Poultry scientist Sheila Scheidler's patented feed system helps provide heart-healthy eggs to local grocers' shelves.

Agreement Makes NU's Omega Eggs Available at Hy-Vee Stores in Seven States

By Vicki Miller,IANR News and Publishing

Omega Eggs, produced using a patented University of Nebraska management system, will be available beginning this week at Hy-Vee supermarkets in seven states under a licensing agreement.

Omega Eggs are high in beneficial Omega 3 fatty acids and contain less saturated fat than conventional eggs. These eggs are produced by hens fed a patented diet that includes flax seed, a rich source of Omega 3 fatty acids. NU Poultry Scientist Sheila Scheideler developed the complete management program to economically produce eggs high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The university patented the system and holds the trademark on Omega Eggs.

Omega Eggs are available in the refrigerated sections of more than 200 Hy-Vee stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota through a licensing agreement between the university and Perishable Distributors of Iowa (PDI), a Hy-Vee subsidiary and refrigerated section supplier. An Iowa egg producer produces Omega Eggs for PDI using NU's patented management system.

Omega Eggs look, taste and cook like regular white eggs, Scheideler said. It's what's inside that's different. They contain 350 milligrams of Omega 3 fatty acids compared with 60 milligrams in regular eggs. Thanks to the hens' Omega 3-rich rations, these eggs also have 180 milligrams of cholesterol compared with about 215 milligrams in regular eggs and a third less saturated fat, Scheideler said.

Omega 3s are known to reduce several heart disease risk factors yet many Americans don't eat diets rich in these beneficial fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids increase the ratio of good (HDL) to bad (LDL) cholesterol in blood and decrease occurrence of blood clots and arrhythmias, research indicates.

"Two Omega Eggs provide the same amount of Omega 3 fatty acids as a 3-ounce serving of salmon," a major source of Omega 3s, Scheideler said.

A study by NU Nutrition Scientist Nancy Lewis found that people with high cholesterol levels who ate two Omega Eggs a day, six days a week, decreased their serum triglyceride levels by 14 percent and their cholesterol levels didn't increase. High triglyceride levels are a heart disease risk factor.

For Scheideler, commercialization has been a long time coming.

"For five years, I've had countless calls from people in Nebraska and other states asking where they can get these eggs. I can finally tell them that they're available at their local supermarket," she said. Stories about Scheideler's research generated consumer interest over the years but the eggs were only available at the university's dairy store, where they'll continue to be sold in limited quantities.

"We're very excited about this license because it will get these eggs out to a multi-state area," she said. "This is an example of NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources research being made available to consumers. Our agricultural research doesn't just benefit farmers consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries."

She began researching how to economically produce eggs rich in Omega 3 fatty acids after North Dakota flax producers contacted her about the potential for using flax in poultry feed.

"The more I read about Omega 3s, the more excited I became about the potential for producing eggs rich in these beneficial fatty acids," she explained. Earlier studies showed adjusting hens' diets could boost eggs' Omega 3 content, but Scheideler was the first in the United States to develop an economical, complete system for producing Omega Eggs.

Scheideler's management system covers every step of Omega Egg production, from the hens' genetics and feed preparation for the entire 60-week production cycle, to management and quality control. She works with egg production site managers to make sure the patent is being correctly implemented.

"We've developed a sound program from start to finish that provides good nutrition for the chickens, produces a consistent nutritional product and addresses food safety issues," she explained.

The university continues to seek licensing agreements that would make Omega Eggs produced with the NU management program available in parts of Nebraska and in other states not served by Hy-Vee.

This research was conducted through the university's Agricultural Research Division and partly funded by the North Dakota Oil Seed Council and the U. S. Flax Institute.

Oliva Named Dean of Hixson-Lied College

Giacomo M. "Jack" Oliva, (shown at right), sprofessor and director of the School of Music at the University of Florida at Gainesville, has been named dean of UNL's Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Pending approval by the University of Nebraska board of regents, Oliva will become the college's third dean, replacing Richard Durst, who resigned last summer to become dean of the College of Art and Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. Lawrence Mallett, director of the School of Music, will continue to serve as interim dean of fine and performing arts until Oliva's term begins in June or July.

"We are very fortunate to have attracted Jack Oliva," said Richard Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "He is going to make an excellent dean for the college. With dynamic leadership and the new Hixson-Lied endowment, the future for this college is really exciting to contemplate."

The Hixson-Lied endowment was created by an $18 million gift announced in January 2000 to the University of Nebraska Foundation by Christina M. Hixson, sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust. The gift was the culmination of years of support offered to the university by Hixson and the Lied Foundation Trust, including $13 million in previous gifts benefiting the Lied Center for Performing Arts at UNL.

Oliva, who has been professor and director of the School of Music at Florida since 1992, said the endowment was one of the factors that drew him to Nebraska.

"One of the many things that reflect the quality of an institution is the way in which those external to the institution support it, and the Hixson-Lied endowment speaks in a major way to the quality of the college's programs and the importance of the college to the university and to the citizens of Nebraska," he said.

"I was very favorably impressed, too, with the level of commitment that the university has extended to help the college grow. It's a young college with strong programs and high-quality faculty and students. The college has great potential for continued growth and I am pleased and honored to have the opportunity to lead the college as it further defines its vision and moves itself forward.

After studying as a scholarship student at the Chatham Square Music School in New York City, Oliva earned his bachelor's degree cum laude (1971) in music education, his master's degree (1975) in applied music (piano) at Montclair (N.J.) State College and his Ed.D. in music education and administration (1980) at New York University. He taught in the New Jersey public schools for 12 years before becoming assistant professor and head of the department of music at Mississippi State University in Starkville. He remained head of the Mississippi State music department while rising to associate professor in 1986 and professor in 1991.

At Florida, he guided the development and implementation of a five-year strategic plan for the improvement of facilities, the revision and expansion of the curricula, the recruitment of new faculty and the overall enhancement of the School of Music's image in Florida and the southeastern United States. He negotiated the establishment of new full-time faculty lines in choral music, music history, strings, opera, low brass, theory and piano; and developed a successful proposal for the implementation last fall of a new doctoral degree in music.

Oliva is the second dean UNL has hired from Florida in the last year. Former UF architecture dean Wayne Drummond was named dean of the Nebraska College of Architecture in March.

The newest of UNL's 10 colleges, the College of Fine and Performing Arts was created by the board of regents in 1993. On Jan. 15, 2000, the regents voted to rename the college the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

UNL Chancellor Finalists' Interviews Scheduled

The two finalists for the position of UNL chancellor will participate in interviews in early March. William Hogan, a Minneapolis business owner and member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, will interview March 5 and 6. Interim UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman will interview March 6 and 7.

A reception will be scheduled for each candidate, to which UNL faculty and staff members, as well as members of the public, are invited. Both receptions will occur at Morrill Hall's Elephant Hall Gallery. The reception for Hogan will be from 4:30-5:45 p.m. March 5. The reception for Perlman will be from 4:30-5:45 p.m. March 6.

Each candidate will meet with NU President L. Dennis Smith and with members of the Board of Regents. Other groups meeting with the candidates will include university administrators, faculty, staff and students, and Nebraska business, agriculture and community leaders. The search committee that recommended the two finalists to Smith also will interview each candidate.

Nothing Special: Marie Speziale played through discrimination in 1964 to become the first female brass player in a major orchestra. Below: Speziale works with a new generation of musicians.

Getting the Gig Meant Passing Along Talents

By Kim Hachiya, Public Relations

Marie Speziale admits to doing "nothing special" during her career as a musician. A glance at her resume might back up that claim: a long career as a concert trumpeter along with teaching at the conservatory and university levels.

But consider this: Speziale is recognized as the first woman to earn a permanent full-time position as a brass player with a major orchestra. She snared that position in 1964, when fewer than 10 percent of musicians in orchestras were women. Now about a third of the musicians are women, although the exact percentage varies by organization.

Speziale, (SPETS-see-AH-lie) who was in Lincoln in January to play a concert with UNL trumpet professor Darryl White, had played with the Cincinnati Symhony Orchestra for two seasons without a contract. When a trumpet position opened, she applied, auditioned and won the chair.

"Now I feel like a pioneer," she said. "But not then. I do remember the disappointment and discouragement I felt because there were closed doors to me in taking auditions. I was denied the chance to audition because I was a woman."

She was told to not bother to apply to the St. Louis Symphony because the maestro refused to even listen to women, let alone hire them.

"Ironically, after I retired from Cincinnati (in 1996), I began playing a great deal with St. Louis," she said, where she filled in for a musician who got the spot for which she was denied an audition.

Speziale, now a professor of music at Indiana University, taught at her alma mater, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for a number of years.

The discrimination she encountered early in her career surprised her, she said, because her upbringing in the tight-knit Cuban/Italian community of Ybor City, Fla., was supportive of her desire to make music.

Her Italian parents were cigar-rollers in one of Ybor City's many cigar factories and the Latin flavor of the community permeated her family. Her father, a self-taught pianist, had friends over to the house nearly every weekend to play Cuban conjunto music, the type of music popularized by the recent Buena Vista Social Club recordings.

Young Marie, playing a borrowed trumpet, won a spot on a newly formed elementary school band. The instructor, recognizing her enormous talent, steered her to private lessons, lessons which were quite a financial sacrifice for her parents.

Her father's band played in the many clubs and social halls in Ybor City, a neighborhood of Tampa, and her earliest performance occurred when her father invited her to the stage during a local dance to solo with the band.

She was about 11 years old, and the applause pointed her to a performance career. A high school stint at a summer music camp at Florida State University opened her ears to the joys of classical music and the possibility of study at a conservatory or music school.

During her January visit to Lincoln, Speziale taught a few master classes and tutored some individual students who study with White. He met Speziale through the International Women's Brass Conference, of which Speziale is president.

White said Speziale is a great role model for young musicians, and for himself. He said he enjoyed watching her teach because it reinforces his teaching habits and gave him some ideas on how to connect with students.

Speziale said teaching is more than just conveying information about notes on the page. A good teacher is a friend, mentor, psychologist and motivator, she said. She added that she benefited from just such a teacher when she was in high school, and she enjoys passing that gift along.

"It's just another one of life's experiences," she said. "I'm glad I got the gig. I'm more aware now that I helped the women who came after me. I've been blessed."