Senior Professor Ven. Gallelle Sumanasiri Thera has been appointed Chancellor of Sabaragamuwa University by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The letter of appointment was handed to him by Secretary to the President Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday morning, the Daily Mirror reported, citing the President’s Media Division.
Hiru News carried the appointment first, at 1.49 p.m., about half an hour ahead of the Daily Mirror. Its Sinhala headline gives his style in full as Agga Maha Pandita Senior Professor Gallelle Sumanasiri — matching the Daily Mirror’s English rendering of both the honorific and the academic rank.
Who he is
He is Chief Incumbent of the Molagoda Kotamudungala Raja Maha Viharaya and holds the title Agga Maha Pandita.
He has led two universities before this. He served as Vice-Chancellor of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and of the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka — so the appointment moves a serving university administrator into a chancellorship rather than bringing in an outside figure.
His qualifications, as listed by the Daily Mirror, begin with a Special Degree in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Kelaniya and a Master of Philosophy from the same university. The paper then records a further Master of Philosophy and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Delhi, and an Advanced Diploma in Chinese Language from Peking University. The MPhil appears twice in that list, at Kelaniya and at Delhi; the filing does not distinguish between them, and it is not clear whether that is two separate degrees or a duplication in the release.
One statement, two filings
The chancellorship of a Sri Lankan university is a largely ceremonial office, appointed by the President, and is distinct from the vice-chancellorship, which runs the institution day to day.
Both reports trace to the President’s Media Division and agree on every detail. Their agreement indicates a single official announcement rather than two newsrooms independently establishing the facts. Neither filing names the outgoing chancellor, gives the length of the term, or says when he takes up the post.