Dr. Jose Rivas

Dr. Rivas immigrated from Mexico as a child and grew up as a migrant farm worker in the Sacramento valley. He earned an Educational Doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California.

He served as the Executive Director of First Graduate, a nonprofit in San Francisco serving low-income, first-generation families. Prior to First Graduate, he worked at UC Berkeley as the Executive Director of College Preparation Programs where he oversaw private, State, and federally-funded college access and preparation programs.​

"At UCB, Dr. Rivas founded the Solano County Educational Consortium and the Destination College Advising Corps programs. -The DCAC model he developed has now been expanded to other University of California campuses."​