Pam Buck had what seemed to be a classically glamorous life, but she sought a new direction. That led her to UAlbany and a fresh achievement: graduating summa cum laude in the class of 2007.
A former Ford model, fluent in six languages, and a world traveler, Buck directed the New York City office of a non-profit AIDS prevention program for sub-Saharan Africa before coming to Albany in 2005. It was this work that led her to study clinical psychology in pursuit of a career in health psychology.

A single mother of four-year-old twins who commuted to Albany from Bennington, Vt., Buck next enters the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at Duke University. She credits her confidence in making life changes to her parents. "To them, anything was possible, you just have to do it," she said.

She was allowed to travel to Quebec at 13, Mexico at 14, Venezuela at 15, and France at 16. She began Spanish, French, Latin, and Portuguese before the age of 18, and then added German, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Mandarin, and Russian. Buck also played violin and piano, was part of a European dance company, acted on film and TV, recorded two top-20 songs in Europe, and earned a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

At UAlbany, she found "tremendously interesting, brilliant, creative, and supportive faculty members, including my mentor, Dr. Sharon Danoff-Burg. They have changed my life, and guided me on my way toward my goal," said Buck.