Cornel West, a prominent social critic, author, academic, political activist whose area of focus is the role of race, gender and class in America and author of 20 books, will speak at Cal State San Bernardino on Jan. 25.

“An Evening with Dr. Cornel West” will feature the social critic talking about education, advocacy, social justice and other issues in light of events that have occurred in San Bernardino this past decade.

West will be introduced by Marlo Brooks, president of the CSUSB Student African-American Brotherhood and Kyle Wachuku, president of the CSUSB Black Student Union.

The talk, which is sponsored by the CSUSB Associated Students Inc., will be held at the university’s Coussoulis Arena. Door will open at 6 p.m. with the event starting at 7 p.m.

The event is free and tickets are now available. To sign up and for more information, visit the “ASI Presents: An Evening with Dr. Cornel West” Eventbrite webpage.

West, who has been interviewed on many major news outlets including CNN and PBS, is a professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University. West holds the title of professor emeritus at Princeton University, and has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his master’s and doctorate in philosophy at Princeton.

West is the author of 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics, “Race Matters” and “Democracy Matters,” and for his memoir, “Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.” His most recent book, “Black Prophetic Fire,” offers an unflinching look at 19th and 20th century African-American leaders and their visionary legacies.

He has appeared in over 25 documentaries and films including  “Examined Life,” “Call + Response,” “Sidewalk” and “Stand.” He made his film debut in the “The Matrix Reloaded” – and was the commentator (with Ken Wilbur) on the official trilogy released in 2004.

He has produced three spoken word albums including “Never Forget,” collaborating with the late Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert. His spoken word interludes are featured on productions by Terence Blanchard, The Cornel West Theory, Raheem DeVaughn and Bootsy Collins.