Scott Simon, the longtime host of National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” will be the featured speaker for Southwestern University’s 2014 Shilling Lecture. Simon will give a lecture titled “Let Yourself be Changed” on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Robertson Center.

The 2014 Shilling Lecture is being held in conjunction with the inauguration of Southwestern University’s 15th president, Dr. Edward Burger, which will be held earlier in the day.

Both events are free and open to the public, but tickets must be reserved on the inauguration website, www.southwestern.edu/inauguration.

Students, faculty and staff may pick-up reserved tickets March 17-19 from 9 a.m.-noon or 1-4 p.m. in the Schrum Alumni Center on the 2nd Floor of the Cullen Building. All other guests can pick up reserved tickets in the Robertson Center Lobby the evening of the lecture. Doors will open for ticket pick-up at 6:15 p.m. and seating will begin at 7 p.m.

Simon joined NPR in 1977 as chief of its Chicago bureau. Since then, he has reported from all 50 states, covered presidential campaigns and eight wars, and reported from Central America, Africa, India, the Middle East and the Caribbean. He has been host of “Weekend Edition Saturday,” which now has an audience of 4.2 million listeners, since 1985.

Simon has received numerous honors for his reporting, including a George Foster Peabody Award in 1989 for his weekly radio essays.

In addition to hosting “Weekend Edition Saturday,” Simon hosted the “Need to Know” program, which aired on PBS from May 2010 to June 2013. He also has been a frequent guest host of the CBS television program “Nightwatch” and CNBC’s “TalkBack Live.”

Simon has appeared as an essayist and commentator on NBC’s “Weekend Today” and “NOW with Bill Moyers,” and has written for The New York Times’ Book Review and Opinion sections, the Wall Street Journal opinion page, the Los Angeles Times, and Gourmet Magazine.

Simon also has written five books. His first book, Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan, was published in the spring of 2000 and was cited as one of the best books of the year in the Washington Post, Boston Globe and several other publications. His second book, Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball, was published in September 2002 and was the Barnes & Noble Sports Book of the Year.

Simon’s first novel, Pretty Birds, about female teenaged snipers in Sarajevo, was released in May 2005. His most recent novel, a political comedy called Windy City, was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2008.

In 2010, Simon published a book titled Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other, which tells the story of how he and his wife, Caroline, adopted two Chinese girls.

Simon received an outpouring of support in July 2013, when he shared his mother’s last hours with followers on Twitter. Simon has more than 1.25 million followers on Twitter.

The Shilling Lecture Series was established in 1999 by The Brown Foundation Inc. of Houston to honor Southwestern’s 13th president, Roy B. Shilling Jr., and his wife, Margaret. The series brings to campus internationally prominent speakers on topics relating to ethics, public service and public policy. Past speakers include Jane Goodall, Tom Friedman, Blake Mycoskie, Bill Foege, Wangari Maathai, Bill Bradley, James Baker III, Thomas Kean, Benazir Bhutto, Desmond Tutu, Bill Moyers, President Jimmy Carter, Marian Wright Edelman, William Sloane Coffin, John McGuire and Karen Hughes.

The 2014 Shilling Lecture will be livestreamed on CollegeTVTicket.