Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

List of University of Peradeniya people

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This is a list of notable University of Peradeniya people. This includes distinguished alumni of various fields and distinguished faculty people.

Contents

Law, politics and international relations

  • Dr. Sarath Amunugama MP, CCS – Cabinet Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs; former Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning
  • Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, SLOS – former Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations
  • Amarasiri Dodangoda - former Cabinet Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs of Sri Lanka
  • Hon. Justice Mark Fernando – former judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
  • Nandana Gunathilake – former Cabinet minister of posts and telecommunications
  • Chaminda Hettiarachchi – Associate Director of Regional Centre for Strategic Studies
  • Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka SLOS – Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva; Consul General for Switzerland
  • Sri Lankabhimanya Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar – diplomat, politician and lawyer
  • Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne – Leader, New Left Front (NLF) and a controversial Politician in Sri Lanka
  • Hon. W. J. S. Karunaratne, SLAS – Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada; former secretary to the president
  • Hon. W. J. M. Lokubandara – Speaker of the Parliament (2005–2010)
  • Athuraliye Rathana Thero – Jathika Hela Urumaya MP
  • Prof. Neelan Tiruchelvam – Sri Lankan Tamil politician; peace activist; academic; founder and director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies; founder and director of The Law and Society Trust; assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber in 1999
  • Ranjit Uyangoda – former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Japan; current Sri Lankan Ambassador to China
  • Prof. Wiswa Warnapala – former Minister of Higher Education, Sri Lanka
  • Harischandra Wijayatunga – leader of the Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya; compiler of the Gunasena Great Sinhala Dictionary

    • Professors and scholars

  • Prof. Rohan Abeyaratne – Director, Singapore MIT Alliance Research & Technology; Quentin Berg Professor of Mechanics at MIT; President of the American Academy of Mechanics, 2007-08
  • Dr. Ram Alagan – researcher in gender studies
  • Dr. Seela Alkaduwa – researcher and assistant director (research) at the International Center for Ethnic Studies
  • Prof. K. M. de Silva – Executive Director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies
  • Prof. Padmasiri de Silva – author, research Fellow at Monash University
  • Prof. K.N.O. Dharmadasa – editor-in-chief, Sinhala encyclopaedia
  • Prof. Gishan Dissanaike – financial economist; Robert Monks Professor of Corporate Governance at the University of Cambridge; head of the Finance Department; Director of the Cambridge MPhil Programme in Finance
  • Dr. Siri Gamage – commentator and writer on issues of ethnic difference and conflict in Sri Lanka
  • Prof. Sucharitha Gamlath - winner of Rowland's Gold Medal, Jayanayake Prize and the oriental research scholarship; Trotskyist; professor in Sinhala; Dean of Jaffna University; served in the Rajarata University and Ruhunu University; scholar in linguistics; pioneering Sri Lankan Marxist critic; author of many books
  • Prof. Shelton Gunaratne – Professor emeritus (Mass Communications), Minnesota State University; writer; scholar
  • Prof. Leslie Gunatilake – director of SW Centre for natural products research and commercialisation, of the University of Arizona
  • Prof. P. V. J. Jayasekera – professor of history; director, Institute for International Studies
  • Prof Laksiri Jayasuriya - Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Science.
  • Prof. Tissa Jayatilaka – political analyst; director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives-Sri Lanka; director of the Fulbright Commission of Sri Lanka; chairman of the Jury for Presidential Awards for Sri Lankan Sinhala Films; visiting professor of Grinnell College, US
  • Prof. Amal Jayawardane – Sri Lankan historian; visiting professor at the American University; research scholar at the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics
  • Prof. David Kalupahana – Buddhist scholar; Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii
  • Prof. P.D. Premasiri – Buddhist scholar; Professor Emeritus of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the University of Peradeniya.
  • Prof. Sirima Kiribamune – author and researcher in gender studies
  • Prof. Charmi Mendis-Handagama – professor and Chief of the Reproduction Research Group at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee
  • Prof. Gananath Obeyesekere – Emeritus Professor of anthropology at Princeton University; leading anthropologist; entered into an intellectual debate with Marshall Sahlins over the rationality of indigenous people through the details of Captain James Cook's death in the Hawaiian Islands in 1779
  • Prof. Lakshman S. Perera – author and archaeological researcher
  • Prof. R.M. Gamini Rajapakse – author
  • Prof. Michael Roberts – Sri Lankan-Australian author; associate professor of anthropology, University of Adelaide
  • Professor Lakshman Samaranayake - Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry (2004 -), University of Hong Kong; Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Oral Sciences; King James IV Professor, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; first Asian to receive the latter honour; first dental surgeon in Sri Lanka to receive DSc (honoris Causa) from the University of Peradeniya
  • Dr. S. W. R de A Samarasinghe – Director, Tulane Institute for International Development, US; founder-editor of The Kandy News
  • Prof. Vidyamali Samarasinghe – author and professor at American University, US
  • Kala Keerthi, Dharma Shastra Visharadha Kirthi Sri, Prof. Anuradha Seneviratna – scholar
  • Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratne – professor of archaeology; Fulbright Visiting Professor at Cornell University and Carleton College; archaeological director of the UNESCO programs at Anuradhapura
  • Prof. Rajaratnam Sivachandran – Dean of the faculty of Arts, University of Jaffna; short story writer
  • Prof. Ananda Wickremeratne – author and lecturer in theology at Loyola University of Chicago; associate member, University of Chicago
  • Prof. Sunil J. Wimalawansa – physician; scientist; MD, PhD, MBA, DSC; Chief of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition; Director of Regional Osteoporosis Center, New Jersey, USA; originator of therapies for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis; recipient of many awards for innovation, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sri Lanka Foundation, Los Angeles for his contributions to science, humanity, and society

    • University Presidents, Chancellors and Vice Chancellors

  • Prof. S. B. S. Abayakoon - Vice-Chancellor of University of Peradeniya; former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya
  • Prof. Sarath Amunugama – Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
  • Prof. C.M. Madduma Bandara – Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya (1994–97); Chairman of National Water Resources Authority of Sri Lanka
  • Prof. C.B. Dissanayake – Director, Institute of Fundamental Studies
  • Prof. C. L. V. Jayathilake - Chancellor of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka; former Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya
  • Prof. S. "Sam" Karunaratne – former Vice Chancellor of University of Moratuwa; current Chancellor of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology
  • Prof. Leslie Panditharatne – Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya (1978–84); Chairman of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka (1993–94); Chairman and Director General of the National Institute of Business Management (N.I.B.M – 1988); Chairman and Director General of the Mineral Sands Corporation (Lanka Mineral Sands in 1989 – 1994); Director of Studies at the American College of Higher Education
  • Dr. Indira Samarasekara – President of the University of Alberta, Canada
  • Prof. Chandima Wijebandara – scholar of Buddhism; Vice Chancellor of University of Sri Jayewardenepura

    • Deans

  • Prof. Nalin de Silva – former Dean of the Faculty of Science University of Kelaniya; commission member of UGC
  • Prof. S.H.P. Parakrama Karunaratne – Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya
  • Prof. M. P. Ranaweera - former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya
  • Prof. Kalinga Tudor Silva – former Dean of the Faculty of Arts University of Peradeniya and Emeritus professor of sociology

    • Medicine

  • Prof. Aloka Abey Bandara – developer of an antibiotic vaccine to control infectious Brucellosis
  • Prof. Upali Illangasekare – physician
  • Prof. Malik Peiris, FRS Légion d'Honneur – Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Medical Science; Chair Professor, Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong; Scientific Director, HKU-Pasteur Research Centre; first Sri Lankan to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; discoverer of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus; proposed the Cytokine storm theory of avian influenza
  • Prof. Nimal Senanayake – physician
  • Prof. Sunil J. Wimalawansa – physician; scientist; MD, PhD, MBA, DSC; Chief of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition; Director of Regional Osteoporosis Center, New Jersey, USA; originator of therapies for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis; recipient of many awards for innovation, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sri Lanka Foundation, Los Angeles for his contributions to science, humanity, and society

    • Science and technology

  • Prof. Lakshman Dissanayake – author, professor of physics
  • Veerasingham Dhuruvasangary - soil researcher; development engineer
  • Prof. O.A. Ileperuma – author, professor of chemistry

    • Military and police

  • Cyril Herath - former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence
  • Major General Janaka Perera – RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, RCDS, Psc, CR - Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army; one of the most distinguished generals in Sri Lankan history
  • Rear Admiral Sunil Ranjan Samaratunga – RSP, VSV, USP of the Sri Lanka Navy
  • Ana Seneviratne - former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police; Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Malaysia

    • Literature

  • Sengai Aaliyan – Sri Lankan Tamil writer
  • Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera – Sinhala writer, poet, and essayist
  • T. Arasanayagam – author
  • Nihal De Silva - author; winner of International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Gratiaen Prize
  • Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita Delgoda – author and traveler
  • Prof. J B Disanayake – head of the Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo
  • Siri Gunasinghe – sanskritist, art historian, premier Sinhalese poet, novelist, literary critic and filmmaker
  • Prof. Kusuma Karunaratne – first female professor of Sinhala language; first woman to secure a First Class Honours degree in Sinhala

    • Film, theatre and television

  • Upali Attanayake – actor
  • Wickrema Bogoda – actor
  • Prof. Wimal Dissanayake – leading scholar of Asian cinema; pioneer in the field of Asian communication theory; general editor of a book series on Hong Kong cinema; founding editor of the East-West Film Journal
  • Dr. Michael Fernando – theatre critic; former visiting scholar at Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY
  • Gunasena Galappatty - pioneer of suspense drama in Sri Lanka
  • Prema Ganegoda – actress
  • Prof. A.J. Gunawardena – film critic
  • Trilicia Gunawardena – actress; played the roles of "Anula" in Lester James Peries' Gamperaliya and "Maname Bisawa" in Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra's Maname
  • Prof. Gamini Hattotuwegama – the father of modern street theatre in Sri Lanka
  • Dhamma Jagoda – first Head of the Drama Unit at the National Television channel Rupavahini; pioneer theater and television play director and actor in Sri Lanka
  • Jayalath Manorathne - actor and director of theater, teledrama and cinema
  • Dr. D.B. Nihalsingha - award-winning film and television director, film administrator and teacher
  • Prof. Dharmasena Pathiraja – Sri Lankan film director and screenwriter
  • Somalatha Subasinghe – children's playwright; founder of the Children's and Youth Theatre Organisation
  • Malani Weeramuni – actress
  • Namel Weeramuni – playwright

    • Arts

  • Stanley Kirinde SLAS – one of Sri Lanka's most outstanding artistic talents of the 20th century; former state secretary of the Ministry of Ports and Shipping; painter of the President's House (Kandy and Colombo), the Foreign Ministry, the Military Academy
  • Tilak Samarawickrema – artist, architect and designer

    • Music

  • Ray Forbes – singer of the choral group Peradeniya Singers
  • Bridget Halpe – choral director
  • Monica Ludowycke – singer of the choral group Peradeniya Singers
  • Rene Malawana – singer of the choral group Peradeniya Singers
  • Bernie Marcelline – singer of the choral group Peradeniya Singers

    • Religion

  • Bogoda Seelawimala Nayaka Thera – incumbent Head Priest of the London Buddhist Vihara; current Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain
  • Katukurunde Nanananda Thera – Buddhist monk, scholar
  • Nyanaponika Thera – German-born Sri-Lanka-ordained Theravada monk; co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society; author of seminal Theravada books; teacher of contemporary Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi

    • Journalists

  • Mohan Samaranayake – journalist and political analyst in Sri Lanka
  • Taraki Sivaram – political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com
  • Prof. S. Thillainathan – professor of Tamil; former editor of Dinakaran;member of the Official Languages Commission

    • Civil servants

  • H.H.Bandara SLAS – former Assistant Director of Cultural Affairs and Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Education
  • Susantha De Alwis, SLOS – former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, Japan, South Korea; Permanent Representative to United Nations (Geneva
  • Kanagalingam Gnanalingam – additional general manager, Ceylon Electricity Board
  • A. S. Jayawardene, – former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury; Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • S. M. L. Marikkar, CCS – former Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka
  • Nihal Seneviratne – former Secretary General of Parliament (1981–1994); parliamentary affairs adviser to the Prime Minister
  • Lalith Weeratunga, CAS – current Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka
  • Wilhelm Woutersz, SLOS – former Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka; Sri Lankan Ambassador to People's Republic of China, Italy and Yugoslavia

    • Education

  • T.B. Damunupola – former Principal of Ananda College, Colombo (1995–2001) and Dharmaraja College, Kandy (1991–95)
  • H.L.B. Gomes – former Principal of Royal College Colombo (1997-03)
  • H.A. Upali Gunasekera – current Principal of Royal College Colombo (2003–present)
  • Dr. Ashoka Senani Hewage – Additional Secretary (School Affairs), Ministry of Education /former Principal of D. S. Senanayake College

    • Business and finance

  • D. K. Rajapaksa – managing director, DSI Samson Group (Pvt) Ltd.
  • Ajith Wickremaratne – banker; corporate executive; former Vice President and Head of Corporate Banking of NDB Bank, Sri Lanka

    • Faculty

  • Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare – Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya (1988–89); Professor of Surgery 1985–2002 at the University of Peradeniya; Chairman of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka; WFME Executive Committee and Acting President SEARAME, SEAR and Global Advisory Committee of Health Research of WHO; Commissioner of Human Rights Sri Lanka
  • Prof. Adele Barker – professor of Russian literature, Arizona State University
  • Prof. Seneka Bibile – founder of Sri Lanka's drug policy; medical benefactor to humanity
  • Prof. Warren Ranjithan Breckenridge – professor of zoology; former president of Sri Lanka Institute of Biology
  • Prof. K. M. de Silva – historian, chairman of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies
  • Prof. George Dissanaike – former Senior Professor and Head of the Department of Physics, University of Peradeniya; Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences; past President of the Institute of Physics, Sri Lanka
  • Prof. D.E. Hettiaratchchi – first editor-in-chief, Sinhala encyclopaedia
  • Prof. John Clifford Holt – Visiting Professor of history and comparative religion; founder of the Inter-collegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) Program
  • Prof. E.F.C. Ludowyk – professor of English; author
  • Prof. Gunapala Malalasekera - Sri Lankan scholar and diplomat; compiler of the Gunapala Sinhala-English dictionary
  • Dr. Robin Mayhead – founder of the choral group Peradeniya Singers
  • Prof. Gananath Obeyesekere – professor in sociology; Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University; leading anthropologist; entered into an intellectual debate with Marshall Sahlins over the rationality of indigenous people through the details of Captain James Cook's death in the Hawaiian Islands in 1779
  • Prof. Senarath Paranavithana – pioneering archaeologist and epigraphist of Sri Lanka; once the archaeological commissioner
  • Prof. Anuradha Seneviratna – Sri Lankan scholar
  • Prof. Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah – professor of anthropology (1955–1960); leading social anthropologist and Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Harvard University; recipient of the Balzan Prize, the highest recognition of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Huxley Memorial Medal and Lecture, and the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize by the city of Fukuoka, capital of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan; Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
  • Prof. A. J. Wilson – author; chair of political science at University of Peradeniya; Head of the Department of Political Science, University of New Brunswick at Fredericton

    • Librarians

  • H. A. I. Goonetilleke – director of the University of Peradeniya library; first chairman of the Gratiaen Trust; scholar

    • Sportsmen and sports administrators

  • D. H. de Silva - first class cricketer, sports administrator and coach

    • References

    List of University of Peradeniya people Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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