1. From this valley they say you are going, I will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile, For they say you are taking the sunshine, that brightens our pathways awhile. (CHORUS) Come and sit by my side if you love me, do not hasten to bid me a-dieu, but remember the Red River Valley, and the cowboy who loved you so true.

2. I’ve been thinking a long time, my darlin’, Of the sweet words you never would say, now, alas, all my fond hopes must vanish. For they say you are going away. Repeat Chorus: Come and sit by my side if you love me, do not hasten to bid me a-dieu, but remember the Red River Valley, and the cowboy who loved you so true.

3. Do you think of the valley you’re leaving? Oh, how lonely and sad it will be! Do you think of the kind hearts you’re breaking, and the pain you are causing to me? Repeat Chorus: Come and sit by my side if you love me, do not hasten to bid me a-dieu, but remember the Red River Valley, and the cowboy who loved you so true.

4. I have promised you, darlin’, that never, will a word from my lips cause you pain; And my life, it will be yours forever If you only will love me again. Repeat Chorus: Come and sit by my side if you love me, do not hasten to bid me a-dieu, but remember the Red River Valley, and the cowboy who loved you so true.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin,[1] Andrew Oliver, and other Founding Fathers of the United States.[2] It is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Membership in the academy is achieved through a thorough petition, review, and election process.[3] The academy's quarterly journal, Dædalus, is published by MIT Press on behalf of the academy.[4] The academy also conducts multidisciplinary public policy research.

The Academy was established by the Massachusetts legislature on May 4, 1780, charted in order "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people."[6] The sixty-two incorporating fellows represented varying interests and high standing in the political, professional, and commercial sectors of the state. The first class of new members, chosen by the Academy in 1781, included Benjamin Franklin and George Washington as well as several international honorary members. The initial volume of Academy Memoirs appeared in 1785, and the Proceedings followed in 1846. In the 1950s, the Academy launched its journal Daedalus, reflecting its commitment to a broader intellectual and socially-oriented program.[7]

Since the second half of the twentieth century, independent research has become a central focus of the Academy. In the late 1950s, arms control emerged as one of its signature concerns. The Academy also served as the catalyst in establishing the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. In the late 1990s, the Academy developed a new strategic plan, focusing on four major areas: science, technology, and global security; social policy and education; humanities and culture; and education. In 2002, the Academy established a visiting scholars program in association with Harvard University. More than 75 academic institutions from across the country have become Affiliates of the Academy to support this program and other Academy initiatives.[8]

The Academy has sponsored a number of awards and prizes,[9] throughout its history and has offered opportunities for fellowships and visiting scholars at the Academy.[10]

In July 2013, the Boston Globe exposed then president Leslie Berlowitz for falsifying her credentials, faking a doctorate, and consistently mistreating her staff.[11] Berlowitz subsequently resigned.

A college endowment refers to all the money that an institution receives in donations. However, endowment funds are not ‘no-questions-asked’ cash boosts for the college. Instead, endowments are tightly controlled investments that are supposed to be grown so that the interest can be used to upgrade facilities, hire new staff, provide scholarships or aid the college or its students in some way.

Over the past three decades, the total market value of the 20 largest college endowments has grown nearly tenfold — from $30.6 billion to $302.1 billion. As the size of college endowments has increased, so too has the debate over their purpose, management and ethical obligations.

To get a better idea of how college endowments have changed over the last 30 years, DegreeQuery looked at the market value of the 20 largest U.S. college endowments from 1990 to 2020.

30 Years of U.S. college endowments

Based on the most recent NACUBO survey of 810 universities, the total market value of endowments in 2018 was $624.3 billion. 48.3% of that is held by just 20 colleges. But why the huge growth in market value over the past 30 years? It might be something to do with how much of the endowment the university chooses to spend on operations or the return rates of the endowment’s investment portfolio. Due to their often wealthy donor base and long-term investment horizons, the largest university endowments can invest in a diverse array of asset classes, and often grow faster than the economy as a whole.

From 1990 to 2020, the market value of the 20 largest college endowments grew at an average annual rate of 8.5% — faster than the 6.6% average annual growth rate for the Fortune 500 over the same period. The universities with the fastest growth over the past 30 years include the University of Michigan, Duke University and the University of Notre Dame. Meanwhile, the endowments with the slowest growth include Emory University, Rice University and Washington University in St. Louis.

1. U.S. college endowments in the 1990s

From 1990 to 1999, the market value of the 20 largest U.S. college endowments grew at an average annual rate of 12.5% — the fastest of the last three decades. As you can see from our graph, over this period, the University of Michigan endowment rose from the 20th largest to the 17th largest, and the University of Pennsylvania rose from the 16th largest to the 12th largest. Meanwhile, the Columbia University endowment fell from the sixth-largest to the 11th largest. Although the University of Texas System endowment had the slowest growth of the 20 largest endowments over this period, it remained the second-largest endowment overall.

2. U.S. college endowments in the 2000s

Endowment growth is closely connected with the overall health of the economy. As of 2018, just 4% of endowment assets were held as cash, the rest invested in equities, fixed income instruments and alternative investment vehicles. In the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis — university endowments had increasingly invested in high-risk, illiquid investments like private equity, real estate and hedge funds. As a result, endowments lost tens of billions of dollars in value, with some schools losing more than 25% of their total endowment value. From 2008 to 2009, the total value of the 20 largest endowments fell 3.4%. Yale posted the largest percentage decline, losing 28.6% of its market value. Other university endowments that posted big losses from the recession include Harvard, Duke and Stanford.

3. U.S. college endowments in the 2010s

Endowment growth rates rebounded in the wake of the Great Recession, although growth was still slow compared to the 1990s. From 2010 to 2018, the market value of the 20 largest endowments grew at an average annual rate of 7.6%. This is more than the 3.5% average annual growth rate for 2000 to 2009, yet less than the 12.5% rate for 1990 to 1999. During this period, the biggest winners were the University of Pennsylvania, rising from 11th to 7th largest, and the Texas A&M University System, which rose from 10th to 8th largest. Lackluster performance at some of the wealthiest schools has prompted some universities to make major changes to their endowment management. In 2017, for example, Harvard announced it would lay off roughly half of its 230-person staff in the wake of poor investment performance.

As you can see, university endowments were big business over the past 30 years. Nowadays, students, policymakers and the general public are increasingly involved in the conversation surrounding their management, mission and societal impact. For example, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which imposed a 1.4% tax on the net investment income of the wealthiest endowments, recently sparked a wave of criticism from university administrators. Elsewhere on campus, protesting students demanded their universities divest from fossil fuel companies.

As the debate rages on and endowments continue to grow, these visualizations help us see how we got to this point.

Methodology

To get a better idea of how college endowments have changed over the last 30 years, DegreeQuery looked at the market value of the 20 largest U.S. college endowments from 1990 to 2018. Data on endowment asset value by university came from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and is unadjusted for inflation. In years when certain universities did not participate in the NACUBO survey, we estimated the endowment value based on the compound annual growth rate for all available years. Estimated figures include the market value of the endowment assets for the Texas A&M University System for 1990, as well as the market value of the endowment assets for the University of California system for the years 1990 through 1992.

SOURCES
Fortune 500. (n.d.) Fortune 500 2018. fortune.com
NACUBO. (2019). Detailed Asset Allocations for U.S. College and University Endowments and Affiliated Foundations, FY18. nacubo.org
Miller, C. & Fabrikant, G. (2008). Universities retrench as endowments suffer from financial crisis. nytimes.com
Humphreys, J. et al. (2010). Educational Endowments and the Financial Crisis: Social Costs and Systemic Risks in the Shadow Banking System. tellus.org
Plender, J. (2014). There is a history lesson to be learnt from Yale endowment. ft.com
Fabrikant, G. (2017). Harvard Makes Changes in Managing a Lagging Endowment. nytimes.com
Tax Policy Center. (n.d.). What is the tax treatment of college and university endowments? taxpolicycenter.org

Despite the car initially being built in 1885 in Germany, American manufacturers completely dominated the automotive industry of the mid-twentieth century. Applaud be to Henry Ford, who established the first conveyor assembly line for his Model T on December 1, 1913. This creation reduced the production time of one vehicle from 12 hours to an hour and 33 minutes, making it a lot cheaper. Ford’s goal was to make automobiles accessible to everyone, and he achieved it. Nowadays, around 91% of American households own at least one car. 

Suburbanization

Before vehicles became widely available, people who lived in the city worked in the city, while most of those who settled in the country were farmers. Now that it was possible to travel vast distances in a short amount of time, the thought of dwelling away from the bustling downtown while still being able to work there looked tempting. After World War II, many soldiers received an opportunity to live on their property in a single-family home, resulting in a baby boom and a surge in demand for tract houses. Seventy-seven million children had been born by the end of 1964. At that time, the suburbs were booming, with over a third of the population residing there. 

The American Road Trip

Cars turned into a symbol of personal freedom and independence, allowing us to travel throughout the nation at will. For many families, the famous American road trip is a ritual. The destination itself, often overlooked, holds little value, as that feeling of liberty and the ability to travel to any desired location in the country alongside your family and friends is what brings immense joy. The complex infrastructure designed around your car makes this activity even better.

New Business Categories

Many new businesses started along with the development of automobiles. Getting hungry in the middle of the trip stopped being a problem. Just hit the local drive-in or drive-thru where carhops, sometimes on roller skates, will take care of the food orders, letting you stay inside the car. After everyone is full and satisfied, the desire to watch a good movie kicks in. So, our next destination is the drive-in theater. This gigantic outdoor screen with a parking area next to it was popular in the 1950s, romanticized by TV series such as Happy Days, American Graffiti, and Grease. Once again, there was no need to leave the vehicle unless you wanted to get some snacks from the concession stand. On the way home, let’s stop at a mall for some shopping. It is convenient to have many different stores gathered for us in one place. However, the distance from the downtown is reasonable. That is why we have cars; otherwise, such shopping centers wouldn’t exist. 

Hot Rodding, Drag Racing, and NASCAR

Coming back home from a heartwarming, peaceful family trip, it feels like there is a need for something more out of your car. What if it could go faster? Solely add an enormous engine and get a fancy paint job, turning it into a hot rod. Hot rodding and drag racing are motorsports that gained popularity in the 1950s and remain relevant. Another is NASCAR, where racers compete on slightly tilted speedways using stock cars. It is, by the way, the second most spectated sport in the USA behind the NFL (National Football League).

We could write a book on the tremendous impact cars made on American culture and society. However, a piece of paper could never fully convey all the experiences, as every automobile becomes unique in our hands. At Tempus Logix, we offer auto transportation across the nation, no matter if it is a hot rod, a family van, or a tractor: so that your motor vehicle can always stay by your side. (Quelle:tempuslogix.com)

The Parthenon in Centennial Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was designed by architect William Crawford Smith and built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.

Today the Parthenon, which functions as an art museum, stands as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, a large public park just west of downtown Nashville. Alan LeQuire's 1990 re-creation of the Athena Parthenos statue in the naos (the east room of the main hall) is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. Since the building is complete and its decorations were polychromed (painted in colors) as close to the presumed original as possible, this replica of the original Parthenon in Athens serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture. The plaster replicas of the Parthenon Marbles found in the Treasury Room (the west room of the main hall) are direct casts of the original sculptures which adorned the pediments of the Athenian Parthenon, dating back to 438 BC. The surviving originals are housed in the British Museum in London and at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.