Ice cream holds a special place in the hearth of Nebraska’s Jeff Gold.
When he was an undergraduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., the University of Nebraska system president got to know a fellow student, Robin Hayworth, while scooping ice cream at Maxwell’s on the university’s north campus. He and Robin eventually married, and to this day, they still celebrate special occasions with ice cream sundaes.
“We just celebrated our 50th anniversary this August, and that gave us an opportunity to reflect on how we first met – which meant ice cream was part of that celebration,” Dr. Gold said.
It was extra fitting, then, that an ice cream flavor for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Dairy Store be named in his honor.
That flavor is a white mint ice cream with chocolate chunks and fudge swirl named “Heart of Gold” – a nod to Gold’s training and career as pediatric heart surgeon before becoming a leader in higher education.
While ice cream holds personal meaning for Gold, it also occupies an important place in NU history. The UNL Dairy Store has been a campus fixture for more than 100 years. It started selling all-you-can-drink milk to students for a nickel, before eventually branching out into other products, including cheese, meats and ice cream.
Today, Dairy Store ice cream flavors are developed, tested and produced at the UNL Dairy Plant, part of the Food Processing Center on UNL’s Innovation Campus. For decades, students in the Food Science and Technology department have helped make the ice cream, providing them with valuable, hands-on experience that has translated to internships and careers.
“The university is important to producers in Nebraska; the dairy industry relies on a workforce who is educated at UNL,” said Kris Bousquet, executive director for the Nebraska State Dairy Association. “In addition, we use research from the university to make sure that producers are doing the best work they can, based on new scientific evidence.”
Dairy Store ice cream also connects the university to Nebraskans. Prospective Huskerss stop at the Dairy Store on campus tours, and alumni visit on game days. A mobile Dairy Store is a fixture at events across the state, including the Nebraska State Fair and Husker Harvest Days. The Dairy Store also connects customers to Nebraska dairy producers through an interactive display right on campus.
“The store is an icon — from first dates and study breaks to wedding proposals and birthday celebrations,” said Nick Pace, interim dean of UNL’s College of Education and Human Science.
Heart of Gold is available for purchase, along with a host of other flavors, at the UNL Dairy Store in the East Campus Visitors Center.
