With a gift honoring Sen. Herb Kohl’s legacy, Music Hall to be renamed and serve as future home of La Follette School
The gift from Herb Kohl Philanthropies, totaling $30 million, dedicates $10 million to support ongoing programming and $20 million for building renovations.
Herb Kohl Philanthropies has announced a pledge to extend the late Sen. Herb Kohl’s longstanding support of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs with a historic $30 million lead private gift. The gift will support programming and renovations to UW–Madison’s Music Hall, which will serve as La Follette’s future home under the new name of Herb Kohl Hall.
With the transformational gift and additional funding support from UW–Madison, La Follette will be able to create a state-of-the-art home in a newly renovated Herb Kohl Hall. This will enable more of the rapidly growing community of La Follette students, staff and faculty to come together to learn, collaborate and engage. Herb Kohl Hall is expected to open in 2029.
The move comes as La Follette, home to a highly regarded graduate program for more than 40 years within the College of Letters & Science, undergoes rapid expansion. In fall 2026, the school will introduce a highly anticipated undergraduate major that is expected to enroll as many as 400 students within five years, putting it in the top 10% of all majors on campus.
”Renaming historic Music Hall to Herb Kohl Hall serves as a lasting testament to Sen. Kohl’s lifelong support of UW–Madison, his deep commitment to public service and an ethos of civility in public debate and policymaking,” says UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin. “It also serves as a reminder, especially at this polarized moment, of the importance of listening to and learning from one another and engaging across our differences.”
The late Sen. Kohl was dedicated to his alma mater, supported education across the state and spent decades serving public policy. The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved the name change on February 6, 2026.
“We are so incredibly grateful to Herb Kohl Philanthropies for this historic gift that further cements Sen. Kohl’s legacy on campus while helping us usher in an exciting new era for the La Follette School,” says Susan Yackee, the school’s director. “Senator Kohl made a truly profound impact on the state of Wisconsin, UW–Madison and the La Follette School. I can’t think of a better way to honor him than by naming one of the most beautiful, historic and recognizable buildings on campus after him.”
Since the La Follette School started in 1984, it has occupied the Observatory Hill Office Building at 1225 Observatory Drive, which once served as the university president’s home. The school currently operates across 28 campus locations, dispersing students, faculty and staff. With the addition of the new major, La Follette is expected to grow significantly by 2029 and the move to Herb Kohl Hall will ensure student, faculty and staff needs are better met.
Renovations to the interior of Herb Kohl Hall will create a hub of connection and civil discussion, providing a one-stop shop for La Follette students. There, they will have access to advisors, welcoming study spaces, updated collaborative commons, and a classroom space that can accommodate a growing student population.
The updates will modernize the interior of Herb Kohl Hall while maintaining the building’s character, blending new with old. The exterior of the 146-year-old building will remain intact; it remains one of UW–Madison’s oldest and most recognizable.
Even prior to this gift, Sen. Kohl has been a key figure in La Follette’s recent growth. Until 2019, La Follette did not teach undergraduate students. Sen. Kohl’s $10 million gift that year enabled La Follette to expand programming and offer an undergraduate certificate in public policy in 2019 and another in health policy in 2022.
The certificates quickly became some of the most popular on campus. To date, the school has awarded nearly 800 certificates and more than 1,000 students enrolled in its undergraduate courses during the 2024-25 academic year.
The certificates’ popularity also underscored the demand for an undergraduate major on campus. In fact, 85% of certificate students surveyed by La Follette report that they would have declared the major if it had been available.
To keep pace with student growth, La Follette has also doubled the size of its faculty since 2019, with several more hires expected to begin next year.
“Sen. Kohl was possibly the La Follette School’s biggest fan,” says Chuck Pruitt, a member of Herb Kohl Philanthropies’ Board of Directors, a member of the La Follette School’s Board of Visitors, and co-managing director of the firm ABD Direct. “He took a great deal of pride in the fact that his support helped them expand their educational programming and send more bright, capable and caring Badgers into the world of policymaking armed with a world-class La Follette education.”
“This latest gift will ensure that La Follette can build off the immense momentum of Sen. Kohl’s previous support, and we are so proud to continue his legacy at La Follette and UW–Madison,” says JoAnne Anton, president and CEO of Herb Kohl Philanthropies and a member of the La Follette School’s Board of Visitors. “This is a significant step toward fully realizing the senator’s ambitious vision for La Follette, and I cannot wait to see the doors of Herb Kohl Hall officially open in 2029.”
In addition to housing the growing La Follette community and serving the school’s evolving programming, Herb Kohl Hall will also return the building, originally called Assembly Hall, to its roots as UW–Madison’s first campus building dedicated to large gatherings. The school will continue to host major speakers and conferences.
The building is centrally located and highly visible, and La Follette hopes to make its new home a vibrant, vital gathering space for key discussions about public policy issues and solutions, where diverse viewpoints are expected, debated and respected.
La Follette also plans to begin seeking funds this spring for an addition to Herb Kohl Hall that would add a new wing to the south side of the building. This addition would allow the school to bring its entire community — faculty, staff and students — under one roof.
