Social intellectual political analyst and scholar Michael Eric Dyson will present a free lecture called “It’s All in the Numbers: The 99 Percent Occupiers, The 47 Percent Victims, the 14 Percent Unemployed, the First Mormon Candidate and the 2012 Elections” at noon Friday in Mitchell Auditorium. The lecture is open to both USI students and the Evansville community.

Dyson, a Georgetown University sociology professor, is the author of 16 books, including his most recent release, “April 4, 1968; Martin Luther King Jr.’s Death and How it Changed America.” He was named one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans for 2012 by Ebony Magazine.

This event is sponsored by Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. Student Activities Program Adviser Kathy Jones said the lecture will give students “a greater sense of awareness.”

“Students should pay attention to details on both sides,” Jones said. “They should also be more aware of the effects on education, like student loans.”

Dyson will present both sides of the presidential election and other social issues affecting citizens today.

The ordained Baptist minister has held various positions in universities, including professor of humanities at University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Religious Studies. He has also taught at DePaul University, University of North Carolina, Brown and Columbia Universities.

Dyson also hosts “The Michael Eric Dyson Show,” a radio-syndicated program on NPR which discusses recent issues in the black community, race and religion. He has also appeared on MSNBC, “The Colbert Report” and “The Tavis Smiley Show,” along with several others.

USI senior Deidra Drown has seen Dyson speak once before at a Human Resources event in Evansville and is excited about the lecture. Brown attended the event with Memorial Baptist Church members a few years ago.

“He can give us some intellectual insight on diversity and what we can do to change,” Brown said.