Kenneth G. Ryder

Work at Northeastern University

After returning from World War II, Ryder returned to BU where he graduated with a BA in history in 1946. Ryder then enrolled in a Masters Program in History at Harvard University.

While working on his masters, Ryder began teaching at Cambridge Junior College and in 1949, accepted a position at Northeastern University as a history and government instructor. He was a well-liked professor, full of enthusiasm for learning, and for the needs of his students. Ryder often spent a good deal of time with his students, counseling them on academic and non-academic matters, and he was widely admired for his love of history and relaxed, but effective manner in the classroom. In 1953 he was promoted to assistant professor and then to associate professor in 1956. In the following year, Ryder began to take on more administrative roles at the University first serving as faculty advisor of the freshman class and as Secretary to the faculty. In 1958, Ryder gave up the teaching side of his responsibilities altogether and was named Dean of Administration (1958–1966). In 1967 he became Vice President of University Administration (1967–1970), and Executive Vice President in 1971. 1975, largely due to his knowledge of the university administration and its procedures, his affection for the needs of the student body, and his close ties to the faculty, Ryder was named the fourth president of Northeastern by the Board of Trustees after the retirement of Asa Knowles.

The face of Northeastern, both academically and physically, changed dramatically during Ryder’s tenure. Northeastern’s academic programs, as well as the physical campus, were expanded and improved and Ryder is largely credited with turning the once cold and asphalt-covered landscape of white brick buildings into a campus full of flowers, grass and trees. By the last year of his presidency in 1989, over 19 academic centers and research institutes had been established, honors programs developed, satellite locations had been created, and numerous buildings added to the main campus. In addition to new academic structures, Boston Arena, the former home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics, was purchased from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1982 and became Matthews Arena, the home of the Northeastern Huskies Hockey Team. However, despite this success of campus expansion, Ryder was well aware that Northeastern could not become a first class university without a first class library for their students. The existing library was too small for the needs of the University, and from the early days of his presidency, Ryder undertook the goal of having a new library constructed.

“Ryder was adamant: a new library absolutely had to be built. Although no funding was in sight, a two-phase invitational design competition was launched in 1981. In January 1983, the Architects Collaborative was awarded the commission for a five-story, 240,000-square-foot (22,000 m2) library.

Not until September 1986, after three years of intensive work, was sufficient funding secured-$13.5 million from the Department of Defense and $5 million from trustee and graduate George Snell-to inspire hope that the project would take concrete form. Another year elapsed before groundbreaking and another three years before the library finally opened in the fall of 1990. Although President Ryder retired in 1989, the dedication of the library a year later must be seen as the crowning achievement of his presidency.”

In addition to physical expansion, Ryder was committed to improving the quality and scope of the academic programs offered at Northeastern as well. Having come from the History department, he was personally committed to establishment and expansion of academic programs in the arts and humanities. In addition to these areas, he also understood that Northeastern, with its long history of quality engineering programs, could play a role in the emerging technology fields. The first modern computer equipment was installed at the University under Ryder, and Northeastern established the nation's first College of Computer Science in 1982. Research programs also increased during Ryder’s administration. In 1978 the University Council on Research and Scholarship was established to promote development of research and scholarship activities.

Always a teacher at heart, Ryder also worked to improve the quality of teaching at Northeastern. In 1978, he founded the Excellence in Teaching Awards, a merit program to recognize teachers, and in 1983, he established the Instructional Development Fund to encourage teachers to improve the quality of their teaching through experimentation with instructional content, innovative procedures, or technological resources.

During his time as president, Ryder put particular focus on the role Northeastern could play as a leader in cooperative education, a program that had long been a crucial means of helping Northeastern students pay for their academic course work while in school. Ryder wanted to shift the attitude around cooperative education away from a means of financing higher education, and focus more on the educational enrichment and job placement opportunities that the program could provide. As a result, co-op placements expanded both in number and in variety and Ryder made great strides in reaching out to employers to participate in the program. Ryder also took an active role in expanding cooperative education nationally and internationally. In 1981, Ryder became the founding chairman of the World Council on Cooperative Education conference (now the World Association on Cooperative Education), an international conference to expand and promote cooperative education at universities worldwide.

Ryder also believed strongly that Northeastern should play a role in the community it inhabited. Looking for ways to develop strong relations between NU and the local community, in 1976 he created the Office of Community Development (renamed the Office of Community Affairs in 1981) to work on various community projects. In 1975, under Ryder’s leadership Northeastern participated in Phase II of the Boston public schools desegregation plan in which 21 Boston area colleges and universities each paired up with a specific Boston public school to assist in educational development. NU was paired with Madison Park High School in District 7. NU also participated in the Southwest Corridor Project, an economic and environmental urban renewal project to improve Boston's transportation by developing the land near NU's property into residential, commercial, and light industrial enterprises. In 1986 the Ruggles Street MBTA Station was created.

Ryder also understood the importance of having close and working relationships with elected officials at all levels of government. In 1979, he established the Office of Government Relations as a means to bring the concerns of the Northeastern community to City Hall, the United States Congress, and the Massachusetts State House.

Ryder was well liked by all who knew him because of his easy going attitude, but he could command a room with his speaking style. “Ken was a tremendous speaker. His voice was resonant, his tone perfectly pitched. He managed to sound as if he were talking one on one even if he were behind a podium and there were 800 people on the other side, or if he were at a desk and there were 40 faculty senators facing him, or if he were at a table confronting six agenda committee members. Ken always sounded extemporaneous. He never gave canned speeches. He didn't read from a text, he looked up, made eye contact and spoke.

“This speaking talent, which has been remarked on by almost everyone who ever heard Ryder speak, gave his hearers the sense that their president was actually talking to rather than at them and went a long way toward establishing rapport.”

After 40 years of service to Northeastern, fourteen of which he had served as president, Ryder submitted his resignation to NU's board of trustees in 1989. After stepping down as president, Ryder became chancellor when John A. Curry, a former NU administrator, was appointed as his successor. Ryder retired from Northeastern in 2004 at the age of 80, having served Northeastern for 55 years.

Ryder died on October 29, 2012, at the age of 88.