Patrick Mendis

Patrick Mendis

"After his government service at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Defense, and State, Dr. Patrick Mendis returned to academia. He served as a visiting professor of economics and public policy at the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea program during the 2004 spring voyage and later joined the Norwich University’s MA Program in Diplomacy.

"He is serving as the vice president of academic affairs at the Osgood Center for International Studies and a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is also a distinguished senior fellow at the Global Studies Foundation.

"Prior to joining the U.S. State Department, Dr. Mendis was a military professor through the University of Maryland for the U.S. Department of Defense in the NATO and the Pacific Commands, for which he received the University of Maryland’s Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award. He taught MBA/MPA and undergraduate international relations courses at every major military installation in England, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey. As a visiting professor, Dr. Mendis also taught in China through the University of Maryland and in the former Soviet Union through the University of Minnesota.

"At the State Department, he served as a special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State and the secretariat director of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (former U.S. Information Agency). Dr. Mendis also chaired the interagency policy working group on sustainable development, authored Handbook on International Science and Technology Agreements, and advised the U.S. delegation to the United Nations.  For his leadership and contribution, Dr. Mendis was presented with the Meritorious Honor Award, the Certificate of Appreciation for UN Negotiations, and the Benjamin Franklin Award during the Clinton and Bush Administrations. He also served as the vice chairman of the Secretary of State’s Open Forum and was appointed to the governing board of the USDA Graduate School by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

"Before joining the Maryland faculty in 1997, he served as a lecturer in international relations and a visiting scholar in applied economics at the University of Minnesota since 1990. Dr. Mendis also worked at the Minnesota House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the World Bank, and the United Nations.

"For his eclectic contributions and accomplishments, he was recognized with numerous honors, including the Hubert H. Humphrey Alumni Award for Outstanding Leadership, the University of Minnesota President’s Leadership and Service Award, the United Nations Medal for the International Year of the Youth, and the Governor Harold E. Stassen Award for United Nations Affairs. Dr. Mendis is an elected fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, a life member of the Society for International Development, and listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. He serves on the editorial boards of Energy & Environment in the United Kingdom and The Public Manager in the United States. He has authored more than 100 books, journal articles, newspaper columns, and research papers.

"An alumnus of the Harvard executive leadership program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Dr. Mendis earned his MA in international development and foreign affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a PhD in geography/applied economics from the University of Minnesota. He completed his postdoctoral teaching and research at Yale and Columbia Universities respectively.

"A former AFS exchange scholar from Sri Lanka, Dr. Mendis attended the Perham public school in Minnesota and received the Honorary Citizenship from the Governor of Minnesota. He is the founder of The Tsunami Leadership Caring ‘TLC’ Foundation through which he established a number of tsunami scholarships and a Peace Prize in Sri Lanka and a memorial scholarship in Minnesota.  He lives in the Washington, D.C. area."


 * Advisor, Sarvodaya USA