12/30/1991

Longtime Editor Stevenson Retires from Auburn University

AUBURN, Ala.—R.E. (Gene) Stevenson, longtime writer and editor in Auburn University's Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and head of the Department of Research Information will retire effective Dec. 31, according to an announcement by Lowell Frobish, Experiment Station director.

Stevenson joined the Auburn faculty in 1955, as an assistant editor in the Department of Research Information. In 1982, he was named editor and head of the Department, and in 1990 he was named as an assistant director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station.

A native of Harvest, Stevenson earned a bachelors degree in Agricultural Science from Auburn University, but discovered an interest in creative writing during his college studies. After graduation in 1951, he landed a job with Farm and Ranch Magazine in Nashville, where he remained until called back to active duty with the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict.

After discharge from the Navy, Stevenson was appointed as an assistant editor in the Department of Research Information (then Publications) in 1955. For the past 36 years he has played a key role in providing the information necessary for farmers and livestock producers in the state to fully utilize technology as it has developed. Through his editing of Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station publications and writing about research conducted at Auburn University, Stevenson has made the technology of agriculture not only available, but understandable and interesting.

During his tenure at Auburn, Stevenson worked on over 1,500 Agricultural Experiment Station publications, 144 issues of Highlights of Agricultual Research, a quarterly magazine published by the Experiment Station, and thousands of newspaper and magazine articles.

His retirement marks the end of the Ken Roy era at Auburn. Roy became the first writer/editor for the Agricultural Experiment Station in 1943 and was named head of the Publications Department when it was established in 1947. He was succeeded as Department Head by E.L. McGraw in 1968, and by Stevenson in 1982.

In addition to being a prolific writer and editor, Stevenson was an active member of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and the Communication Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS). He served as editor of ACE Quarterly and was a member of the Association's Board of Directors. He is currently vice-chairman of the SAAS Communications Section.

Stevenson is best known for his series of columns, "Research You Can Use," which appeared for nearly 30 years in Progressive Farmer magazine, and for his role in developing Highlights of Agricultural Research into one of the most widely read and respected quarterly research magazines in the United States.

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