An expert on how children learn will deliver the next installment of the 2014-15 President’s Lecture Series at the University of Montana.

Paul L. Harris is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education at Harvard University. He will present “Trusting What You’re Told: How Children Learn From Others” at 8 p.m. Friday in the George and Jane Dennison Theatre.

Harris also will lead a seminar earlier that day, titled “The Work of the Imagination,” from 3:10 to 5:30 p.m. in Gallagher Business Building Room 123. The lecture and seminar both are free and open to the public.

After completing his doctorate in psychology at Oxford University in 1971, Harris taught psychology at Lancaster University, Free University in Amsterdam, London School of Economics, Oxford University and Stanford University. In 2001, he was appointed professor of education at Harvard University. He became the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education in 2005.

Harris has taught and published in the areas of psychology and child, cognitive, emotional and language development. He has won book awards from the American Psychological Association and the Cognitive Development Society. He is the 2015 winner of the American Psychological Association’s Mentor Award in Developmental Psychology.

The President’s Lecture Series at UM consists of 10 talks on vital topics by distinguished guest speakers throughout the academic year. For more information on the series, visit umt.edu/president/events/lectures or call UM history professor Richard Drake at 243-2981.