Devinder Malhotra, Ph.D.

Former Chancellor

Minnesota State Colleges & Universities

Devinder Malhotra served as the Chancellor of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (Minnesota State) from 2018 to 2023. He was Interim Chancellor of Minnesota  State in 2017-18. He led Minnesota’s largest and most diverse higher education provider, with seven state universities and 26 state technical and community colleges. These colleges and universities are spread across 47 different communities with 54 campuses, serving nearly 300,000 students a year. He retired in 2023 and currently lives in Concord, California.

Devinder has been an active participant in national conversations on the role and power of public post-secondary systems in bringing about quantum transformational change in higher education. He has served on and chaired the Board of the National Association of System Heads (NASH). He also served on and chaired the Board of Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC).

As Chancellor, he led Minnesota State to embrace a systemwide vision of Equity 2030, which was adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2019. Simply put, Equity 2030 is a commitment by each of the colleges and universities of Minnesota State to close the educational equity gaps in both access and student success by the year 2030. Devinder is a passionate believer in higher education as a catalyst for upward social and economic mobility, and an anchor to preserve and enhance economic competitiveness in this ever-changing world.

Before serving as Chancellor, Devinder was interim president for two years at Metro State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Prior to that he was provost at Saint Cloud State University, and dean of arts and sciences at University of Southern Maine. At the University of Akron he served as chair of the Faculty Senate, chair of the economics department, and associate dean of the college of arts and sciences.

Devinder earned his doctorate in economics from Kansas State University. He holds both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Delhi, India.