Paying it Forward

There’s a very good reason Nihal Goonewardene, CAS ’72, has been so incredibly generous with Oakland University over the years, and it’s a story he loves to tell.

In the fall of 1968, Goonewardene arrived at OU from his home in Sri Lanka to study. Two days later, his roommates took him to Detroit to cheer on the Detroit Tigers in the postseason playoffs. “It was a magical time. People are so kind,” Goonewardene recalls fondly. “I was a very good student at Oakland and had faculty that looked out for me.”

Goonewardene was never able to make it back to Sri Lanka during his four years at OU, even when his mother passed away during his freshman year. He saved money by working as a coach and judo instructor while attending classes full time. He planned to return home after graduation for his younger sister’s wedding — his father even scheduled the wedding date to accommodate Goonewardene’s return.

But then life happened.

“In my senior year, I was not sure what I wanted to do after graduation. Four faculty — each had attended a different graduate school — took me to lunch to try to help me figure it out and maybe push their own graduate school,” Goonewardene recollects. He shared with them his goal to pursue a career in international affairs — perhaps as a diplomat, United Nations official, business executive or even a member of the United States government. In response, the foursome recommended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, jointly administered by Tufts University in cooperation with Harvard. It was a school with which Goonewardene was not familiar. They warned him it was highly selective, with an average incoming class of 100 graduate students.

Undeterred, Goonewardene hustled to the library to see if they had a Fletcher catalog, and when they did, he buried himself in it. It didn’t take long for him to discover they were right. He submitted his application to Fletcher — the only graduate school to which he applied — and was accepted.

“They liked my grades and they liked my essay, but there was no scholarship for me,”
Goonewardene says. “The tuition was very prohibitive, not to mention room and board. I decided Fletcher was more important for my future and I would use the money I had saved for my trip home on graduate school instead.”

When he shared this decision with his four faculty friends, they were dismayed. Being as close with Goonewardene as they were, they were concerned his decision would break his father’s heart. They implored him to take the next few days to reconsider.

“In two days, many members of the faculty and staff, including the president and police chief at OU, had each contributed $100 so I could go to Sri Lanka for the wedding!” Goonewardene exclaims. “And now you know why I give back to Oakland.”

Goonewardene is a long-time resident of the Washington, D.C. area so his latest gift hits closer to home.

The catalyst for this particular gift, as Goonewardene explains it, happened in the fall of 2023 when he attended an informal OU reception in D.C., where Dr. Peter Trumbore, professor and chair of the Political Science Department at Oakland University, shared his vision of bringing OU students to D.C. to witness firsthand how the government functions. “I thought it was an interesting idea, and since D.C. is my home and I have experience dealing with the federal government, it seemed like something I should really support,” Goonewardene explains.

Trumbore and David Dulio, distinguished professor of political science and director of the Center for Civic Engagement at OU, were able to bring their visionary plan to fruition with Goonewardene’s generous support. Dulio enthuses, “Nihal has been instrumental in the program’s success. After we introduced the idea to him, he was all-in. Not only did he support the program with a gift — he also worked to help us raise the additional funds needed for the trip, and he used his extensive network of contacts to enhance the students’ itinerary.”

In February 2025, the inaugural “OU in D.C.” study trip took place.

“We had 32 students — a very inquisitive group — and not all political science majors. It was a diversity of interests,” Goonewardene says. “The faculty made sure they had a very comprehensive experience. The Michigan Congressional Delegation was very helpful in arranging tours. I took charge of the Supreme Court visit and encouraged a couple pre-law students to apply for Supreme Court internships.”

“The first trip was a resounding success,” echoes Dulio. “Students reported overwhelmingly positive feedback, and several have already used connections they made to kickstart their D.C. network or advance internship prospects. None of this would be possible without Nihal.”

With the success of the trip, Goonewardene believes the organizers will have even more participants next year. He says he is ready to support the trip again.

“Oakland will always be very special to me, and this is a mind-expanding opportunity for students. At the final reception hosted generously by an alumna at her home, I was so proud to see this diverse group of students reflect on their personal takeaways from this opportunity and so eloquently express their appreciation of our system of government following their immersion in the study tour curated by the Political Science Department,” Goonewardene concludes. “We should continue to do this.”