Presidential ice cream flavor debuts at Nebraska State Fair UNL Dairy Store

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Dairy Store is a popular spot for lunch or an afternoon treat for many faculty, staff, students and community members. Most, though, don’t get the opportunity to have one of the Dairy Store’s ice cream flavors named after them – unless they happen to be the university president.

The Dairy Store’s newest ice cream flavor, “President Bounds Mississippi Mud,” is a salute to the home state of University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds, now rounding out his fifth month on the job. Mississippi Mud – a combination of rich chocolate ice cream with cookie pieces and sweet marshmallow bits, the result of several weeks of experimentation by Dairy Store staff – made its debut at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island and is currently available at both the fair, which ends Monday, and at the Dairy Store’s East Campus location in Lincoln.

“I’ve been amazed by the warm welcome Nebraskans have given me and my family, and this is just the latest example,” Bounds said. “I’m humbled that the Dairy Store made the effort to pay homage to my roots. Their work is a fun – and tasty – illustration of the creativity and energy at work across all four University of Nebraska campuses.” 

Bounds, his wife and two children – who got an early taste of the new flavor on Bounds’ birthday in July – will be at the State Fair on Sunday, where they’ll attend an ice cream social hosted by the Institute of Agricultural Natural Resources, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the CASNR Alumni Association, participate in a UNL pep rally, and tour exhibits, among other activities.

Fairgoers interested in getting a taste of Mississippi Mud can try it at the 4-H/FFA/Commercial Building. It will be available at the Dairy Store through September, joining about 15 other handmade ice cream flavors. 

The Dairy Store also offers more than 10 varieties of cheese, meats and a full menu of specialty coffee and espresso drinks. Founded in 1917, the store originally operated by providing dairy products to UNL dormitories and serving all-you-can-drink milk for a nickel to customers who bought cups. Today it is an educational facility for food science students who can invent and create products, learn in laboratories and conduct food industry research.

ABOUT PRESIDENT HANK BOUNDS

On April 13, 2015, Dr. Hank M. Bounds became the seventh president of the University of Nebraska. Bounds has spent his career working to change students’ lives in the same way education transformed his own life. He began as a high school teacher, then rose to principal, superintendent and state superintendent before becoming Mississippi’s commissioner of higher education, where he oversaw a complex system of eight public universities enrolling about 85,000 students. Bounds earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and a doctorate from the University of Mississippi. He and his wife, Susie, are the parents of a son, Will, and daughter, Caroline.