Dream. Plan. Achieve. | Mathematics Alumna’s Journey to Full Professor

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences  

Rasitha Jayesekere has spent her life turning ambitious dreams into reality: moving to the United States, earning a PhD in mathematics, and now, becoming a full professor. 

“I dream all the time,” she states. “My dad taught me how to dream since I was very young, and my mom taught me how to work efficiently. I dream, set goals, plan, work hard, and achieve them. My motivation is my dreams.”   

Jayesekere (Mathematics, PhD, ‘13) recently achieved tenure as a full professor at Butler University in Indianapolis, where she serves as Director of Statistics and Actuarial Science, and as Program Coordinator of the Data Science Minor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences.    

A critical step in her journey towards this achievement all started at UofL, where she decided to pursue her PhD.   

“One of the main reasons I chose University of Louisville was the format of the PhD program,” she said. “It was in Applied and Industrial Mathematics, which included a broad range of subfields under mathematical sciences. I found the program was unique among those specifically in mathematics or in statistics.”   

The education she received at UofL provided flexibility to explore a broad range of different subfields in mathematics before she selected her PhD research.     

“It allowed me to develop a strong foundation in multiple areas, discover where my interests and strengths aligned, and ultimately pursue research that combined both theoretical rigor and practical applications,” Jayesekere said. “The well-rounded perspective prepared me to explore across disciplines throughout my academic career, which helps my teaching and interdisciplinary research that I do now.”  

One of the most deeply enriching aspects of attending graduate school at UofL included the community of support she discovered there. 

“All of the faculty, staff and graduate students were incredible, and I had a great time in the department,” she said. “My graduate advisor, Dr. Ryan Gill, was incredibly supportive from the beginning. I worked under Dr. Gill and Dr. Kiseop Lee for my PhD research. Both have been great mentors for me throughout. We continued to work together even after my graduation, and we published another paper last year.”  

During her time at UofL, Jayesekere was also recognized for being active in the PLAN program, which is a professional development program run by UofL’s Graduate School, designed to help graduate students assess skills, close performance gaps, and communicate value for the job market.  

Jayesekere is now passing down the knowledge she took away from the PLAN program onto her own students. Some of the workshops she attended while at UofL covered how to make a 3-minute elevator pitch; how to create a scientific poster, how to workshop your resume from CV, and her personal favorite, “What to Expect in an Academic Interview.”  

“When I was in the job market, I followed exactly what I learned. I got the job from my first interview,” she said. “I’m extremely grateful to Dr. Beth Boehm, former Dean of the Graduate School, and Dr. Michelle Rodems who was in charge of all the PLAN workshops at that time, for being invested in the graduate students. I’m yet to come across such carefully planned collection of resources for graduate students in any other university.” 

While she is proud of the fact that she has now achieved such major life goals, Jayesekere is most proud of the community she has formed throughout the journey. 

“I think the biggest accomplishment that I’m most proud of is all these incredible people I've brought into my life, along the way,” she said. 

For those pursuing graduate school at UofL today, she says – manage your time intentionally, and everything else will follow. 

"It will help you to go above and beyond the minimum, or beyond the deadlines,” Jayesekere states. “Plan to manage time so that you can take care of yourself, build relationships personally and professionally, learn something new, explore new opportunities, and build your professional network. And be consistent with all the great things you do.”