Minnesota State chancellor announces retirement

(ABC 6 News) – The chancellor of Minnesota State has announced his intention to retire.

Devinder Malhotra made the announcement on Wednesday during a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Malhotra plans to retire upon the completion of his current contract on August 1, 2023. Malhotra has served either as chancellor or interim chancellor of Minnesota State since 2017.

Malhotra helped lead Minnesota State through the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the system launch its Equity 2030 initiative, which aims to set a goal of eliminating educational equity gaps at every one of the system’s colleges and universities by 2030.

Previous roles within the Minnesota State system include serving Metropolitan State University as interim president from 2014 to 2016, and St. Cloud State University as provost and vice president of academic affairs from 2009 to 2014. He also served the University of Southern Maine and the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Akron.

Minnesota State said it will provide more information on the search for his successor in the coming months.

In the meantime, Malhotra said there is still plenty he plans to do before stepping down.

“There is work to do in the coming year to deliver on our commitments to our students and to our great state,” Malhotra said.

Minnesota State includes 26 community and technical colleges and seven state universities serving approximately 300,000 students, making it the third-largest system of two-year colleges and four-year universities in the country.

Watch Malhotra make his retirement announcement below.