Last week, Kent State anthropology professor C. Owen Lovejoy, along with a team of scientists, made a pretty huge discovery. Not only was the oldest, most complete hominid fossil, named “Ardi,” an incredible find (not found by Lovejoy), but what these scientists explained through it was even more amazing: We may not have evolved from apes.

Such a discovery changes so much of what we know. At the very least, a great number of textbooks will have to be tweaked. We send Lovejoy an enormous congratulations – but we would also like to send him an even more personal “thank you.”

Kent State has made few national headlines in the past. Some of them, however, have been more bad news than good news (see: May 4, and College Fest). But now we have something better to show, and it’s international to top it all off.

Perhaps now when we all go to get jobs we can hear possible employers say “Hey! Kent State – that’s where the concept of evolution was turned on its head!” instead of some reference to Kent State being where “those kids were shot.” Some of us may even be lucky enough to say we knew Lovejoy.

It’s also reinforcement of the idea that Kent State has some of the best of the best. We don’t just have any professors; we have professors who make a difference in the world and even a difference in history. To attend a school where a professor’s work ends up on the front page of the New York Times should make you feel a wave of pride for these halls. History was made right under our noses.

We’d also like to attract a little attention to the hierarchy here at Kent State: Don’t cut professors’ funding for research. Keep encouraging faculty to apply for research grants. If we don’t have research funds, we won’t have another Lovejoy to applaud. More importantly, we won’t have another Lovejoy to make history-altering discoveries. We won’t have the front page of the New York Times.

And students – this also may be a word of advice for you: Next time you feel the need to complain about one of your professors, just remember he or she may be the person who discovers a cure for cancer. You should feel lucky the professor takes the time to give you some of his or her knowledge.