He was born in Trinidad and raised in Grenada (two island-nations in the Caribbean). He holds a B.Sc., in Agriculture; a master's degree in Education; and a doctorate in Adult and Continuing Education. Professor Baptiste taught at National-Louis University (Chicago) for three and a half years, and chaired the department of Adult Education for most of his tenure there. He joined the Adult Education program at Penn State in August 1997, and has been serving as its chair since 2003.