Grand finale speaker of the school year Spike Lee is famous for stoking controversial topics such as race relations, the role of media, urban crime, poverty and politics.

The legendary filmmaker will present “An Evening with Spike Lee” at 7 p.m. Thursday in Diddle Arena, free and open to the public.

The doors will open at 6 p.m.

Now a professor of film at Columbia and New York University, Lee teaches the next generation of film students, many who don the signature thick-framed spectacles that he has made synonymous with his industry.

This year is the 20th anniversary of Lee’s most acclaimed film, “Do the Right Thing,” a production he directed and starred in.

The film, depicting racial conflict in a multi-ethnic New York City community, was controversial at its time of release in 1989 and garnered an Academy Award nomination. Deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress, it was selectively preserved by the National Film Registry in 1999.

Other films in his repertoire include “Malcolm X,” “Inside Man,” “School Daze,” “She’s Gotta Have it,” “Miracle at St. Anna,” and most recently, “When The Levees Broke,” a documentary on the plight of Americans stranded in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

Lee’s presence is especially timely amidst the birth of a new cinematography major at Western, said Pam Johnson, director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting in a Western press release.

Western doesn’t currently have a film program, only a minor in film studies, said Cory Lash, a transitional retiree in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting who coordinates Western’s film festival, which isn’t related to the Spike Lee event.

“I’m not a fan of his films, but I admire what he has done in the world of filmmaking,” Lash said.

Lee’s film career began in college at age 20, as he made his first amateur film as a student at Morehouse College, the all-male historically black college in Atlanta, Ga.

In addition to his film achievements, Lee has produced and directed numerous music videos for artists such as Miles Davis, Tracy Chapman, Anita Baker, Public Enemy and Bruce Hornsby, and he has published six books.

Nike Air Jordan hired Lee in 1988 to produce the first of seven iconic commercials featuring Michael Jordan.

Western has seen its share of notable speakers, from women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem to groundbreaking poet Nikki Giovanni with contemporaries such as actor Efren Ramirez, star of Napoleon Dynamite, in between.

Lee’s event is sure to be among the most memorable.

After his presentation, “An Evening with Spike Lee,” Lee will take questions from the audience.