Bush Appoints Undersecretary

President George W. Bush nominated Gale Buchanan as the undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the position, Buchanan will oversee the following agencies: the Agricultural Research Service; the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service; the Economic Research Service; and the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Buchanan received his bachelor?s and master?s degrees in agronomy from the University of Florida and a doctorate degree in plant physiology from Iowa State University.

He served for 21 years in the agronomy and soils department at Auburn University, ten years as dean and director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, ten years as associate director of the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station and residential director of the Coastal Plain Experiment Station.

Buchanan retired in 2005 after ten years as dean and director of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.