The Tri-State University community will welcome home a native son when poet, novelist, attorney, scholar, and northeast Indiana native Robert Ely shares some views on language and the human community as part of the Distinguished Speaker series on Monday, Feb. 18. Ely will present “Language and a Nostalgia for World Culture” at 7 p.m. in Fabiani Theatre.

Ely is an associate professor of English at Alabama State University and the author of “Hallelujah, Alabama!,” a novel satirizing contemporary Southern politics and culture; a book of children’s verse, “Mose T’s Slapout Family Album;” a book of poetry, “Encanchata;” and a textbook, “The Humanities: A Cross-Cultural Approach.”

He is an attorney in private practice and has published articles and developed curricula as a scholar supported by the Fulbright Foundation, the Mobil Foundation, the Luce Foundation, and others. A Fellow of the East-West Center, his studies have taken him to Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, throughout England, Ireland, Europe, and elsewhere.

Ely’s roots connect him deeply to the northeast corner of the Hoosier state. He is a graduate of Ashley High School, where he studied English under the tutelage of one-time TSU secretary and business manager, Merritt Boyer.

Ely’s presentation will consist of a lecture followed by readings from his light verse and his novel. He will propose that the gift of human language hints in the direction of an instinct for community, an idea that gives us cause for hope in a time when it is not always all that easy to be hopeful.

The presentation will also include a question-and-answer session. Ely will visit classes in the Department of Communication and dine with a group of students before speaking.

“I consider it a great honor and a great pleasure to be asked to speak at Tri-State University,” Ely said. “I have been blessed to have two wonderful homes, first in northeast Indiana and second in central Alabama. My first home, in DeKalb County, Steuben County, and the surrounding area, was of course my most formative, and I look forward immensely to this return journey.”

Ely will have copies of “Hallelujah, Alabama!” available for signing and purchase directly after his presentation.