He is best known for initiating and completing the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, the centerpiece of Pitt's campus, over the objections of many faculty and community members.

He also established the University of Pittsburgh Press and oversaw the institution of controversial athletic policies that resulted in the resignation in popular head football coach Jock Sutherland.

[2] From Columbia, he worked at the newly founded Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Bowman was the first University of Iowa alumnus to become its President, as well as the school's first Iowa-born chief administrator.

The trustees named him President Honorarius and awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws.