Dr. Rivas is an Assistant Professor and Fieldwork Coordinator in the Counselor Education program at CSU Sacramento, specializing in rehabilitation, addiction, marriage and family, and clinical mental health counseling. He is currently serving as the Fieldwork Coordinator for the Counselor Education program.

Dr. Rivas began his career in academia at the director level in academic advising, student retention, student disability services, and student conduct before moving on to teaching at both the community college, baccalaureate, and graduate levels. Prior to coming to CSUS, he taught at the undergraduate and graduate level at MSU Denver and prior to that, at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at the graduate level. At UCCS, he taught: clinical mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, student development theory, educational psychology, educational leadership, and within the Air Force Officer Commanding (AOC) Leadership program. This program teaches US Air Force Academy Officers: counseling, human growth/ lifespan/ student development, leadership, and higher education administration specific material.

Dr. Rivas has clinical experience providing mental health & substance abuse counseling in both private practice and community mental health, working with court-mandated offenders, first responders, couples, military members and their families, health care professionals, and supervision for CAC/LAC. Dr. Rivas holds clinical licensure in Colorado as both a Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC) and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with national credentials of Master Addiction Counselor (MAC) and Substance Abuse Professional (SAP, US DOT credential). His research interests focus on student development of 1st generation students and the effect of socio-economic-status on clinical relationships, diagnosis, and prognosis. Dr. Rivas currently serves on the Board of Directors for California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (CALPCC) and on the CALPCC Legislative and Advocacy Committee.