A nationally syndicated columnist is scheduled to visit Kansas University Friday to accept the William Allen White Foundation National Citation.

Leonard Pitts Jr. has written a syndicated column on music, social issues and family life since 1994 after he joined the Miami Herald in 1991 as a pop music critic. His column regularly appears in the Journal-World.

Pitts is scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The speech is free and open to the public.

He won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, and has won numerous other awards and recognitions for his work.

His book, “Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood,” was first released in 1999, and he published his first novel, “Before I Forget,” in March 2009.