Martin B. Tracy, Ph.D. is a 1958 graduate of Murray Training School. He received a BA degree from Murray State University in 1965. He is the son of the late J. Albert and Alma Lee Tracy of Murray. Martin received his masters in political science and doctorate in social work from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. He served in the Peace Corps in Turkey and in the US Army. His academic positions have been with the University of Iowa, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Kentucky. He has held professional positions with the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of International Policy, the International Social Security Association, and the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations affiliate. He is widely published on social policy issues within an international context and is the recipient of numerous federal and private sector grants. His research has primarily focused on social security and policy issues related to vulnerable populations, especially the elderly and women, and on community-based social services in economically developing nations.
He and his wife, Patsy D. Tracy, Ph.D., owned Social Insurance Research International (SIRI) which provided training on social services and civil society to government and non-government personnel and various countries in South Eastern Europe. SIRI also participated in conducting educational programs in Samara and Togliatti, Russia, as well as in training workshops in Turkmenistan through the ILO and the United Nations Development Programme. Martin also conducted research and training in China, Costa Rica, India, and Malaysia. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the International Consortium for Social Development, and a Fellow of the Genealogical Society of America. He was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Social Work at the University of Bucharest, Romania. He has been a member of the Strategy Council of the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College. He lives with his wife in Murray, Kentucky.
