Pope Pius XI appointed Bishop Beckman Archbishop of Dubuque on January 17, 1930. Beckman shepherded the church through the Great Depression and World War II. During his tenure as archbishop the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Holy Name Societies, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Conference on Industrial Relations, and the Catholic Youth Organization grew with his support. The Catholic Student's Mission Crusade, which he founded while in Cincinnati, held its 1935 convention in Dubuque. In 1939 the archdiocese's Columbia College in Dubuque was renamed Loras College in honor of Dubuque's first bishop, Mathias Loras.