By Edwin Smith

University of Mississippi

David Brooks, acclaimed author and New York Times columnist, is the keynote speaker Thursday evening for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College’s Fall Convocation at the University of Mississippi.

The public program begins at 7 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. This year’s annual assembly is among the signature investiture events for the university’s 17th chancellor, Jeffery S. Vitter.

“It is truly an honor for the university to host David Brooks as the keynote speaker at the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Fall Convocation,” said Vitter, who will introduce Brooks. “It is an exciting time in the life of our university, especially with the 20th anniversary of SMBHC coming up in the spring.

“The opportunity for our students to hear from a well-known and critically-acclaimed commentator and author like David Brooks is illustrative of the transformative power of higher education.”

Brooks’ comments promise to be intriguing and insightful, especially at this pivotal point in U.S. history, said Douglass Sullivan-González, Honors College dean.

“Mr. Brooks is a gifted columnist, frequent commentator on ‘PBS Newshour’ and he will reflect on the coming presidential election and its impact on American politics,” Sullivan- González said. “With the third debate concluded Wednesday evening, Mr. Brooks will provide us his insights on the tectonic shifts in U.S. politics and the possible directions and repercussions on a Clinton or Trump presidency.”

An American political and cultural commentator, Brooks has worked as a reporter and later op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal, as a senior editor at The Weekly Standard from its inception, as a contributing editor at both Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly.

He is the author of several books, including “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” (Simon & Schuster, 2000), “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense” (Simon & Schuster, 2004), “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement” (Random House 2011) and “The Road to Character” (Random House, 2015).