List of University of Peradeniya people
This is a list of notable University of Peradeniya people. This includes distinguished alumni of various fields and distinguished faculty people.
Law, politics and international relations
- Sarath Amunugama MP, CCS – Cabinet Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs; former Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning[1]
- Ranjith Bandara, Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka
- Sirisena Amarasekara – Sri Lankan High commissioner to South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Angola, Botswana, and Eswatini.
- Jayantha Dhanapala, SLOS – former Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations[2]
- Amarasiri Dodangoda – former Cabinet Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs of Sri Lanka[3]
- Justice Mark Fernando – former judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
- Nandana Gunathilake – former Cabinet minister of posts and telecommunications[4]
- Dayan Jayatilleka SLOS – Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva; Consul General for Switzerland[5]
- Sri Lankabhimanya Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar – diplomat, politician and lawyer[6][7]
- Vikramabahu Karunaratne – Leader, New Left Front (NLF) and a controversial Politician in Sri Lanka
- W. J. M. Lokubandara – Speaker of the Parliament (2005–2010)[8]
- Athuraliye Rathana Thero – Jathika Hela Urumaya MP[9]
- 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[10][11]
- Wiswa Warnapala – former Minister of Higher Education, Sri Lanka[12]
- Harischandra Wijayatunga – leader of the Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya; compiler of the Gunasena Great Sinhala Dictionary
- Anura Kumara Dissanayake – 10th President of Sri Lanka (dropped out)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Madhura_Senevirathna&oldid=1298766059-Deputy Minister Of Education and higher education.
Academics
Professors and scholars
- K. M. de Silva – Executive Director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies[13]
- Gishan Dissanaike – financial economist; Adam Smith Professor of Corporate Governance at the University of Cambridge; head of the Finance Department; Director of the Cambridge MPhil Programme in Finance[14][15]
- 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
- Shelton Gunaratne – Professor emeritus (Mass Communications), Minnesota State University; writer; scholar[16][17]
- Amal Jayawardane – Sri Lankan historian; visiting professor at the American University; research scholar at the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics[18]
- David Kalupahana – Buddhist scholar; Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii[19]
- 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[20]
- P. D. Premasiri – Buddhist scholar; professor emeritus of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the University of Peradeniya.[21]
- 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;[22] first dental surgeon in Sri Lanka to receive DSc (honoris Causa) from the University of Peradeniya
- Kala Keerthi, Dharma Shastra Visharadha Kirthi Sri, Prof. Anuradha Seneviratna – scholar[23]
- Pandula Andagama – Anthropologist; Head of the Anthropology Division, and assistant director of the National Museum of Colombo.[24][25]
University Presidents, Chancellors and Vice Chancellors
- S. B. S. Abayakoon – Vice-Chancellor of University of Peradeniya; former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya[26]
- Sarath Amunugama – Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka[27]
- C. L. V. Jayathilake – Chancellor of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka; former Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya[28]
- S. "Sam" Karunaratne – former Vice Chancellor of University of Moratuwa; current Chancellor of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology[29]
- Indira Samarasekara – President of the University of Alberta, Canada[30]
Deans
- Nalin de Silva – former Dean of the Faculty of Science University of Kelaniya; commission member of UGC[31][32]
- M. P. Ranaweera – former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya[33]
Medicine
- 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[34]
Science and technology
- Anne Perera MNZM, food technologist in New Zealand[35]
Military and police
- Cyril Herath – former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence[36]
- 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[37]
- Rear Admiral Sunil Ranjan Samaratunga – RSP, VSV, USP of the Sri Lanka Navy[38]
- Ana Seneviratne – former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police; Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Malaysia[39]
Literature
- Sengai Aaliyan – Sri Lankan Tamil writer
- Gunadasa Amarasekera – Sinhala writer, poet, and essayist[40]
- Nihal De Silva – author; winner[clarification needed] of International Dublin Literary Award[41] and the Gratiaen Prize[42]
- J. B. Disanayake – head of the Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo[43]
- Siri Gunasinghe – sanskritist, art historian, premier Sinhalese poet, novelist, literary critic and filmmaker[44]
- S. H. M. Jameel - folklorist and author
- Kusuma Karunaratne – first female professor of Sinhala language; first woman to secure a First Class Honours degree in Sinhala[45]
Film, theatre and television
- Gunasena Galappatty – pioneer of suspense drama in Sri Lanka[46]
- Gamini Hattotuwegama – the father of modern street theatre in Sri Lanka[47]
- 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
- Dharmasena Pathiraja – Sri Lankan film director and screenwriter[48]
- Somalatha Subasinghe – children's playwright; founder of the Children's and Youth Theatre Organisation[49]
- Namel Weeramuni – playwright[50]
Music
- Tanya Ekanayaka – composer-pianist and first Sri Lankan composer to have entire albums of original music released globally by international record labels[51]
Religion
- Bogoda Seelawimala Nayaka Thera – incumbent Head Priest of the London Buddhist Vihara; current Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain[52]
- 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[53]
- Bhikkhu Analayo – German-born Sri-Lanka-ordained Theravada monk; former professor of the Numata Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg;[54] Buddhist scholar, researcher and author of several influential Buddhist books including Satipaṭṭhāna, the Direct Path to Realization[55] and Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna.[56]
Journalists
- Taraki Sivaram – political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com[57]
Civil servants
- Susantha De Alwis, SLOS – former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, Japan, South Korea; Permanent Representative to United Nations (Geneva)[58]
- 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)[59]
- Nihal Seneviratne – former Secretary General of Parliament (1981–1994); parliamentary affairs adviser to the Prime Minister[60]
- Lalith Weeratunga, CAS – current Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka[61]
- 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[62]
Faculty
- Seneka Bibile – founder of Sri Lanka's drug policy; medical benefactor to humanity[63]
- K. M. de Silva – historian, chairman of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies[64]
- 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[65]
- E. F. C. Ludowyk – professor of English; author
- Gunapala Malalasekera – Sri Lankan scholar and diplomat; compiler of the Gunapala Sinhala-English dictionary[66]
- 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[20]
- Senarath Paranavithana – pioneering archaeologist and epigraphist of Sri Lanka; once the archaeological commissioner[67]
- Anuradha Seneviratna – Sri Lankan scholar[68]
- Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah – professor of anthropology (1955–1960); leading social anthropologist[69] and Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Harvard University;[69] recipient of the Balzan Prize,[70] the highest recognition of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland,[71] the Huxley Memorial Medal and Lecture,[72] and the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize by the city of Fukuoka, capital of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan;[73] Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy[74]
Librarians
- H. A. I. Goonetilleke – director of the University of Peradeniya library; first chairman of the Gratiaen Trust; scholar[75]
Sportsmen and sports administrators
- D. H. de Silva – first class cricketer, sports administrator and coach[76]
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