Rate My Professor Rebecca Rivera Serrano

Dr. Rebecca Rivera-Serrano serves as a lecturer in the Department of Criminology within Regis University’s School of Professional Advancement, where she also holds the position of Director of Criminology for the undergraduate and graduate programs. Bringing over 30 years of hands-on experience in the criminal justice system, her professional career began in 1992 as an Automation Clerk with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, handling inmate records and federal agency coordination. She progressed to Counselor at Excelsior Youth Center in 1996, supervising female juveniles in a residential setting, and Intern Parole Officer with Denver Parole Operations, conducting interviews and monitoring parole conditions. From 1998 to 2009, she worked as Senior Probation Officer at the 18th Judicial District Probation Department, managing high-risk and high-volume caseloads, including domestic violence units and Spanish-speaking clients, while chairing statewide committees on cultural advocacy and victim services, and serving as a Motivational Interviewing Instructor. Her final practitioner role was as Pretrial Officer at the Colorado Department of Safety’s Denver Pretrial Unit from 2018 to 2021, developing specialized supervision units and conducting risk assessments for drug and alcohol clients.

Dr. Rivera-Serrano earned her Doctor of Education from Creighton University in 2016, with a dissertation titled 'Identifying the Practices that Reduce Criminality Through Community-based Post-secondary Correctional Education.' She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver in 2004, with concentrations in domestic violence, program management, and policy development, and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from the University of Denver in 1997. With 17 years of university-level teaching experience, she has served as Lead Professor in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Administration at Colorado State University Global Campus since 2020, Affiliate Professor in Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2006, Criminal Justice Instructor at Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County Public Schools, Honorarium Faculty at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and Instructor at Red Rocks Community College. Her research interests center on correctional education practices that reduce recidivism, reflected in a publication in a special edition of the International Journal of Educational Department. Currently, she is a board member for the Second Chances Center, promoting prison and criminal justice reform alongside victim-centered initiatives.