Dr. John E. Weaver, who had been serving as the world director of Seventh-day Adventist education, was invited in 1950 to become the 14th president of Pacific Union College.

Described as “a pleasant Christian gentlemen,” Dr. Weaver, like a number of his predecessors at PUC, he had also been a president of Walla Walla College before his leadership of the world-wide system of Adventist schools and colleges. It fell to President Weaver’s lot to wrestle with readjustments that were made necessary due to a decreasing number of students who had served their country in World War II, and the arrival on campus of the so-called “war babies.”

Dr. Weaver also had to contend with a growing feeling among some faculty members that Pacific Union College should be an “elite” educational institution, restricting admissions to only those of highest intellectual potential. At a time of decreasing enrollment, such aspirations could not help but fall on deaf ears.

Having given of his best in leadership of PUC, Dr. Weaver in 1954 took leave of Howell Mountain to serve as head of the department of education at Washington Missionary College.