Carter is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Music Department of City College of New York, having taught there for 20 years, and received an honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in Spring 2005. He joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in New York City in 2008, teaching bass in the school's Jazz Studies program. Carter made an appearance in Robert Altman's 1996 film, "Kansas City". The end credits feature him and fellow bassist Christian McBride duetting on "Solitude". Carter sits on the Advisory Committee of the Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of America and on the Honorary Founder's Committee. Carter has worked with the Jazz Foundation since its inception to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina. Most recently, Carter appeared as himself in an episode of the HBO series "Treme" entitled "What Is New Orleans" and his authorized biography, "Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes", () by Dan Ouellette, was published by ArtistShare in 2008.