Jagiellonian University celebrates US Presidential appointment of Prof. Patrick Mendis

US Deputy Undersecretary of Defence Shawn Skelly presenting the Presidential credential to Prof. Patrick Mendis Photo courtesy of the US Department of Defence).

By Dr. Emilian Kavalski

KRAKOW, Poland: Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris White House appointed Prof. Patrick Mendis as a Presidential advisor to the National Security Education Board of the US Department of Defence. 

Sri Lankan-born but Minnesota and Harvard educated scholar-diplomat is a former Pentagon military professor at NATO and the Indo-Pacific Command. He is currently a distinguished visiting professor of international relations at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Named after the Jagiellonian Dynasty in Poland, the university has many other notable alumni and faculty — such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Pope John Paul II, and the current Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Founded in 1364, the Jagiellonian University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. With close to 40,000 students and the highest national ranking, the university makes the medieval city of Krakow — known as the “Paris of the East” — a major educational and cultural centre in Europe.

Jagiellonian University Faculty of Philology Dean Wladyslaw Witalisz said, “Professor Patrick Mendis has been a highly valuable member of our academic community, teaching China-US and European Union relations as the inaugural Taiwan chair and distinguished visiting professor of international relations at the Institute of Oriental Studies this past year.” His faculty position has generously been sponsored by the Taipei Representative Office in Poland, for which we are extremely grateful to Amb. Sharon Wu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan, Dean Witalisz added.

Before arriving in Poland as a distinguished visiting professor of transatlantic relations at the University of Warsaw in 2022, Prof. Mendis was a Taiwan fellow of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a distinguished visiting professor of global affairs at the National Chengchi University in Taipei as well as a distinguished visiting professor of Sino-American relations at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing, China.

“With vast academic knowledge in Asia and Europe combined with his practical experience as an American diplomat, advisor to US delegations to the United Nations, and National Commissioner to UNESCO, Dr. Mendis has been an inspiring teacher and role model to our university students. We are truly honoured by his contribution to Poland,” said Dean Witalisz, adding that “We wish him every success in his new Presidential appointment to the US National Security Education Board.” Dean Witalisz is confident that “Patrick will contribute to strengthening democracy in the US and in the world.”

 At a Pentagon ceremony in Washington, US Defence Deputy Undersecretary Shawn Skelly congratulated Prof. Mendis for his illustrious and award-winning public service to the nation and honoured him with the White House credential on behalf of President Joe Biden. 

Prof. Mendis has a long record of combining careers in academia and government service in both Democratic and Republican administrations. While holding faculty positions at George Mason, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Minnesota, Yale, and Harvard, he also served in a wide range of US Government committees, boards, and commissions during the Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. 

The Marquis Who’s Who in America — the most authoritative dictionary of biographies — bestowed Prof. Patrick Mendis with its most coveted Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his government service, international education, and global diplomacy.

(The writer is a former Taiwan fellow of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the inaugural NAWA chair professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland)