Prof. Patrick Mendis wins Lifetime Achievement Award in US

By Marlon Ferreira

Los Angeles, CA: A global event to felicitate and honour a diverse group of professionals, who have contributed immensely in their chosen professional fields, created a huge buzz amongst the Sri Lankans living overseas, as the Sri Lanka Foundation laid out their red carpet to welcome, greet, and present them with prestigious awards at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles recently.

Established in 2003, the Sri Lanka Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by eminent physician Dr. Walter Jayasinghe in Los Angeles, has been the epicentre in empowering and inspiring the young generation to improve the lives and livelihoods of Sri Lankans and their communities worldwide.

Its mission is to educate the global citizenry about Sri Lanka and the achievements of its people, as well as aid in the advancement of the Sri Lankan community globally.

The distinguished gathering of diplomats, scientists, doctors, and artists arriving from various parts of the world to attend the glittering event packed the audience, as they were brought on stage to be awarded trophies under the categories of Rising Star, the Outstanding Performance by Young Professional, the Exceptional Achievement, the Outstanding Community Service Award, the SriMerican of the Year, the President’s Award, and the most prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

An unparalleled journey to the West

The audience were kept enthralled, as they listened to some of the amazing stories narrated by the award winners. However, there was one such speech from an award recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award that captured the adulation of everyone seated in the audience. 

His name is Prof. Patrick Mendis.

With a spring in his step, he got on stage to receive the honour bestowed upon him for his lifetime of outstanding Government service in the US and scholarship around the world; and thereafter, whilst clutching his trophy he captivated the entire audience even before he could utter a word.

With a twinkle in his eye and with a very infectious smile, Dr. Mendis commenced narrating excerpts of his early childhood days and his upbringing in Polonnaruwa, the once medieval capital city of Sri Lanka.

The audience soon began to feel a sense of pride that grew with each word he narrated, because here was a proud son of our motherland of Sri Lanka, who from herding his water buffaloes on his grandfather’s three-acre rice fields, to competing barefoot as an athlete, did eventually rise to being one of finest and award-winning diplomats in the US who went on to serve his adopted homeland for over four decades with much pride.

The more the audience listened to, the more it dawned on all that here was “one of us” being represented by an individual, who eventually went on to provide an illustrious service of great diplomacy and negotiations at the United Nations, whilst serving under five American presidents of the US.

Inspired by American exuberance

More interesting, however, it must be stated that Dr. Mendis’ love and affiliation for the US was embedded in him when, as a seven-year old boy in 1967, he was inspired by two exuberant Americans – a Peace Corps volunteer from New Hampshire and a 4-H exchange student from Iowa – who visited his birthplace of Polonnaruwa and stayed at his adopted Christian grandparents’ home.

If there were two attributes that were instilled in him during those formative years, it was the “love” that he received from his grandparents and “discipline” taught by his close association with both clergies of Buddhist and Catholic faiths.

The amazing journey of Dr. Mendis began when he was offered a highly competitive American Field Service (AFS) scholarship in 1978 and landed in Minnesota, where he entered Perham High School.

His AFS family and Minnesotans later “adopted” Dr. Mendis when the Sri Lankan Civil War erupted in 1983. He now considers Minnesota his “birthplace” in America.

From water buffalos to ice fishing

It didn’t take him too long to adapt to the huge transformation of the two countries’ weather patterns, as the once buffalo-herding young lad from the hot and humid climate of Sri Lanka was soon seen taking to ice-fishing on the frozen lakes of Minnesota with much delight.

The commencement of his remarkable American voyage was perhaps destined to take place, one that eventually saw him enter the corridors of power in the US Government service in Washington, Beijing in China, and around the world.

All that began with the governor of Minnesota bestowing upon him the title of Honorary Citizen for his leadership and service, long before Dr. Mendis actually became a naturalised US citizen.

The American Peace Corps and 4-H Volunteers-inspired farm boy grew up to become an award-winning diplomat, educator, author, philanthropist, and executive in Government service in the US. Dedicated to public service, he worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

After he worked in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1984, Dr. Mendis served in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Ronald Reagan administration.

Making of scholar and diplomat  

Throughout his life, Dr. Mendis alternated between an academic career – teaching at Columbia, George Mason, Harvard, Minnesota, Maryland, Oxford, and Yale Universities – and in Government service, working in the US Departments of Agriculture, Defence, Energy, and State during the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.

As a military professor, he completed a three-year teaching tour between 1997 and 2000 at every major American bases in England, Italy, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey in the NATO and the Indo-Pacific Commands of the Pentagon.

At the Department of State, he served as the secretariat director of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the chairman of the Interagency Policy Working Group on Science and Technology, and as a senior advisor to the US Delegations to the United Nations.

Since 2012, Dr. Mendis served two terms as an American commissioner to the US National Commission for UNESCO at the Department of State – appointed by the Obama administration – until the Trump White House withdrew from the UN agency in 2018.

For his leadership and public service, Dr. Mendis received numerous awards and honours – including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Meritorious Honor Award, and the USDA Outstanding Leadership Award.

Legacy of giving back

Dr. Mendis is an alumnus of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard University. He has established annual financial scholarships at his three alma maters to support students and recognise their extracurricular leadership and academic excellence.  

These includes the Mendis-Johnson Scholarship at the Minnesota State and Technical College, the Patrick Mendis Prize at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the Edward Burdick Legislative Award at the University of Minnesota to honour his later American “father” at the Minnesota House of Representatives, and the Millennials Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service at Harvard University.

He is the author of more than 200 books, journal articles, newspaper columns, and Government reports.

Dr. Mendis has travelled to or worked in more than 130 countries, visited all 50 US states, lectured at over 25 Chinese universities, and explored every province of China.

For his contributions to the Chinese educational system, he was honoured with the prestigious International Confucius Award of China.

Global but American citizen

More recently, Dr. Mendis has travelled extensively and worked as a distinguished visiting professor of global affairs at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan, as well as a distinguished visiting professor of transatlantic relations at the University of Warsaw in Poland.

The professor was named among the “13 World Famous People” born in Sri Lanka. He is listed in Who’s Who of Asian Americans, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World.

He is a senior non-resident fellow of the Synergia Foundation in India and an elected fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.

In all this, if there was ever a worthy recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award among the overseas Sri Lankans, then the above accomplishments achieved by Prof. Patrick Mendis over the last four decades, certainly endorse the vitality and stature of the Sri Lanka Foundation of Los Angeles that honoured him.

Prof. Mendis currently lives in Washington, DC.