When the Wisconsin State Legislature established the La Follette School of Public Affairs forty years ago, it was created to “advance the knowledge of public affairs and the application of that knowledge to the needs of the state” through its research, public service, and educational activities. The school’s founders imagined a place rooted in the Wisconsin Idea, the university’s century-long commitment to extend its expertise beyond the campus borders. Since that time, as the need for a nonpartisan institute that applies evidence-based policymaking to the most pressing challenges in Wisconsin and beyond has only grown, the La Follette School has grown along with it.
La Follette’s origins
Today’s La Follette School was built on the foundation of the Center for the Study of Public Policy and Administration, which was founded in 1967 by Professor Clara Penniman under the Department of Political Science. The center granted master’s degrees in public administration but did little traditional research and no applied research. In the early 1980s, Professor Dennis Dresang, who served as center director at the time, oversaw a Ford Foundation grant that allowed faculty across campus to research issues identified by lawmakers and agency leaders. The grant led to regular meetings of minds in downtown Madison, and these conversations informed the founding vision of the La Follette Institute, which was later renamed the La Follette School.
Two UW–Madison alumni led the efforts to rally legislators around the idea of creating the La Follette Institute: Tom Harnisch, who served in the Wisconsin Senate, and Tom Loftus, who served in the State Assembly and was a 1972 graduate of the Center for the Study of Public Policy and Administration. When the school was formally separated from the Department of Political Science in 1984, it was led by Dresang and was named after Robert M. La Follette. With a political career that spanned more than four decades and included stints as Wisconsin’s governor and a U.S. senator, La Follette is one of the most renowned political figures in the history of the state.
Living the Wisconsin Idea
With its own history now reaching four decades, La Follette’s namesake at UW–Madison has grown to become one of the leading public policy schools in the country, while continuing its focus on promoting nonpartisan policymaking through its education, research, and outreach programs. The school offers domestic and international master’s degrees in public affairs as well as certificates for undergraduate students, and over 3,000 La Follette graduates have gone on to influence policymaking at the highest levels in government, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations across the country and abroad.
La Follette’s award-winning faculty conduct research addressing key policy issues including poverty, the economy, climate technology, foreign policy, and health and aging. By regularly sharing their research with the public, media, and policymakers, La Follette scholars help inform critical public policy and governance debates. In the classroom and in the community, the school brings people together for productive, civil policy conversations and encourages political compromise.
Unprecedented growth
The La Follette School has grown at an immense rate in recent years, greatly expanding policy education and outreach on campus, thanks in large part to generous donations from former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl. In 2016, the school launched the Herb Kohl Public Service Research Competition, which supports nonpartisan faculty research, with a focus on sharing research with policymakers, practitioners, and others interested in solving pressing policy challenges.
A transformative $10 million donation from Senator Kohl – the largest gift in the school’s history – established the Kohl Initiative in 2019. The gift allowed the school to expand educational opportunities to undergraduate students through new certificates in public policy and health policy, which were launched in 2019 and 2021, respectively. The number of students enrolled in La Follette programs has increased five-fold in just the last five years, with 580 total students currently enrolled in the school’s undergraduate and graduate programs. The school is now home to 40 faculty, lecturers, and faculty emeriti; 21 staff members; and 20 Board of Visitors members who act as goodwill ambassadors for the school.
The Kohl Initiative also enabled the school to expand its outreach efforts. The school now hosts an annual La Follette Forum, which convenes policymakers and community leaders to share evidence-based research and thoughtfully debate timely public policy topics. Each semester, La Follette brings in high-profile speakers through programs like the Public Affairs Journalist in Residence. The La Follette School also has a long history of collaboration with legislators and policymakers, sharing research to inform decision-making and make a positive difference in people’s lives, and has redoubled efforts to strengthen connections between the university and the Capitol.
Looking forward: bridging political divides
The La Follette School embarks on its next chapter with a renewed focus on bridging political divides and an eye toward even more growth. The school continues to expand its outreach efforts to better inform and engage the public and policymakers through events and partnerships, with several special events planned in 2024 in celebration of its 40th anniversary.
In April, La Follette will hold a series of Spring Spotlight events to engage campus, local policymakers, and the community around the state of civil discourse in America. On the evening of Tuesday, April 16, New York Times columnist and podcast host Ezra Klein will join the school for a public presentation about his bestselling book, “Why We’re Polarized,” diving into what political polarization has done to electoral institutions, policymaking, and the media. Alumni and special guests will also be invited to an anniversary celebration ahead of the public lecture.
This year, the La Follette School is partnering with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on a year-long campaign to share how Wisconsinites feel about policy topics relevant to the 2024 election as part of the Main Street Agenda project. In this expanded version of the initiative, which was launched in 2022 with three public town halls leading up to the midterm elections, La Follette will feature insights on a different policy topic each month based on new statewide survey data from the WisconSays/La Follette Survey. In the fall, La Follette will host several in-person community conversations around the state, which will focus on civil dialogue in public policy.
A new undergraduate major and home
Building on the success of its undergraduate certificates, the La Follette School has recently taken the first steps toward creating UW–Madison’s first undergraduate public policy major, which will allow the school to train more students as 21st century leaders. The school will continue to expand its research breadth in 2024 with the hiring of five new faculty members. To house its growing number of students, faculty, and staff, La Follette is also exploring options for a new home on campus. These ambitious initiatives will enable the school to keep pace with the growing demand for public policy education and research.
Throughout its history, the La Follette School has embraced the Wisconsin Idea through research that informs better policymaking—both in our state and beyond—and by educating future policy leaders who have the skills to discover, critically examine, and preserve knowledge that will benefit our future society. With this strong foundation and with growing momentum, La Follette will play a major role in making the world a better place for future generations.
“We are at a turning point for Wisconsin and our university, and the La Follette School is ready to lead the way,” says La Follette School Director and Professor Susan Webb Yackee.