Patrick Mendis is a distinguished visiting professor of transatlantic relations at the University of Warsaw in Poland. He previously served as a distinguished visiting professor of global affairs at the National Chengchi University in Taipei and a distinguished visiting professor of Sino-American relations at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing.

A former American diplomat and military professor in the NATO and Indo-Pacific Commands during both Democratic and Republican administrations, Prof. Mendis held various senior government positions in the US Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and State as well as the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He most recently served two terms as a commissioner to the US National Commission for UNESCO at the US Department of State. He also represented the US government at the United Nations and worked at the World Bank.

Prof. Mendis is an alumnus of the Faculty of the Management Studies and Commerce at the University Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka, the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He established the Johnson-Mendis scholarship for Perham High School students attending the Minnesota State Community Technical College at Fergus Falls, the Patrick Mendis Prize at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the Edward Burdick Legislative Award at the University of Minnesota, and the Millennials Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service at Harvard University.

Prof. Mendis is the author of over 200 books, journal articles, newspaper columns, and government reports. He is a nonresident senior fellow of the Taiwan Center for Security Studies in Taipei and the Synergia Foundation in Bangalore, India.

Currently, Prof. Mendis resides in Washington, DC.

For more information, please visit his official website here.