MSU President M. Peter McPherson will speak about Africa's agriculture production and rural income on Friday at Penn State University.

The speech, entitled, "Progress Can Be Achieved in Africa," is part of Penn State's lunchtime speaker series.

McPherson said the presentation will give him an opportunity to give back to the university.

"Penn State is our sister university because they came into existence around the same time MSU did," McPherson said, adding Penn State's President Graham Spaniard asked him to give the speech about a year ago.

"They are a wonderful university and we have a good, long working relationship with them."

McPherson's visit to Penn State comes after an opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal, in which he discussed the factors needed for economic change in Africa, McPherson said.

His speech will focus on those factors, which include education, technology, infrastructure, long-term commitment and security, McPherson said.