News: History

The La Follette School experienced a rebirth of sorts Wednesday. A graft from the long-standing, much-beloved President’s Oak was planted near Washburn Observatory during a ceremony celebrating both the future and the past.

Jamelle Bouie, chief political correspondent for Slate magazine, often looks to the past to explain the present.

The past holds the secrets of good leadership. Alum Jeff Appelquist believes this tenet so fervently he has built a business on it: Blue Knight History Seminars, LLC, a company that offers leadership and team development training centered on visits to great American battlefields.

Professor Pamela Herd appeared on Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now" in honor of Social Security's 75th anniversary.

La Follette School alum and author Leslie Albrecht Huber comments on the connected ancestry of President Obama and Sarah Palin in a Good Morning America sequence aired October 13.

Destinations and results are often unexpected, alum Leslie Albrecht Huber finds as she applies aspects of her La Follette training to her career as a freelance writer.

For Karen Holden, the question is often one of finding opportunity, whether to help a student broaden her professional experience, for an academic staff member of the university to serve as a principle investigator on a research project, or for a husband's pension plan to ensure the widow is taken care of.

A missive from the Wisconsin Secretary of State's office and another from the bank led to a donation to the La Follette School. When Carolyn Heinrich was going through files after taking office as director, she found an official notice that the La Follette Institute Alumni Association had been decertified. Then a bank statement appeared at the school showing a $491.01 balance for the association.

Twenty-five years ago they were juggling child care, jobs and commutes into Madison to attend their public affairs classes. Now, still drawn together by a love of political talk, the La Follette Lunch Bunch members pass around photos of grandchildren while they debate local and national politics and public policy.

Professor emeritus Clara Penniman, founder of the La Follette School's precursor, the Center for the Study of Public Policy and Administration, passed away Friday, January 30, at age 94.