edu/gpactickets or by calling the GPAC Box Office at 910.521.6361.

Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University. He has written 17 books, including national best sellers on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

The New York Times named his book “Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X” a notable book of 1995. Dyson coedited a volume on the rapper Nas, titled “Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic.” He has been cited in verses by the rappers KRS-One, Nas, Black Thought and Killer Mike.

He is news columnist and regular CNN commentator. He also served as a political analyst for MSNBC.

He became a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times in 2015. The winner of an American Book Award, Dyson also earned two NAACP Image Awards.

A former factory worker, an ordained Baptist minister and a former church pastor, Dyson earned a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton, and has taught at Brown, Columbia, the University of North Carolina, DePaul University and the University of Pennsylvania.

He has been celebrated as one of the nation’s most visible public intellectuals. He has appeared on every major television and radio show, from the “Today” show to “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and formerly hosted his own talk show on public radio.

His latest two books that have published, “What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished conversation About Race in America” and “Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America” were both instant New York Times bestsellers.

As one of our country's most recognized thinkers, media commentators and social activists, Dyson continues to leave an indelible mark on the national consciousness.

The Distinguished Speaker series is presented by Campus Engagement and Leadership and hosted by the Givens Performing Arts Center. The series concludes with Actress Diane Guerrero on April 16. Guerrero is best known for her roles on the Netflix series Orange is the New Black and Superior Donuts on CBS.