Virginia Ryder is a lecturer in the music department at Cal Poly Humboldt. She teaches studio clarinet, oboe, bassoon and saxophone, class woodwinds, Music Appreciation, Music Fundamentals, and chamber music.

Ryder has performed extensively on saxophone and oboe throughout the United States in orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Denver Symphony, Pittsburg Symphony and the Opera Company of Boston. Locally, she has been a member of the Eureka Symphony, Symphony of the Redwoods in Mendocino County and the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra. In addition she has performed with George Burns, The Temptations, Manhattan Transfer and Ice Capades.

Virginia Ryder holds music degrees from the University of Wisconsin- Platteville and University of Northern Colorado. She also has a degree in library science from the State University of New York at Buffalo.