On a cold, gray day, what could possibly be more pleasant than a refreshing dip in a hot tub? How about rinsing your mouth out with the bath water? Students Julian Sundavan and Vladimir Yastrebaff clown during a hot-tubathon last Friday. The event, sponsored by the National Residence Hall Association, raised $1,000 for Habitat for Humanity.

Photo by Richard Wright

Grant Will Help Build $3M Endowment

Quilt Center Sews Up $450K NEH Challenge Grant

By Peg Strain, Public Relations

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $450,000 challenge grant to the International Quilt Study Center to support academic and public humanities programming and research of the center.

Matching funds from private donors will be sought during the next five years to build a $3 million endowment for the world's largest publicly owned quilt collection.

The permanent endowment would increase public access to the $6 million collection and allow the center to provide national and global leadership in academic programs, research, exhibition and public programming about American quilt and quilt-making traditions, said Patricia Crews, director of the International Quilt Study Center.

"It affirms the vision that we have for the center and indicates to Nebraska and the nation the support that this center has earned. This will move our fund raising efforts to a higher level," Crews said of the center, which is operated by a small staff.

The endowment and matching funds will allow the center to make acquisitions and properly care for the collection in perpetuity. The grant also will help develop and maintain significant academic and public humanities programming. Research of American and European quilt-making traditions in social, artistic, spiritual, political and technological arenas are another benefit.

"NEH challenge grants are essential to the health of the humanities in America," said NEH Chairman William Ferris in Washington. "They have a multiplier effect by enabling organizations to raise many times the amount of the grant for humanities projects of national significance. Using a challenge grant as seed money, an institution can offer private donors the incentive of having the impact of their contributions enhanced by federal funds. This crucial partnership between the public and private sectors enables institutions nationwide to secure their humanities programs far into the future."

The International Quilt Study Center was established in 1997 following the donation of a highly regarded quilt collection of former Nebraskans Robert and Ardis James of New York. The center is housed in the textiles, clothing and design department of the Home Economics building on the East Campus. The department has a national reputation for the fine quality of its faculty and programs. The department was ranked among the top five most productive units in the nation by the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal in 1996.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1965 and is the largest funding source for U.S. humanities programs. Grants made through the challenge program, requiring $4 in matching funds for each federal dollar, have generated more than $1.2 billion in private-sector support for America's libraries, colleges, museums, historic sites and other eligible institutions since the program began in 1977.

NU Research Finds Gender, Sport Differences in Taking Supplements

By Molly Klocksin, IANR News

University of Nebraska-Lincoln varsity athletes have different nutritional supplement-taking habits, depending on gender and sport, research shows.

Judy Driskell, a nutritional scientist in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said female athletes are more likely to take vitamin and mineral supplements than their male counterparts.

More than 90 percent of all Cornhusker varsity athletes participated in the study. About 57 percent of participants reported taking supplements. They reported most often taking multi-vitamins with minerals, followed by vitamin C, multi-vitamins without minerals, B-complex vitamins and calcium.

"Most athletes who took a supplement took a multi-vitamin plus minerals. Some took multi-vitamins without minerals," Driskell said. "They're cheaper."

Researchers wanted to learn what supplements NU varsity athletes take and why, she said. Driskell and David Ellis, coordinator of performance nutrition for the university's athletic department, and nutrition science graduate student Chad Krumbach found several differences.

Females were about 2.5 times more likely to take calcium and about 5 times more likely to take iron supplements than males.

"It's smart for (women) to take calcium supplements," she said. "They need it to maintain bone density. They also need more iron. It's difficult to get the recommended amount of iron in your diet if you're female, especially if you don't like organ meats and greens."

Females reported taking multi-vitamins plus minerals most frequently followed by vitamin C, multi-vitamins without minerals, calcium and iron. Males reported taking multi-vitamins with minerals most often, followed by vitamin C, multi-vitamins and B-complex vitamins.

Men were about twice as likely as women to take supplements for improving athletic performance. Forty-three percent of men took supplements for this purpose, compared to about 19 percent of women. Men were five times more likely to take supplements to build muscle. About 36 percent of men took supplements for this purpose, compared to 7 percent of women.

Driskell said the gender differences related to performance surprised her.

"These women want to be good at their sport," she said. "They are not varsity wannabes. They are on the varsity team."

Nearly 40 percent of females and more than 25 percent of males said they didn't take supplements because they ate adequate diets.

"They think their diet is adequate in vitamins and minerals," Driskell said.

The study found differences in supplement-taking among varsity teams.

For example, 61 percent of varsity football players took multi-vitamins plus minerals, compared to 80 percent of males on other Cornhusker varsity teams. About 28 percent of football players reported taking multi-vitamins without minerals, compared to nearly 11 percent of other varsity males.

NU's athletic department provides performance nutritionists, coaches, trainers and physicians free to varsity athletes. Football players were significantly more likely to seek dietary information from nutritionists or dietitians, while males on other varsity teams were significantly more likely to consult coaches and trainers, the researchers found.

"Some of it is simply logistics," Ellis said. For example, all varsity athletes can eat and consult with nutritionists and dietitians at the university's Hewit Center in Memorial Stadium. For varsity golfers or tennis players practicing off-campus, eating there often is inconvenient, he said.

Semantics matter, too, Ellis said. Some athletes don't distinguish among titles such as coach, trainer or nutritionist. "To some, we're all coaches."

Results show nutritionists, coaches and trainers should work together to provide dietary and supplement advice to varsity athletes, Driskell said.

The Nebraska study involved 145 females and 266 males. About 80 percent of participants were Caucasian. The study found no significant ethnic differences in the athlete's decisions about taking supplements. Driskell said she wants to expand the research to include other Big 12 universities to further examine potential ethnic differences.

Weekend warriors can learn from this study that licensed medical nutritional therapists or registered dietitians are the best place to start for sports nutrition information, Ellis said. "They're just like doctors - they specialize."

The study was funded by IANR's Agricultural Research Division and NU's athletic department.

Ideas Sought to Celebrate Centennial of Grad Education

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of graduate education and research on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, a committee has been appointed to help develop and promote events and activities.

The Centennial Committee for Graduate Education and Research is seeking ideas and comments from faculty and staff for activities that could occur during the spring semester of academic year 1999-2000.

The committee, appointed by Richard Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, is co-chaired by Martin Massengale, Center for Grassland Studies, and James Stubbendieck, Center for Great Plains Studies. Other members of the committee are Merlin Lawson, Ed Schmidt, Jim Estes, Royce Ballinger, Susan Rosowski and Rich Sutton.

Nebraska was the first university west of the Mississippi River to confer graduate degrees, Massengale said. This milestone in the history of the institution is well worth marking, he said.

Stubbendieck added, "We do want to celebrate the past but we also want to look into the future. There are many changes in graduate education coming up."

Stubbendieck said that the committee is hoping for a number of ideas to help mark the occasion. Funding will be available, he said.

Among suggestions, both said, would be departmental celebrations, alumni lectures, graduate student symposia, a universitywide symposium or a new graduate stipend tied to the centennial celebration.

Both emphasized that nothing concrete has been planned and that the committee welcomes input and ideas from faculty.

Ideas can be sent to either Massengale or Stubbendieck or any other committee members. The committee asks that responses be sent by Feb. 16, 1999.