Lankan professor at California State University honoured with CSU Wang Family Excellence Award

Professor and California State University, Fresno Department of Mathematics Chair Dr. Rajee Amarasinghe has been honoured with this year’s prestigious California State University Wang Family Excellence Award.

Teaching mathematics is a second career for Prof. Amarasinghe. The former Sri Lanka Navy officer, after he was injured during his service has remembered the love he had for mathematics as a child and decided to pursue graduate studies in the subject, Fresno State News reported. 

Dr. Rajee Amarasinghe

“When I realised that I could transform the lives of others through mathematics and mathematics education, I truly began to appreciate the work I was doing as a mathematics educator,” Amarasinghe said. “Mathematics’ beauty lies in the precision, accuracy, and power of the process of inductive and deductive reasoning. We see mathematics all around us, in nature, and in our daily experiences.” 

The Wang Family Excellence Award recognises only four faculty members and one staff member from among the 23 California State University campuses for their outstanding commitment to student achievement and contributions in their respective fields.

The awards highlight many of the ways in which CSU faculty and staff are helping students achieve their academic goals through Graduation Initiative 2025.

Prof. Amarasinghe is one of the five recipients of the prestigious award. Each recipient receives a $ 20,000 award.

Prof. Amarasinghe’s award is for Outstanding Faculty Innovator in Student Success. His area of expertise includes using technology in mathematics teaching and learning; understanding students’ attitudes toward and beliefs about mathematics; and using interdisciplinary tools to teach math. 

He is the founder and director of Fresno State’s Summer Academy in STEM, which encourages curiosity in mathematics for children of the Central Valley. The program not only benefits students, but also provides teachers to learn by observing the instruction and analysing the best teaching practices.

“Dr. Amarasinghe is proactive, extremely conscientious, and highly motivated to serve the college, university and community,” said Dr. Christopher Meyer, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at Fresno State. “He leads by example with a collaborative approach that brings out the best in people.”

Since his arrival at Fresno State in 2000, he has procured more than $15 million in grant funding. His most recent award, a 2019 five-year grant from the National Science Foundation entitled ‘Growing Outstanding Teacher in Mathematics (GOTMath)’ was for $ 1.4 million.

In 2018, he was awarded a 2018-19 Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award by the CSU Chancellor’s Office. That award recognises faculty who are implementing innovative practices as part of Graduation Initiative 2025 and who’ve demonstrated leadership in improving student success.

His colleagues in the Department of Mathematics, the College of Science and Mathematics, and the university describe him as a superstar, whose teaching, scholarship, and service would stand out at any academic institution.

“His creative leadership of the outstanding Summer Academy that he envisioned and coordinates has resulted in a highly popular and important opportunity for teachers to learn more about effective teaching strategies,” said Dr. Carol Frye Bohlin, professor and chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Fresno State.

It has been 13 years since a faculty member from Fresno State has received the award. Rajee is only the third faculty member recognised in the history of the awards, which were established in 1998. Rajee Amarasinghe obtained a B.Sc. from University Of Colombo and holds M.S. degrees in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from Indiana University.