Renowned world traveler Rick Steves has a new adventure on his horizon: speaking at MTSU Thursday, Nov. 8, on the importance of leaving home to learn more about yourself and others.

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MTSU’s Department of Global Studies and Human Geography is bringing Steves, whose focus on personalizing travel and stepping off typical tourist routes has taken him on a nearly 40-year journey as an author and public TV and radio host, to the university’s Student Union Ballroom, Room 250, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8.

The lecture, “Travel as a Political Act,” is free and open to the public, and a book-signing opportunity will follow Steves’ talk. A campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking.

A travel writer, TV host and humanitarian who founded his own travel company, Steves has hosted the weekly “Rick Steves’ Europe” public television series since 1991 and his “Travel with Rick Steves” public radio program since 2005. He’s been writing since 1980, authoring more than 50 travel guides and books, and he also writes a syndicated newspaper column. Through his travel books and programs, Steves encourages Americans to become what he calls “temporary locals.”

In his new book, “Travel as a Political Act,” Steves makes the case that travel abroad both increases our awareness of other cultures and our understanding of our own culture. He encourages Americans to “connect with people, and try to understand them” when they travel by “mak[ing] itinerary decisions that put you in touch with locals. Embrace cultural differences with joy rather than with judgment.”

Rick Steves

As a result of connecting with fellow humans around the world, Steves says, Americans can better understand their role in the world and how American solutions to problems might work — or not work — in other places.

Sponsors of Steves’ visit include MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts; the MTSU Distinguished Lecture Fund; the Office of International Affairs; College of Liberal Arts Lecture Series; University Provost’s Office; College of Graduate Studies; Department of Political Science and International Relations; Department of Sociology and Anthropology; Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; and Department of History.

You can learn more about Steves at his website, www.ricksteves.com. For more information on his MTSU visit, contact the Department of Global Studies and Human Geography at 615-494-7744 or mtglobal@mtsu.edu.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)