He chaired the university’s philosophy department from 1991 to 1996, and in 1995 to 1996 he was the co-founder and director of the Project for Eastern and Central Europe.

[7] In July 2012, Ryder was appointed Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK).

[8] In January 2018, while serving as provost of the American University of Malta, Ryder presided over the firing of all 13 of the faculty who were still in their probation period just weeks before the second semester began.

Weeks later he hired two replacement faculty who jeopardized the institution’s accreditation, one a proven plagiarist and the other a holder of fraudulent credentials.

[9][10][11][12] In July 2019, Ryder announced that he had decided to retire and would therefore resign from his position as provost of the AUM, stating that he had fulfilled the terms of his contract, but would have "loved not to have had some of the problems or [made some of the] mistakes" he did.