About Warner Pacific

Rev. Dr. Jay A. Barber

President from 1996 to 2008

Rev. Dr. Jay A. Barber became the sixth president of Warner Pacific College in 1996. Dr. Barber had previously been a Vice President at Warner Pacific College from 1981-1988. After leaving WPC the first time, he joined the Oregon Health and Science Foundation and was later appointed Director of the Foundation. Upon returning to WPC, one of Dr. Barber’s first goals was to reinstate the intercollegiate athletics program which had been discontinued in 1993. He hired alumnus Bart Valentine in 1999 to accomplish that goal. Under Dr. Barber’s leadership, WPC became completely debt-free for the first time in its 70-year history; the Degree Completion Program was re-branded as the Adult Degree Program and its enrollment increased; tuition and fees were able to be reduced by 23%; and the college also began a $5.5 million campus commons improvement project.

After retiring from Warner Pacific College in 2008, Dr. Barber continued to serve the Lord. He was appointed the first Senior Fellow with the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust; served as a teaching pastor for Sunset Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, Oregon; and elected mayor of Seaside, Oregon. During his lifetime, Dr. Barber has also served as board chair for Mercy Corps International; board chair for Helping Hands Reentry; board chair for Responder Life; board member of Mt. Hood Community College; and pastored a church in California.

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