[1][2] Strong then returned to Yale University to obtain a Ph.D in 1897 with his dissertation Cromwell's colonial and foreign policy, with special reference to the West Indies expedition of 1654-5.

There he received the John Addison Porter Prize and was lecturer in United States history from 1897-1899.

Strong stormed onto campus declaring that KU was woefully inadequate and that much more money was needed.

In return, KU would graduate students capable of solving the state's economic and industrial problems, he said.

He won increased funding and founded the schools of education, journalism and medicine and expanded extension programs.