Senior Director, Academic Programs

Ruben A. Rivera, PhD

A proud Honduran immigrant who arrived in New York City at a young age, Dr. Rivera is a graduate of schools that qualify as Title 1 and understands the challenges of underrepresented communities. Dr. Rivera’s experience extends into higher education, having not only taught in the nation’s most extensive public school system for the New York City Department of Education at the middle and high school levels but also as an adjunct at the City College of New York. He began his teaching career at the Harlem Children’s Zone, where he taught after-school classes focused on personal finance and college and career readiness. Additionally, Dr. Rivera spent time as a Community School Director in one of the city’s most challenging but promising communities, the South Bronx, where he boosted attendance and parental engagement to make a more substantial neighborhood inside and outside the school walls. He wants to be an example to young students that look like him and teach them that the only limits are the ones we place on ourselves by not dreaming big.