Mercer University and its President R. W. Weaver

Rufus Washington Weaver 1918-1927

• Educator, clergyman, author (1870-1947); A.B., M.A., Th.M., Th.D., D.D., LL.D. degrees; married to Charlotte Lewis Mason Payne (1911)
• Elected president in 1918 and chancellor of Mercer University system of colleges and secondary schools from 1920-1925
• Doubled the assets of the university and increased the annual income and student attendance
• Added four professional schools—theology, commerce, education, and journalism
• Built a dining hall with seating for 600 students, a home for the president, an apartment house for faculty, housing for forty married ministerial students with their families, and a new dormitory for sixty-five students, Gambrell Hall
• Known for his interests in reading and Backgammon, and for being a Democrat
• Proposed "The Mercer University Ideal" to be published in the annual catalogue: "Large Enough to Meet Every Standard, Small Enough to Meet Every Student"

First women graduates:

Mrs. W. E. Jackson, first woman to receive a degree (and a law degree) from Mercer University and president of the 1919 Senior Law Class.
In 1922 Mrs. L. G. Whitehorn was the first woman to receive the M. A. degree from Mercer University.
Caroline Patterson was the first woman to receive the A.B. degree from the university in 1923.