Faculty Profile

Education: BA, Anderson University, 1990; MA, Michigan State University, 1994; PhD, Bowling Green State University, 1997. At SPU since 2000.

Andrew Ryder is SPU’s Director of Undergraduate General Education, overseeing the implementation, assessment, and development of the Common and Exploratory Curriculum. He also supervises the Writing Program, the Honors Program, and the Ascent Scholars Program. In addition, he is Associate Dean for Curriculum and Assessment in the College of Arts and Sciences, where he leads that school’s Curriculum Committee and coordinates curriculum across the college.

After nearly 20 years teaching Theatre, and 6 chairing the department, Andrew continues to lead the Theatre Education program at Seattle Pacific, as well as the Integrated Studies-Arts major for Elementary Education. Dr. Ryder is a member of the board of the Winifred Ward Memorial Fund and works on spiritual development disability ministry and arts initiatives at Bothell United Methodist Church, where he currently serves on the Governing Board. His publications have appeared in Theatre Annual, Performing Arts Resources, The Western States Theatre Review, and Platform.

At SPU, Dr. Ryder teaches WRI 1100, Disciplinary Research and Writing, University Colloquium, and EDU 4030, Theatre Education Methods. His research interests are currently focused on best practices in theatre education, the intersections between arts education and education of people with disabilities, and pacifist theatre during World War II. During his 2020 sabbatical, he began work on a play about the latter, which took place at two pacifist internment camps in Oregon. Dr. Ryder and his wife have two sons.

Selected Publications

• “Comic Catharsis: The Power of Pacifist Performance.”  The Western States Theatre Review 21 (2015). //www.cwu.edu/~nwdc/nwdc/nwtr_pdf_archive/TWSTR_2015.pdf.
• “Here on the Edge: Community-Building Theatre During World War II.” Platform eJournal of Theatre and Performing Arts 5.2 (2011).
• “To the Heart of It: American Theatre from Hedgerow to the Oregon Coast.” Theatre Annual 63 (2010): 28–46.
• “‘Living from Moment to Moment’: Kermit Sheets, Theatre, and the Fine Arts at Waldport, 1942–1946.” The Western States Theatre Review 16 (2010).