Mr. Haynes received his bachelor’s degree in Renaissance Studies from Dartmouth College in 1969. He then lived and worked in Florence, Italy for a year and a half, returning to the United States to teach mountaineering and outdoor skills for the Colorado and Southwest Outward Bound Schools. In 1979, Mr. Haynes returned to school, earning a master’s degree in Biology in 1982 and a master's degree in English in 1986 from Humboldt State University.
After teaching composition, biology, and math in the community college system for a few years, Mr. Haynes joined the University of California, Davis writing program in 1989. In the University Writing Program, he has taught a range of courses, specializing in writing in the biological sciences, technical writing, and writing in the legal profession. Mr. Haynes teaches an English grammar course that is a crucial component of the teaching emphasis in the English Department. He created and taught two courses for the Integrated Studies Program, one entitled "The Worlds of James Joyce" and one entitled "Science in the Renaissance." He also worked for many years in the Writing in the Disciplines Workshop Program, working with faculty and TAs across campus on ways to teach more effectively with writing, and he has presented workshops in various venues with the Gender Equity Workgroup to promote gender equity in the classroom. He has also taken students to Australia through the Summer Sessions Abroad program.
Mr. Haynes continually receives strong marks on his student evaluations. The students especially acknowledge his design of challenging assignments, encouragement of class participation, constructive comments on their papers, helpful examples of good writing, and ability to enhance their understanding of what makes writing effective. Mr. Haynes credits much of his approach to research that he has studied on the cognitive development of college students.
Using the theories that he has garnered from his studies, he has created techniques for enhancing students’ cognitive development that are an important part of his courses. Mr. Haynes says that with the theoretical basis of the cognitive development process, he is able to listen more closely to what each student says and writes and to understand what each student can do, when he or she needs to be pushed, and in what direction the push should be exerted. According to one of his students, Mr. Haynes “models the mastery he demands and constructs a course that fulfills his promise to challenge students to think 'both inside and outside the box.'”
In order for his students to meet his high demands, Mr. Haynes makes his expectations clear, provides illustrative examples, writes constructive comments on papers, and is sympathetic, accessible and fair. His students describe his class as a “comfortable learning environment” that is also “fun” and “enjoyable” due to Mr. Haynes' relaxed manner and good sense of humor. Across the wide range of specialized courses that he teaches, students consistently praise his command of the subject, his knowledge, and his communication skills.