The 2017 Presidential Lecture Series at the University of Kansas’ Dole Institute of Politics kicks off this week.

The first installment, “America’s Road to War,” is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Dole Institute. Michael Neiberg, noted scholar and chair of war studies in the Army, will explore the complex paths of politics, economics and cultural divisions that brought America into the war.

This year’s series, “The U.S. and the Great War: 100 Years Later,” coincides with the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I. KU professor emeritus Ted Wilson will facilitate four lectures featuring experts on different facets of the war.

Each is free and open to the public. Find more information, as well as later additions to the spring schedule as they become available, on the Dole Institute’s website, doleinstitute.org.