UAH Professional Studies graduate Carl Buff turns 60, receives bachelor’s degree

Carl Buff
Carl Buff, who graduates in Professional Studies on May 4, 2023, returned to The University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2020 to finish his bachelor’s degree more than 30 years after his previous college experience.
Carl Buff

Carl Buff’s bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama in Huntsville is a big gift he’s receiving after a big birthday. He turns 60 this spring, and on May 4 he graduates in Professional Studies with an emphasis in technology, science and society and a minor in information systems.

Checking “college” off his bucket list is a personal victory for Buff.

“I think we can be worse about labeling ourselves, putting ourselves in a box,” he says of the doubts that often accompany a major life decision.

Younger daughter Katie, 9 at the start of her dad’s college journey, asked him, “Aren’t you too old?” But she was excited that he was making the leap.

When Buff enrolled at UAH in 2020, his employer made it easier, “providing 100% tuition reimbursement as long as you made a C.” As it turned out, grades weren’t a problem for Buff, who became a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society last year.

But Buff’s good grades came with a lot of work and worries.

“Thirty-some-odd years of not being in college hit me like several bricks,” he says. “It had been a long time since I had written a term paper. It had been a long time since I’d done math. My family has endured my self-doubts when I’d say I’m going to quit.”

Along with the support of his family, Buff is grateful for his academic adviser Kellee Crawford.

“Kellee has encouraged me and guided me and held my hand when I was crying,” he says. “I distinctly remember sitting in Kellee’s office and saying, ‘There is no way on God’s green Earth that I can do this.’ ‘Yes, you can,’ she said.”

Crawford laid out a three-year plan for Buff that included a math class to qualify for his minor. Older daughter Amanda and her husband Sam are both UAH graduates, and son-in-law Sam became a valuable resource.

“On Friday nights, Sam would come over and tutor me,” Buff says, adding that he reached his goal in the class.

Buff’s wife Laura is getting her master’s degree at UAH in secondary education with plans to become an elementary school teacher. She’s on track to graduate in December 2023.

“With both of us in school,” he says, “it’s been interesting.”

Now Buff has overcome all doubts, but his UAH bachelor’s degree doesn’t quite feel real yet.

“I don’t think it’s going to hit me till I walk that stage.”