Raghu P. Mathur, Ed. D., was appointed Chancellor on February 1, 2002, following five years as President of Irvine Valley College and a short time as Interim Vice Chancellor of Educational Services.  He has been employed with the District since 1976.

Dr. Mathur is a community college graduate with an associate's degree in physics, chemistry and math from Intermediate College in Banaras, India. He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in chemistry, geology, and geography from Banaras University. After traveling to the United States, he attended California State University, Fresno where he completed his master’s degree in chemistry. He earned a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. His dissertation focused on the delivery of distance education and the results influenced the expansion of programs at both Irvine Valley and Saddleback Colleges.

Dr. Mathur served as a professor of Chemistry at Irvine Valley College from the fall semester of 1979 until being appointed president in 1997. During that time he was Chair of the School of Physical Sciences and Technologies for approximately 10 years and held the offices of President, Vice President, and Clerk of the Academic Senate. In June, 2007, Dr. Mathur was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa) degree from Pacific States University for his outstanding contributions to higher education and for serving as a role model of success for international students. 

Elected to the Board of Trustees at Saddleback Valley Unified School District for nine years, Dr. Mathur served three times as board president.

Recognized as a leader in the California Community College system, Dr. Mathur was recently appointed by the State Chancellor's Office to the Technology and Telecommunications Advisory Council.  At the national level, he is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges Commission on Research, Technology and Emerging Trends. At the regional level, he a member of the Orange County Workforce Investment Board.  He was appointed to the Accreditation Visitation Teams for El Camino College, Long Beach City College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Vista College and Mission College.  As Vice Chair of the State Commission on Education Policy for California Community Colleges, he represented California Community Colleges on the State Intersegmental Academic State Committee on Science Curriculum and Academic Standards.

Dr. Mathur attended the Summer Institute for Educational Management (IEM) at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. The Institute was designed as a professional development opportunity for college and university presidents from across the United States and other countries, such as, Australia, Canada, Germany, Thailand and South Africa. Upon invitation, he presented a paper on Educational Leadership in Higher Education at Oxford University, England.

Currently, Dr. Mathur serves as an Advisory Board Member for the School of Education at Argosy University where he also teaches courses in educational leadership to doctoral students.  He was recently appointed to the Orange County Treasury Oversight Committee by Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street.   

In reflecting upon his position as Chancellor, Dr. Mathur said, "My career goals today are focused on becoming the very best educator and leader that I can be.  My guiding principle is 'How do our decisions benefit students?' "

Dr. Mathur resides in the District with his wife, Karuna.  Contact Chancellor Mathur at: rmathur@socccd.edu.

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