On May 12, 2019, La Follette School Director and Professor Susan Webb Yackee announced the transformative $10 million gift from Senator Herb Kohl during the La Follette graduation ceremony in the Wisconsin State Capitol.
Dubbed the Kohl Initiative, Sen. Kohl’s gift aimed to expand La Follette’s public outreach mission, advance the training of future public leaders, and support influential research by faculty and students.
Six years later, it remains one of the most consequential moments in the La Follette School’s illustrious 40-year history.
“Each year since the initiative’s inception has brought new and unexpected achievements made possible thanks to Sen. Kohl’s generosity,” Yackee says. “However, this may have been the most impactful year of the Kohl Initiative yet, and I think he would be proud of what we accomplished in 2024-25.”
Here are some highlights of the Kohl Initiative in 2024-25:
La Follette goes to Main Street
- La Follette undertook an ambitious, multifaceted campaign called the Main Street Agenda. This took faculty, staff and students across the state in fall 2024 for six in-person events that brought more than 450 Wisconsinites together to practice and promote civil dialogue.
- The Main Street Agenda also included a year-long print campaign in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Ideas Lab, with a different La Follette faculty member authoring an opinion piece each month on issues that Wisconsinites had identified as their most pressing concerns during the run-up to the 2024 election.
Former Ambassador to the UN models civility and diplomacy
- In April 2025, La Follette hosted former Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, for a series of events promoting civil discourse, diplomacy, and policy. The UW-Madison alum met with students, campus leaders, and members of the public, sharing lessons and experiences from her impressive career in the U.S. government along the way.
- Nearly 500 people attended the public talk, where the ambassador discussed the biggest challenges facing international diplomacy, the art of negotiation, the importance of approaching public service with humility and compassion, and more.
Increased opportunities for future public policy leaders
- A record number of students attended the biennial spring trip to Washington D.C. to visit public, private, and nonprofit organizations working in public policy.
- Influential policymakers as varied as Rep. Travis Tranel, Sen. Howard Marklein, Rep. Tony Kurtz, DATCP Sec. Randy Romanski, Col. Raul Rodríguez-Medellin of the U.S. Cyber Command, Justice Jill Karofsky, Professor Bob Pollin, and Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited La Follette classes for guest lectures or discussions.
- La Follette also offered a new undergraduate course taught by Amber Wichowsky called “Advancing Public Policy in a Divided America” aimed at helping students to think about public policy as part of everyday life, build critical thinking skills, and encourage civic engagement and dialogue.
Expanding La Follette’s roster and research
- Wichowsky is among several new faculty members to join La Follette for the 2024-25 academic year. La Follette also welcomed Silvia Helena Barcellos and Jason Delborne. The school will welcome another trio of new faculty in fall 2026: Katherine Richard, Sarah Strochak, and Jian Xu.
- Meanwhile, the Kohl Competition continues to fund impactful La Follette research steeped in the Wisconsin Idea. With Kohl support, Professor Manny Teodoro released the Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Project, a first-of-its-kind water utility report card for all 570+ Wisconsin water utilities.
- In spring 2025, the Kohl Competition awarded the latest round of funding to support cutting-edge, impactful research by Héctor Pifarré i Arolas, Jason Fletcher, Yang Wang, and Ross Milton.
“Sen. Kohl’s immense legacy of public service, civility, and dedication to improving the lives of Wisconsinites will live on in many ways, and we are honored at La Follette to be part of it,” Yackee says.