The West Texas A&M University Distinguished Lecture Series will present “An Evening with Brandon Stanton,” creator of photography blog and best-selling book “Humans of New York” 7 p.m. Tuesday at the First United Bank Center.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Stanton began his personal photography project in 2010, which now holds 20 million followers as well as feature stories and photos of people in more than 20 countries. Stanton was chosen to speak by the Distinguished Lecture Series Committee headed by Dr. Bonnie Roos.

“We always look for speakers of national and international prominence, but we try to vary our focus each year,” Roos said.  “We have had speakers ranging from businessman Robert Herjavek, physicist Michio Kaku and journalist Bob Woodward, to Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee and former US President Bill Clinton. This year, we are delighted to be able to invite photographer Brandon Stanton.”

Humans of New York features people and their stories from all different walks of life. While it began featuring only people from New York City, it now encompasses many places around the globe.

“Brandon Stanton is a stunning speaker,” Roos said. “He will be talking about his own life, how he came to turn his passion for photography into an activist movement and how he thinks our students can strategize their own interests in making the changes that are important to them.”

Stanton will be the main speaker of the Distinguished Lecture Series for the year.

“The Distinguished Lecture Series is designed to bring distinguished scholars and other figures to our campus to better enhance our students’ educational experience,” Roos said. “The DLS Committee serves the entire WT population and especially WT students. This means we try to bring speakers related to politics, business, agriculture, engineering, nursing, education, arts, humanities, communication—from every imaginable corner of student education and interest.”

Roos said nationally-recognized speakers offer a rare opportunity for students and the community to think about ideas and engage with people who visibly make change happen.

“We live in such a unique area where people really want to be involved from local to national to global levels in making positive changes in their world,” Roos said. “It’s inspiring to see how others have accomplished this and to recognize our own involvement, which sometimes feels small and insignificant, is part of something much bigger, much more profound than we sometimes see.”