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by Nalaka Gunawardene

The first Sri Lankan-born American diplomat, Dr. Patrick Men dis, has been inducted into the Who's Who in America.

The managing editor of the 2002 edition of the Marquis Who's Who writing to Dr. Mendis said that he "earned a place among the most important contributors in American society (that) is truly a noteworthy accomplishment".

For over 100 years, Who's Who in America has featured America's most notable people, such as Alexander Graham Bell, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thurgood Marshall, Gloria Steinem, Bill Gates and Michael Jordan.

Dr. Patrick Mendis, who works at the US State Department in Washington DC, has served as a professor of government and economics at the University of Maryland for the US Defense Department in the NATO and Pacific Commands. He was the professor of the year and the winner of the Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award in NATO countries.

After his teaching tour in Europe and Asia, he joined the State Department as a mid-career diplomacy fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science.

For his contributions to the government interagency process, UN negotiations, liaison with the White House, and outreach activities, Dr. Mendis received the Meritorious Honour Award and the Certificate of Appreciation at the State Department. Last year, employees of the Department, US Agency for International Development, and American embassies elected him as the vice chairman of the Secretary of State's Open Forum.

In recognition of his public service as an educator, he was featured in the Department's State Magazine article entitled "From Island to Ivy: The Making of a Teacher". He teaches part-time at the Graduate School of the US Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Mendis is also an adjunct professor of management and economics at the Graduate School of the University of Maryland where he teaches online MBA courses for adult learners and professionals around the world.

Recently, Dr. Mendis was among the group of senior executives and managers from the US federal government in the NASA astronaut's training program that was modeled after the Apollo 13 simulation. Dr. Mendis played the role of a Shuttle Commander of the NASA mission to the STARS (Scientific Taskforce of Americans Residing in Space).

"It was an intensive simulation that requires us to work as teams, to change our behaviors and processes during crises, and to design our own survival in space - it was an adoptive leadership challenge," said the American diplomat about the program and its physical, mental, and emotional intensity.

Leadership for Critical Times is organized by NASA and the Federal Executive Institute to enhance leadership competencies of public executives. The Federal Executive Institute's "Great Leaders for Great Government" program calls for developing new ways to accomplish the missions and assigned tasks as teams. For Dr. Mendis, "the program really addresses the cutting edge leadership concepts and skills that are directly relevant to my current assignments and duties to get things done under pressure," said the Special Assistant and Secretariat Director of the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The native of Sri Lanka started his international academic and public service career after earning his first class honors BSs degree in business administration and economics from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.

There, he was a sports council leader and the president of the World University Service. On fellowships, he completed his postgraduate studies at University of Minnesota. Dr. Mendis received the first Hubert Humphrey Alumni Award for Outstanding Leadership, the President's Leadership and Service Award, and the Certificate of Honorary Citizenship from the Governor of the State of Minnesota.

For his postdoctoral training, he attended the Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities. Last year, The Minnesota Magazine featured him as "A Scholar and a Diplomat" to highlight his notable accomplishments and service to the global community.

Dr. Mendis served as an exchange Maryland professor at the Northwestern University in China and traveled widely. For his contributions, Chinese officials granted him permission to visit Tibet, which is normally a restricted area for foreign visitors.

While at the University of Minnesota, Professor Mendis went to Russia to teach former KGB officers in St. Petersburg, and also lectured at the Moscow State University and toured the Kremlin.

For Sri Lanka, he endowed two annual scholarships for leadership and management studies at his university in early 1990s. Later, Dr. Mendis also endowed another scholarship in honour of his American mentor, Ambassador Harlan Cleveland, at the University of Moratuwa's Centre for Advanced Modern Technology.

Dr. Mendis once represented the Government of Sri Lanka at the United Nations for which he received the UN Medal for the International Year of the Youth.Author of more than 100 books, book chapters, journal articles, seminar papers, reports and newspaper articles, Dr Mendis is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science and a life member of the Society for International Development. He and his family live in northern Virginia, near Washington DC.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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