U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige today announced that Jeffrey R. Andrade has been sworn in as deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education.

"We are fortunate to have Jeff Andrade as part of our team," said Paige. "His experience is an asset that will prove especially helpful as we prepare for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act."

As deputy assistant secretary, Andrade will be responsible for student aid issues. He will also oversee the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, which supports projects to reform and improve postsecondary education, and he will be responsible for the offices of accreditation and state liaison, and budget analysis and forecasting.

Andrade most recently served the department as special assistant to the deputy secretary for higher education and student aid issues. In this capacity, he shepherded through negotiated rulemaking changes that will provide regulatory relief to the higher education community, schools, and students.

Prior to joining the department, Andrade headed his own consulting firm, which focused primarily on postsecondary and education finance issues. From 1998 to 2000, Andrade was director of regulatory and administrative affairs, at a Washington, D.C., law firm.

Andrade's extensive public service career at the Education Department spanned more than 11 years, from 1987 to1998. While on detail from the department and subsequently as a professional staff member to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (1997-98), Andrade worked on, among other issues, legislation to create the federal government's first performance-based organization, the department's office of Federal Student Assistance.

During his previous career at the department, Andrade received numerous awards for his work on matters related to student aid budget and policy.

He has a bachelor's degree from the American University, where he was a Pell Grant recipient and member of the national board of directors of the U.S. Student Association. Andrade was born in New Bedford, Mass., and grew up in nearby East Freetown.

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