The controversial critic of American foreign policy, linguist Dr Noam Chomsky, is to be honoured by UCD's Literary and Historical Society next Tuesday.
Via satellite from MIT in Boston, he will be presented with an honorary fellowship by the student society.
Before receiving the award he is expected to deliver a trenchant speech about the possibility of war on Iraq.
His speech and presentation will be broadcast live in two of the college's largest theatres in the arts block.
Auditor of the society, Mr Jarlath Regan, said Dr Chomsky was chosen as a recipient of the award by the society's committee in recent weeks.
"There were no dissenting voices over this choice," he said.
While renowned for his ground-breaking work on the study of language, Dr Chomsky is also a controversial critic of US foreign policy in the Middle East.
Dr Chomsky's response to the September 11th attacks provoked anger among several commentators in the US media.
However, Mr Regan said a large number of students in UCD supported Dr Chomsky's views and he had a "cult following".
The society has previously hosted Nobel Prize winners Mr FW De Klerk, Mr John Hume and Mr Seamus Heaney.