After more than two decades of advocacy on behalf of institutions of higher education, President David Skorton was honored Thursday with a national award for improving relations between government officials and state and land-grant universities.

In the middle of her chemistry lab, Kaitlin Hardy ’12 suddenly fell to the floor. When she woke up, she was inside an ambulance. It was another seizure — a symptom of her epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by repeated, spontaneous seizures.

The brain sends and receives messages using nerve cells called neurons, which communicate with each other by firing electrical impulses.

In 1968, Cornell students created the Student Homophile League, making Cornell the second university in the country to have a gay student organization. In the past 40 years, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender activism at Cornell has continued to evolve and support the LGBT community.

An exhibit in Olin Library titled “Queer Cornell: LGBT student activism, 1968-2008” opened on April 11. It displays quarter cards, flyers and pictures chronicling LGBT activism on campus since the SHL was created in 1968.