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Nelathi wins top Alumnae Award from US College
By Anne Abayasekara
"It came out of the blue," said quiet, unassuming Nelathi de Soysa, when she showed me, at my request, the letter she had received from the President of her old college, Agnes Scott in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Not one to blow her own trumpet, I heard the happy news from her proud mother, Manel Nanayakkara, and I had to work hard to persuade Nelathi to let me in on her secret.

The letter from President Mary Brown Bullock read: "On behalf of the faculty, staff and students of Agnes Scott College, please accept my congratulations on being selected as the recipient of the 2005 Outstanding Alumnae Award for Distinguished Career. I was thrilled to learn that the Alumnae Association chose you for this year's award.

“It is certainly well-deserved for the work you are doing to make a better life for the women of your native Sri Lanka". So, Nelathi (who will receive a return-air ticket from the college), will leave for Georgia in April this year. She told me that what excites her even more than the award is the prospect of meeting up with old friends during her three-week stay.

Agnes Scott College is a women's college and I notice its letterhead bears the slogan `Women for the World'. In the 2006 US News & World Report, under "Best Colleges"' Agnes Scott College is rated as "the top-ranked national liberal arts college in Georgia, the highest ranked women's college in the South, and among the most diverse colleges in the country."

Nelathi had her school education at Ladies' College, Colombo, and Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo. She went to Agnes Scott College on a scholarship and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology (BA), in 1989. She made the Honor Roll every year during the four years she was there, from 1986 to 1989.
She also served as president of the International Student Organisation, vice-president of Future Health Professionals and member of the President's Committee on Cultural Diversity, during her time at Agnes Scott.

In 1991 she earned her Masters degree in Social Work (MSW), from the University of Georgia, where her mother too had done the same several years earlier. After a brief stint as Researcher at the Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR), she joined World Vision Lanka (WVL) in 1992 and stayed with this NGO for the next 11½ years, in different capacities, the last of which was as National Coordinator Operations, Member Senior Management, and Consultant/Organisational Peer Review.

In 1996 Nelathi received the Joan Levett Memorial Scholarship Award of World Vision, which provided an opportunity to visit Bangladesh and the Philippines. She did her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in 1993 at Eastern University, Pennsylvania, with focus on `Development'.

Nelathi was awarded a Certificate in NGO Leadership by World Vision and the Eastern Univesity. She has produced research papers on a variety of subjects including such diverse topics as "Asbestos Awareness Among an Urban Population" and "Parents and Teenagers: Parenting Styles that Work with Adolescents". She has published papers on "Gender Development in Sri Lanka: A Peek Behind Statistics" and "The Truth Behind Sri Lanka's Gender Development Statistics."

Since February 2004, Nelathi has functioned as UNDAF Officer. (UNDAF stands for the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, which is a common UN planning tool used in many countries throughout the world).
She is happily married to Sheanath de Soysa who, Nelathi says, is most supportive of her activities. They have a 6-year-old daughter, Naomi.

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