New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks will deliver the lecture “It’s Better Than It Looks: Election 2016” at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, as part of the 2016-17 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues.

A regular analyst on PBS’ “NewsHour” and NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Brooks is a keen observer and commentator on politics and foreign affairs. He will provide context on the presidential candidates and political process, particularly focusing on the surprising twists that have been a hallmark of this election year.

Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Chicago and has honorary degrees from Williams College, New York University, Brandeis University and Occidental College. He has worked at the Weekly Standard – joining the magazine at its inception and eventually becoming senior editor – and has been a writer and/or contributing editor at the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly.

His latest book, “The Road to Character,” tells the story of 10 lives that illustrate how character is developed and models how people can strive to build rich inner lives.

John Hibbing, political science and psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will give the pre-talk “Biology, Psychology and the 2016 Elections” at 6:30 p.m. in the Lied Center’s Steinhart Room.

Hibbing has been at the university for 35 years, and his current research focuses on the biological and psychological bases of political ideology. He has been a NATO fellow in science, a senior Fulbright fellow, a Guggenheim fellow and is an elected fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research has appeared in leading academic outlets such as Science, Current Biology, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and the American Political Science Review and has been featured on Fox News, NPR, the New York Times and The Daily Show. He is a co-author of “Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives and the Biology of Political Differences.”

“The 2016 U.S. election has been described as both the most unusual and most momentous in decades. Policy decisions by the new president and Congress will deeply affect residents of Nebraska, as well as the other 49 states,” Hibbing said. “We are fortunate in having eminent political commentator David Brooks available to help us in the daunting task of making sense of recent events surrounding the election. His talk, coming as it does just days after the first presidential debate and barely a month before the election itself, could not be more timely.”

This year’s E.N. Thompson series, “Crossing Borders,” explores the relevance of borders in the modern world – how they define people and, increasingly, the ways in which people ignore them in the interest of commerce, education and personal freedom.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Sonia Nazario delivered the lecture “Enrique’s Journey and America’s Immigration Dilemma” on Sept. 27. Investigative science journalist and author Sonia Shah will close the series with “Pandemic: From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond” at 7 p.m. Nov. 9. A pre-talk will take place 30 minutes before the lecture in the Steinhart Room.

Free tickets are available from the Lied Center for Performing Arts. To order, click here or call the ticket office at 402-472-4747. Forums are general admission events; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Lectures are streamed here and are available live on Lincoln Time Warner Cable digital channel 80 and/or channel 5, channel 71.16 without a cable box, campus channel 4 and KRNU radio 90.3 FM. All lectures are interpreted for the deaf and hard of hearing.

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, The Lied Center for Performing Arts and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was established in 1988 with the purpose of bringing a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage debate.

Brooks’ lecture is sponsored by Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, the Chancellor’s Office, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Center for Civic Engagement.