During his tenure as President of the Ohio State University, Bevis, having served as a civilian in ordnance and the legal section of the Air Service, refused to cap the number of veterans admitted under the GI Bill, as other colleges had done. Despite the wishes of many on the faculty, enrollment grew from 12,000 in 1946 to 26,000 a year later.[2] President Eisenhower appointed him as chair of the Committee on Scientists and Engineers, which sat from 1956 to 1958. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985.[3]
Bevis Hall on Ohio State's Columbus campus is named in his honor.
^Sutton, Robert (December 7, 1983). "Interview with William Guthrie". OSU Oral History. Ohio State University Archives. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006. Retrieved November 3, 2006.