Tracy Baynes

Tracy Baynes obtained her doctorate in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego in 1993. After several years as a coral reef researcher at the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Baynes turned her full focus to teaching in 1996.

She joined Columbia University’s Biosphere 2 Center to teach in their undergraduate program. She later branched out to teach and develop field courses for Sea Education Association, University of Pittsburgh, Long Island University, University of Montana, Prescott College, Outward Bound, and the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).

 During the past 15 years, Dr. Baynes has led field programs ranging in length from 2 weeks to 3½ months in Alaska, the Sea of Cortez, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 2001 she sailed as a faculty member with the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea, visiting Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, India, the Seychelles, South Africa, Brazil, and Cuba.

 From 2001 to 2004, Dr. Baynes developed and ran a tall-ship-based ocean semester on the west coast for Long Island University. SEAmester West sailed from California to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico and across the Pacific to Hawaii. Students participated as active crew members as well as taking on a full load of college courses. I

 n 2002, Dr. Baynes founded the Student Expedition Program (STEP) to provide in-depth leadership training to low-income college-bound high-school students in order to better prepare them for the challenges ahead in college. STEP’s overall goal is to break the chain of generational poverty in the families it works with by equipping students with the internal tools to be successful in college. At the core of STEP’s program is a profoundly empowering 3-week leadership expedition in the wilderness of Alaska with the National Outdoor Leadership School.