After finishing his studies at Yale, Beatty returned to Centre in 1836. He took the position he had accepted the year prior and became a professor of
chemistry and
natural philosophy. He spent five years in this post before resuming teaching his original two subjects in 1852, which he did for another twelve years. and the
Battle of Perryville, in October 1862. In 1863,
Abraham Lincoln appointed him to be a visitor to the
United States Military Academy in
West Point, New York. In 1866, he was awarded an honorary
Legum Doctor degree from
Princeton University. Beatty taught until the resignation of President
William L. Breckinridge in 1868. To fill the vacancy, Beatty was appointed president . After he served in the interim role for two years, the board of trustees unanimously elected him president of the college and professor of
metaphysics and
political science on September 1, 1870. In March 1873, the Falls City Tobacco Bank in
Louisville was robbed of $300,000 (); the result was the loss of nearly $100,000 () in uninsured bonds belonging to the college, leaving Centre's
endowment at only $33,000 (). A portion of the bonds, worth about $40,000 (), was recovered relatively quickly, and Beatty led an effort to replace the rest of the stolen money which succeeded in raising over $58,000 () from the community, church, and other nearby residents. The Ormond Beatty Prize was created by students and alumni in his honor in 1886, the fiftieth anniversary of his first year teaching at Centre. Former Congressman
John Finis Philips gave the address at the presentation. Beatty attempted on multiple occasions to resign from the presidency, submitting resignations on June 15 and November 30, 1886; the latter was accepted, but did not go into effect until a successor had been secured. Although the process was protracted,
William C. Young, son of former President John C. Young, was elected on June 19, 1888, to fill the role. In total, Beatty was the college's president for 18 years before leaving the office. In an effort to retain him as part of the faculty and prevent him from retiring from the college altogether, the trustees elected him to be professor of metaphysics. Beatty joined the
Danville Presbyterian Church in 1835 and was elected a ruling elder of the church in 1844; he held this position until the opening of the Second Presbyterian Church in 1852, at which point he took the same position there. He was also on the Board of Trustees of Caldwell College, later the
Kentucky College for Women, which was located in Danville. In 1882, he was elected to be the first president of the College Educational Association of Kentucky. ==Personal life and death==