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A Career Shaped by Connection and Equity

For Arianne Rivera, EdD, director of the School of Education & Human Development (SEHD) Student Success Center, education has always been about learning through human connection. With more than 25 years of experience across preschool through higher education settings, Rivera has served as a classroom teacher, English as a Second Language educator, instructional coach, equity specialist, and university lecturer. In every role, she has been guided by a commitment to dignity, belonging, and the belief that schools flourish when they prioritize authentic relationships.

Her path to CU Denver began long before she joined the Student Success Center. As a teacher candidate, Rivera worked at the Child Development Center on the Auraria Campus, later teaching at multiple grade levels and supporting multilingual learners across more than 20 schools. She eventually moved into an equity leadership role in Jeffco Public Schools. Reflecting on these experiences, she shared, “I was very fortunate to work in many spaces in public education. Coming to SEHD offered a chance to return to supporting preservice teachers, which was something I truly missed.” The opportunity to help emerging educators begin to shape their careers made CU Denver a natural next step.

What the Student Success Center Provides

Student success coach Jo Hazelton talking with a student

The SEHD Student Success Center provides a constellation of services designed to promote academic, personal, and professional well-being. Rivera describes its mission simply: “I like to think of us as side-by-side support on students’ path to success.” Students identify their goals, and the center offers coaching, resource navigation, and skill development to help them move forward.

Supports range from time management and study strategies to Praxis exam preparation, licensure requirements, resume assistance, and interview readiness. Rivera emphasized that the center’s work is grounded in empowerment. “The student is always in the lead. We help strengthen the pathway they identify for themselves,” she said.

Creating Welcoming Spaces for Every Learner

A significant part of Rivera’s role involves creating both physical and virtual spaces where students feel cared for and supported. On the seventh floor of the Lawrence Street Center, the Success Center maintains snacks, a coffee and tea station, a small food pantry, donated books, and charging stations—amenities inspired by student feedback. These offerings meet immediate needs while cultivating a sense of belonging.

Rivera also maintains virtual spaces for online students and monitors CU Denver’s Navigate360 platform to respond to faculty referrals, early alerts, and outreach needs in a timely fashion. “We follow up on referrals so nothing gets lost,” she explained.

Workshops, office hours, and small-group sessions, such as Canvas tutorials, study skills, and Praxis study sessions, give students flexible options for support.

Strengthening Community Through Care

Rivera and Orlando Valencia, peer leader for the Student Success Center, serving soup and snacks at the annual Friendsgiving celebration.

Rivera believes that community building is essential to student success. While individual support remains central to the center’s mission, she intentionally creates opportunities for students to connect across programs and modalities.

One favorite example is the annual Friendsgiving tradition, which began as an idea from undergraduate peer leaders. “November can feel lonely for some students,” Rivera noted. “Our peer leaders said, ‘What if we turn it into an opportunity for friendship and connection?’”

The event has grown into a food drive and coat exchange that supports SEHD students and community partners. This year, the center hosted the Friendsgiving gathering, offering warm food, space to connect, and opportunities for reciprocal giving. It also offered the first SEHD Virtual Social for fully online students so they could participate in the celebration and build connections from afar. These gatherings illustrated Rivera’s belief that meaningful connection emerges from small acts of care that strengthen the fabric of the learning community.

Andrea Rios (PsyD ‘25), student success coach

Leading as a Recent Doctoral Program Alum

Rivera’s leadership is shaped by her experience as both an alum and a recent graduate of SEHD’s EdD program in Leadership for Educational Equity. She described the doctoral journey as transformative. “It changes you on so many levels,” she said. She also reflected on the joy of watching students cross the graduation stage. “I know how hard each of them worked. It is remarkable what our students do,” she shared.

Her team includes current undergraduate and graduate students, which she sees as a strength. “We can relate to what students are going through because we are living it or have just lived it,” she explained. This shared experience deepens the center’s capacity for empathy and responsiveness.

Expanding the Center Through Collective Leadership

Rivera emphasized that the expansion of the Student Success Center is a collaborative effort shaped by SEHD faculty, staff, and administrators. She highlighted the contributions of Barbara Seidl, PhD, former associate dean, Scott Bauer, PhD, professor,  antwan jefferson, PhD, associate dean, Ester de Jong, PhD, associate dean, Cindy Gutierrez, PhD, assistant dean, and Sandy Mondragon, PhD, assistant dean. “This is a whole team that helped inform what we are hearing from programs,” she said. The center continues to evolve through ongoing listening, student feedback, and attention to emerging needs.  The team looks forward to gathering feedback from more stakeholders in the months to come.

Rivera celebrates the history of the Student Success Center sharing, “I was tremendously fortunate to join a center with such an intentional and strong foundation. It is an honor to continue and add to that legacy.”

A Commitment to Belonging

Across her career, Rivera has demonstrated a belief that students thrive when they feel safe, seen, valued, and supported. Whether through Praxis study sessions, community gatherings, or simple moments of connection, the Student Success Center reflects her commitment to belonging as a cornerstone of student success.

“When students reach those moments of questioning whether they can continue, we want to remind them that they can, that they will, and that they are not alone,” she said.