Prof. M.M. Gunathilake was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The appointment letter was handed over to the Dean by the Vice- Chancellor, Prof. D.M. Semasinghe on the 16^th of December 2019 at the Vice- Chancellor’s Office.

Present at the occasion were Senior Prof. Lakshman Senevirathne, Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Patrick Rathnayake, Dean- Faculty of Humanities, academic staff members of Faculty of Social Sciences, Mr. W.M. Karunaratne, Registrar and Ms. Dhammika Ambegoda, Assistant Registrar- Academic Establishment Division.

Prof. M.M. Gunathilake assumed his duties as the new Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Dean’s Office on the said date. Senior Lecturer Ven. Dr. Kapugollewe Anandakiththi Thero, Chief Student Counsellor and Senior Lecturer Ven. Dr. Dodamkumbure Dhammadassi Thero, Director- ICCMS, Senior Lecturer Dr. Bandara Wanninayake, Director- Staff Development Centre, Heads of Departments and other academic staff members were also present at the occasion.

Prof. M.M. Gunathilake obtained his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Kelaniya. He was awarded a Commonwealth (Split-site) Doctoral Scholarship from University of Cambridge and gained a fellowship at University of Durham. Development Economics: Rural Economy, Food Security are some of his research interests while Intermediate Microeconomics, Advanced Microeconomics, and Mathematics for Economics are his research interests. Precautionary Savings and Social Safety Net: An Empirical Study on Rural Households in Sri Lanka, Consumer Adoption of Internet Banking in Sri Lanka, Drought and Household Food Security in Rural Sri Lanka, Coping strategies of Vulnerable Farm Households in Developing Countries: A Review of Literature are some of his publications.