title: Metric system

text: Metric systems have evolved since the 1790s, as science and technology have evolved, in providing a single universal measuring system. Before and in addition to the SI, some other examples of metric systems are the following: the MKS system of units and the MKSA systems, which are the direct forerunners of the SI; the centimetre–gram–second (CGS) system and its subtypes, the CGS electrostatic (cgs-esu) system, the CGS electromagnetic (cgs-emu) system, and their still-popular blend, the Gaussian system; the metre–tonne–second (MTS) system; and the gravitational metric systems, which can be based on either the metre or the centimetre, and either the gram(-force) or the kilogram(-force).


title: Metric system

text: The SI has been adopted as the official system of weights and measures by nearly all nations in the world.


title: Metric system

text: The French Revolution (1789–99) provided an opportunity for the French to reform their unwieldy and archaic system of many local weights and measures. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand championed a new system based on natural units, proposing to the French National Assembly in 1790 that such a system be developed. Talleyrand had ambitions that a new natural and standardised system would be embraced worldwide, and was keen to involve other countries in its development. Great Britain ignored invitations to co-operate, so the French Academy of Sciences decided in 1791 to go it alone and they set up a commission for the purpose. The commission decided that the standard of length should be based on the size of the Earth. They defined that length to be the 'metre' and its length as one ten-millionth of the length of an Earth quadrant, the length of the meridian arc on the Earth's surface from the equator to the north pole. In 1799, after the arc measurement had been surveyed, the new system was launched in France.


title: Metric system

text: The units of the metric system, originally taken from observable features of nature, are now defined by seven physical constants being given exact numerical values in terms of the units. In the modern form of the International System of Units (SI), the seven base units are: "metre" for length, "kilogram" for mass, "second" for time, "ampere" for electric current, "kelvin" for temperature, "candela" for luminous intensity and "mole" for amount of substance. These, together with their derived units, can measure any physical quantity. Derived units may have their own unit name, such as the watt (J/s) and lux (cd/m), or may just be expressed as combinations of base units, such as velocity (m/s) and acceleration (m/s).


title: Metric system

text: The metric system was designed to have properties that make it easy to use and widely applicable, including units based on the natural world, decimal ratios, prefixes for multiples and sub-multiples, and a structure of base and derived units. It is also a coherent system, which means that its units do not introduce conversion factors not already present in equations relating quantities. It has a property called "rationalisation" that eliminates certain constants of proportionality in equations of physics.


title: Metric system

text: The metric system is extensible, and new derived units are defined as needed in fields such as radiology and chemistry. For example, the katal, a derived unit for catalytic activity equivalent to one mole per second (1 mol/s), was added in 1999.


title: Metric system

text: Although the metric system has changed and developed since its inception, its basic concepts have hardly changed. Designed for transnational use, it consisted of a basic set of units of measurement, now known as base units. Derived units were built up from the base units using logical rather than empirical relationships while multiples and submultiples of both base and derived units were decimal-based and identified by a standard set of prefixes.


title: Metric system

text: The base units used in a measurement system must be realisable. Each of the definitions of the base units in the SI is accompanied by a defined "mise en pratique" [practical realisation] that describes in detail at least one way in which the base unit can be measured. Where possible, definitions of the base units were developed so that any laboratory equipped with proper instruments would be able to realise a standard without reliance on an artefact held by another country. In practice, such realisation is done under the auspices of a mutual acceptance arrangement.


title: Metric system

text: In the SI, the standard metre is defined as exactly of the distance that light travels in a second. The realisation of the metre depends in turn on precise realisation of the second. There are both astronomical observation methods and laboratory measurement methods that are used to realise units of the standard metre. Because the speed of light is now exactly defined in terms of the metre, more precise measurement of the speed of light does not result in a more accurate figure for its velocity in standard units, but rather a more accurate definition of the metre. The accuracy of the measured speed of light is considered to be within 1 m/s, and the realisation of the metre is within about 3 parts in , or a relative accuracy of .


title: Metric system

text: The kilogram was originally defined as the mass of one cubic decimetre of water at 4 °C, standardized as the mass of a man-made artefact of platinum–iridium held in a laboratory in France, which was used until a new definition was introduced in May 2019. Replicas made in 1879 at the time of the artefact's fabrication and distributed to signatories of the Metre Convention serve as "de facto" standards of mass in those countries. Additional replicas have been fabricated since as additional countries have joined the convention. The replicas were subject to periodic validation by comparison to the original, called the IPK. It became apparent that either the IPK or the replicas or both were deteriorating, and are no longer comparable: they had diverged by 50 μg since fabrication, so figuratively, the accuracy of the kilogram was no better than 5 parts in a hundred million or a relative accuracy of . The accepted redefinition of SI base units replaced the IPK with an exact definition of the Planck constant as expressed in SI units, which defines the kilogram in terms of fundamental constants.


title: Metric system

text: The metric system base units were originally adopted because they represented fundamental orthogonal dimensions of measurement corresponding to how we perceive nature: a spatial dimension, a time dimension, one for inertia, and later, a more subtle one for the dimension of an "invisible substance" known as electricity or more generally, electromagnetism. One and only one unit in each of these dimensions was defined, unlike older systems where multiple perceptual quantities with the same dimension were prevalent, like inches, feet and yards or ounces, pounds and tons. Units for other quantities like area and volume, which are also spatial dimensional quantities, were derived from the fundamental ones by logical relationships, so that a unit of square area for example, was the unit of length squared.


title: Metric system

text: Many derived units were already in use before and during the time the metric system evolved, because they represented convenient abstractions of whatever base units were defined for the system, especially in the sciences. So analogous units were scaled in terms of the units of the newly established metric system, and their names adopted into the system. Many of these were associated with electromagnetism. Other perceptual units, like volume, which were not defined in terms of base units, were incorporated into the system with definitions in the metric base units, so that the system remained simple. It grew in number of units, but the system retained a uniform structure.


title: Metric system

text: Some customary systems of weights and measures have duodecimal (base-12) ratios, which means quantities are divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. The temporal system of hour–minute–second has sexagesimal (base-60) ratios, which is divisible by an extra integer of 5 in addition to the divisors of 2, 3, 4, and 6 of the duodecimal ratios, which is actually also the half-day–hour ratio.


title: Metric system

text: However, these systems of measures rarely stick to one constant ratio. As mentioned above, the ratio of a day to an hour is 24, unequal to the hour-to-minute or the minute-to-second ratio of 60. Similarly, the foot-to-inch ratio is 12, which is fourfold of the yard-to-foot ratio. A stone is 14 pounds but a pound is 16 ounces. There is no system of notation for successive fractions in these units: for example, of of a stone is not an ounce or a multiple of any unit.


title: Metric system

text: Even though any system of counting in a constant ratio has the algebraic property of multiplicative closure (a fraction of a fraction, or a multiple of a fraction is a quantity in the system), the decimal ratios as the predominant counting ratios in most human societies. Naturally, a decimal radix became the ratio between unit sizes of the metric system. In the decimal system, of is , which is also within the same decimal system.


title: Metric system

text: A common set of decimal-based prefixes that have the effect of multiplication or division by an integer power of ten can be applied to units that are themselves too large or too small for practical use. The concept of using consistent classical (Latin or Greek) names for the prefixes was first proposed in a report by the French Revolutionary Commission on Weights and Measures in May 1793. The prefix "kilo", for example, is used to multiply the unit by 1000, and the prefix "milli" is to indicate a one-thousandth part of the unit. Thus the "kilogram" and "kilometre" are a thousand grams and metres respectively, and a "milligram" and "millimetre" are one thousandth of a gram and metre respectively. These relations can be written symbolically as:


title: Metric system

text: In the early days, multipliers that were positive powers of ten were given Greek-derived prefixes such as "kilo-" and "mega-", and those that were negative powers of ten were given Latin-derived prefixes such as "centi-" and "milli-". However, 1935 extensions to the prefix system did not follow this convention: the prefixes "nano-" and "micro-", for example have Greek roots. During the 19th century the prefix "myria-", derived from the Greek word μύριοι ("mýrioi"), was used as a multiplier for .


title: Metric system

text: When applying prefixes to derived units of area and volume that are expressed in terms of units of length squared or cubed, the square and cube operators are applied to the unit of length including the prefix, as illustrated below.


title: Metric system

text: Prefixes are not usually used to indicate multiples of a second greater than 1; the non-SI units of minute, hour and day are used instead. On the other hand, prefixes are used for multiples of the non-SI unit of volume, the litre (l, L) such as millilitres (ml).


title: Metric system

text: Each variant of the metric system has a degree of coherence—the derived units are directly related to the base units without the need for intermediate conversion factors. For example, in a coherent system the units of force, energy and power are chosen so that the equations


title: Metric system

text: hold without the introduction of unit conversion factors. Once a set of coherent units have been defined, other relationships in physics that use those units will automatically be true. Therefore, Einstein's mass–energy equation, , does not require extraneous constants when expressed in coherent units.


title: Metric system

text: The CGS system had two units of energy, the erg that was related to mechanics and the calorie that was related to thermal energy; so only one of them (the erg) could bear a coherent relationship to the base units. Coherence was a design aim of SI, which resulted in only one unit of energy being defined – the joule.


title: Metric system

text: Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism contained a factor relating to steradians, representative of the fact that electric charges and magnetic fields may be considered to emanate from a point and propagate equally in all directions, i.e. spherically. This factor appeared awkwardly in many equations of physics dealing with the dimensionality of electromagnetism and sometimes other things.


title: Metric system

text: A number of different metric system have been developed, all using the "Mètre des Archives" and "Kilogramme des Archives" (or their descendants) as their base units, but differing in the definitions of the various derived units.


title: Metric system

text: In 1832, Gauss used the astronomical second as a base unit in defining the gravitation of the earth, and together with the gram and millimetre, became the first system of mechanical units.


title: Metric system

text: The centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS) was the first coherent metric system, having been developed in the 1860s and promoted by Maxwell and Thomson. In 1874, this system was formally promoted by the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS). The system's characteristics are that density is expressed in , force expressed in dynes and mechanical energy in ergs. Thermal energy was defined in calories, one calorie being the energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water from 15.5 °C to 16.5 °C. The meeting also recognised two sets of units for electrical and magnetic properties – the electrostatic set of units and the electromagnetic set of units.


title: Metric system

text: The CGS units of electricity were cumbersome to work with. This was remedied at the 1893 International Electrical Congress held in Chicago by defining the "international" ampere and ohm using definitions based on the metre, kilogram and second.


title: Metric system

text: During the same period in which the CGS system was being extended to include electromagnetism, other systems were developed, distinguished by their choice of coherent base unit, including the Practical System of Electric Units, or QES (quad–eleventhgram–second) system, was being used. Here, the base units are the quad, equal to (approximately a quadrant of the earth's circumference), the eleventhgram, equal to , and the second. These were chosen so that the corresponding electrical units of potential difference, current and resistance had a convenient magnitude.


title: Metric system

text: In 1901, Giovanni Giorgi showed that by adding an electrical unit as a fourth base unit, the various anomalies in electromagnetic systems could be resolved. The metre–kilogram–second–coulomb (MKSC) and metre–kilogram–second–ampere (MKSA) systems are examples of such systems.


title: Metric system

text: The International System of Units ("Système international d'unités" or SI) is the current international standard metric system and is also the system most widely used around the world. It is an extension of Giorgi's MKSA system – its base units are the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela and mole.


title: Metric system

text: The MKS (metre–kilogram–second) system came into existence in 1889, when artefacts for the metre and kilogram were fabricated according to the Metre Convention. Early in the 20th century, an unspecified electrical unit was added, and the system was called MKSX. When it became apparent that the unit would be the ampere, the system was referred to as the MKSA system, and was the direct predecessor of the SI.


title: Metric system

text: The metre–tonne–second system of units (MTS) was based on the metre, tonne and second – the unit of force was the sthène and the unit of pressure was the pièze. It was invented in France for industrial use and from 1933 to 1955 was used both in France and in the Soviet Union.


title: Metric system

text: Gravitational metric systems use the kilogram-force (kilopond) as a base unit of force, with mass measured in a unit known as the hyl, "Technische Masseneinheit" (TME), mug or metric slug. Although the CGPM passed a resolution in 1901 defining the standard value of acceleration due to gravity to be 980.665 cm/s, gravitational units are not part of the International System of Units (SI).


title: Metric system

text: The International System of Units is the modern metric system. It is based on the metre–kilogram–second–ampere (MKSA) system of units from early in the 20th century. It also includes numerous coherent derived units for common quantities like power (watt) and irradience (lumen). Electrical units were taken from the International system then in use. Other units like those for energy (joule) were modelled on those from the older CGS system, but scaled to be coherent with MKSA units. Two additional base units – the "kelvin", which is equivalent to degree Celsius for change in thermodynamic temperature but set so that 0 K is absolute zero, and the "candela", which is roughly equivalent to the international candle unit of illumination – were introduced. Later, another base unit, the "mole", a unit of amount of substance equivalent to the Avogadro number number of specified molecules, was added along with several other derived units.


title: Metric system

text: The system was promulgated by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (French: "Conférence générale des poids et mesures" – CGPM) in 1960. At that time, the metre was redefined in terms of the wavelength of a spectral line of the krypton-86 atom, and the standard metre artefact from 1889 was retired.


title: Metric system

text: Today, the International system of units consists of 7 base units and innumerable coherent derived units including 22 with special names. The last new derived unit, the "katal" for catalytic activity, was added in 1999. All the base units except the second are now defined in terms of exact and invariant constants of physics or mathematics, barring those parts of their definitions which are dependent on the second itself. As a consequence, the speed of light has now become an exactly defined constant, and defines the metre as of the distance light travels in a second. The kilogram was defined by a cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy until a new definition in terms of natural physical constants was adopted in 2019. As of 2022, the range of decimal prefixes has been extended to those for 10 ("quetta–") and 10 ("quecto–").


title: Metric system

text: The International System of Units has been adopted as the official system of weights and measures by all nations in the world except for Myanmar, Liberia, and the United States. In the United States, the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 declared the metric system to be the "preferred system of weights and measures" but did not suspend use of customary units, and the United States is the only industrialised country where commercial and standards activities do not predominantly use the metric system.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, including $372 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capital, hedge funds, non-performing loans, and collateralized loan obligations, $80.7 billion invested in private equity, and $46.2 billion invested in real assets, which includes real estate and infrastructure. The company invests money on behalf of pension funds, financial endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, as well as other institutional and individual investors. Since inception in 1990, private-equity funds managed by Apollo have produced a 24% internal rate of return (IRR) to investors, net of fees.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Apollo was founded in 1990 by Leon Black, Josh Harris, and Marc Rowan. Apollo is headquartered in the Solow Building at 9 West 57th Street in New York City, with offices across North America, Europe, and Asia. Among the most notable companies in which funds managed by the company have invested are ADT Inc., Barnes & Noble, CareerBuilder, Cox Media Group, Intrado, Rackspace, Redbox, Shutterfly, Sirius Satellite Radio, Qdoba, Smart & Final, University of Phoenix, and Yahoo Inc.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In addition to its private funds, Apollo operates Apollo Investment Corporation (AIC), a US-domiciled publicly traded, private-equity, closed-end fund and business development company. AIC provides mezzanine debt, senior secured loans, and equity investments to middle-market companies, including public companies, although it historically has not invested in companies controlled by Apollo's private-equity funds.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Apollo, originally referred to as Apollo Advisors, was founded in 1990, after the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert in February 1990, by Leon Black, the former head of Drexel's mergers and acquisitions department, along with other Drexel alumni. Among the most notable founders are John Hannan, Drexel's former co-director of international finance; Craig Cogut, a lawyer who worked with Drexel's high-yield division in Los Angeles; and Arthur Bilger, the former head of the corporate finance department. Other founding partners included Marc Rowan, Josh Harris, and Michael Gross, who both worked under Black in the mergers and acquisitions department, and Antony Ressler, who worked as a senior vice president in Drexel's high-yield department with responsibility for the new issue/syndicate desk.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Within six months after the collapse of Drexel, the Apollo launched Apollo Investment Fund L.P., the first of its private-equity investment funds, formed to make investments in distressed companies. Apollo raised around $400 million of investor commitments based on Leon Black's reputation as a prominent lieutenant of Michael Milken and a key player in the buyout boom of the 1980s.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Lion Advisors (or Lion Capital) was founded in 1990 to provide investment services to Credit Lyonnais and foreign institutions, seeking to profit from depressed prices in the high-yield market. In 1992, Lion entered into a more formal arrangement to manage the $3 billion high-yield portfolio for Credit Lyonnais which together with a consortium of other international investors provided the capital for Lion's investment activities. Lion Advisors was replaced by Ares Management.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: At the time of Apollo's founding, little financing was available for new leveraged buyouts and Apollo turned, instead, to a strategy of distressed-to-control takeovers. Apollo purchased distressed securities, which could be converted into a controlling interest in the equity of the company through a bankruptcy reorganization or other restructuring. Apollo used distressed debt as an entry point, enabling the firm to invest in such firms as Vail Resorts, Walter Industries, Culligan, and Samsonite.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Apollo acquired interests in companies that Drexel had helped finance by purchasing high-yield bonds from failed savings and loans and insurance companies. Apollo acquired several large portfolios of assets from the U.S. government's Resolution Trust Corporation. One of Apollo's earliest and most successful deals involved the acquisition of Executive Life Insurance Company's bond portfolio. Using this vehicle, Apollo purchased the Executive Life portfolio, profiting when the value of high-yield bonds recovered, but also resulting in a variety of state regulatory issues for Apollo and Credit Lyonnais over the purchase.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 1993, Apollo Real Estate Advisers was founded in collaboration with William Mack to seek opportunities in the U.S. property markets.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 1993, Apollo Real Estate Investment Fund, L.P., the first in a family of real estate "opportunity funds", was closed with $500 million of investor commitments. In 2000, Apollo exited the partnership, which continued to operate as Apollo Real Estate Advisers until changing its name to AREA Property Partners effective January 15, 2009. That firm was then owned and controlled by its remaining principals, including William Mack, Lee Neibart, William Benjamin, John Jacobsson, Stuart Koenig, and Richard Mack.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 1995, Apollo raised its third private-equity fund, Apollo Investment Fund III, with $1.5 billion of investor commitments from investors that included CalPERS and the General Motors pension fund. Fund III was only an average performer for private-equity funds of its vintage. Among the investments made in Fund III (invested through 1998) were: Alliance Imaging, Allied Waste Industries, Breuners Home Furnishings, Levitz Furniture, Communications Corporation of America, Dominick's, Ralphs (acquired Apollo's Food-4-Less), Move.com, NRT Incorporated, Pillowtex Corporation, Telemundo, and WMC Mortgage Corporation.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Also in 1995, Apollo founding partner Craig Cogut left the firm to found Pegasus Capital Advisors. Since inception, Pegasus has raised $1.8 billion in four private-equity funds focused on investments in middle-market companies in financial distress.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 1997, Ares Management was founded by Antony Ressler and John H. Kissick, both partners at Apollo, as well as Bennett Rosenthal, who joined the group from the global leveraged finance group at Merrill Lynch, to manage a $1.2 billion market value collateralized debt obligation vehicle. Ares I and II which were raised were structured as market value CLOs. Ares III-Ares X were structured as cash flow CLOs. In 2002, Ares completed a corporate spin-off from Apollo management. Although technically the founders of Ares had completed a spinout with the formation of the firm in 1997, they had maintained a close relationship with Apollo over its first five years and operated as the West Coast affiliate of Apollo. Shortly thereafter, Ares completed fundraising for Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund, a special-situations investment fund with $750 million of capital under management.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 1998, during the dot-com bubble, Apollo raised Apollo Investment Fund IV with $3.6 billion of investor commitments. As of April 8, 2008, the fund had generated a 10% IRR net of fees. Among the investments made in Fund IV (invested through 2001) were: Allied Waste Industries, AMC Entertainment, Berlitz International, Clark Retail Enterprises, Corporate Express (Buhrmann), Encompass Services Corporation, National Financial Partners, Pacer International, Rent-A-Center, Resolution Performance Products, Resolution Specialty Materials, Sirius Satellite Radio, SkyTerra Communications, United Rentals, and Wyndham Worldwide.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2001, Apollo raised Apollo Investment Fund V with $3.7 billion of investor commitments. As of April 8, 2008, the fund had generated a 54% IRR net of fees. Among the investments made in Fund V (invested through 2006) were Affinion Group, AMC Entertainment, Berry Plastics, Cablecom, Compass Minerals, General Nutrition Centers (GNC), Goodman Global, Hexion Specialty Chemicals (Borden), Intelsat, Linens 'n Things, Metals USA, Nalco Investment Holdings, Sourcecorp, Spectrasite Communications, and Unity Media.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Although the founders of Ares had completed a corporate spin-off with the formation of the firm in 1997, they had initially maintained a close relationship with Apollo and operated as the West Coast affiliate of Apollo.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2002, when Ares raised its first corporate opportunities fund, the firm announced that it would separate from its former parent company. The timing of this separation also coincided with Apollo's legal difficulties with the State of California over its purchase of Executive Life Insurance Company in 1991. In 2002, Attorney General of California Bill Lockyer accused Apollo, Leon Black, and an investor group led by French bank Credit Lyonnais of violating California law by having a foreign government-owned bank acquire the assets and bond portfolio of Executive Life Insurance Co. in 1991. Foreign banks are not allowed to own California insurance companies.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Following the spin-off of Ares in 2002, Apollo developed two new affiliates to continue its investment activities in the capital markets. The first of these new affiliates, founded in 2003, was Apollo Distressed Investment Fund (DIF) Management, a credit-opportunity investment vehicle.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2004, Apollo Real Estate acquired the Value Enhancement Funds family of investment vehicles to broaden its offerings in the "value-added" segment of the real-estate investment spectrum.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2004, Apollo raised $930 million through an initial public offering for a listed business development company, Apollo Investment Corporation. AIC provides mezzanine debt, senior secured loans, and equity investments to middle-market companies, including public companies.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In September 2004, investment funds managed by Apollo and Sterling Partners acquired Connections Academy. It was sold in 2011 for $400 million.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2005, Apollo formed Hexion Specialty Chemicals through the merger of Borden, Inc., Resolution Performance Products LLC, and Resolution Specialty Materials, LLC, and the acquisition of Bakelite AG. Hexion announced in July 2007 that it was acquiring Huntsman Corporation, a major specialty-chemicals company, in a $6.5 billion leveraged buyout. Hexion announced in June 2008 it would refuse to close the deal, prompting a series of legal actions. The transaction was terminated on December 14 after a settlement between Hexion and Huntsman, wherein they were required to pay Huntsman $1 billion to drop fraud charges that would have potentially sent the CEO of Apollo to prison.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Between 2005 and 2007, the private-equity market was booming, with new "largest buyout" records set and surpassed several times in an 18-month window. Although Apollo was involved in a number of notable and large buyouts, the firm avoided the very largest transactions during the time. Among Apollo's most notable investments during this period were Harrah's Entertainment, a gaming and casino company; Norwegian Cruise Line, a cruise line operator; Claire's Stores, a retailer of costume jewelry; and Realogy, a real-estate franchisor.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In May 2006, Apollo announced the acquisition of Rexnord Corporation, a manufacturer of precision motion-technology products, primarily focused on power transmission, from private-equity firm The Carlyle Group for $1.825 billion.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In June 2006, Apollo and Graham Partners announced the acquisition of Berry Plastics, a maker of plastic containers, for $2.25 billion from Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and JPMorgan Partners.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In June 2006, Apollo acquired Momentive Performance Materials, General Electric's Advanced Materials (Silicones & Quartz) business for approximately $3.8 billion. It was sold in May 2019.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In August 2006, TNT N.V. announced that it had agreed to the sale of its logistics division to Apollo for $1.9 billion. The business was rebranded as CEVA in November 2007.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In August 2006, Apollo launched a $2 billion vehicle in Europe, AP Alternative Assets. It was a Guernsey-domiciled publicly traded, private-equity closed-end, limited partnership, managed by Apollo Alternative Assets, an affiliate of Apollo Management. Apollo initially attempted to raise $2.5 billion for the public vehicle, but fell short when it offered the shares in June 2006, raising only $1.5 billion. Apollo raised an additional $500 million via private placements in the weeks following that sale. AAA was formed to invest alongside Apollo's main private-equity funds and hedge funds. AAA's investment portfolio was made up of a mix of private-equity and capital-markets investments. It was liquidated in 2020.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In October 2006, Apollo announced a $990 million leveraged buyout of Jacuzzi Brands, a manufacturer of whirlpool baths.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2006, Apollo acquired International Paper's coated paper and supercalendered paper business for $1.4 billion, renaming the business Verso Paper. Verso is the second-largest producer for the North American magazine publishing and catalog/commercial print markets. In May 2008, Verso became a public company via an IPO.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In February 2007, Apollo acquired Oceania Cruises for $850 million and provided additional capital to fund the expansion of the company with the purchase of two new cruise ships.!


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In February 2007, Apollo announced the acquisition of the Smart & Final chain of warehouse-style food and supply stores. In June 2007, Smart & Final completed the acquisition of the Henry's Marketplace chain of "farmers market" style food retailers from Wild Oats Markets as part of that company's acquisition by Whole Foods Market. In 2011, the Henry's chain was merged with Sprouts Farmers Market, which, like the Henry's markets, had been founded by Henry Boney.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In March 2007, Apollo announced the $3.1 billion leveraged buyouts of costume jewelry retailer Claire's Stores. In 2008, Claire's experienced financial difficulty amid the slump in consumer spending.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2007, Apollo acquired Noranda Aluminum, the US aluminum business of Xstrata for $1.15 billion. Noranda Aluminum includes a primary smelter and three rolling mills in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas along with other operations.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2007, Apollo acquired Realogy, a franchisor that owns Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and Sotheby's International Realty, for $8.5 billion. As the United States housing market correction accelerated in 2008, Realogy faced financial pressures due to its debt load. In November 2008, Realogy launched an exchange offer for a portion of its debt to provide additional flexibility, prompting a lawsuit from Carl Icahn. In 2013, Apollo sold out of this investment, making a profit of $1.3 billion.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In May 2007, Apollo acquired Countrywide plc, a provider of residential property-related services in the UK, formerly known as Hambro Countrywide (1988) and Countrywide Assured Group (1998) for $1.05 billion (not related to Countrywide Financial).


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In January 2008, Apollo and TPG Capital acquired Harrah's Entertainment for $27.4 billion, including the assumption of existing debt.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In January 2008, Apollo invested $1 billion in Norwegian Cruise Line to support a recapitalization of the company's balance sheet. In December 2018, Apollo cashed out of this investment.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In February 2008, Apollo acquired Regent Seven Seas Cruises from Carlson Companies for $1 billion. Following the purchase, Apollo ordered a new ship for Regent.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2008, Apollo, TPG Capital, and The Blackstone Group acquired $12.5 billion of bank loans from Citigroup. The portfolio comprised primarily senior secured loans that had been made to finance leveraged-buyout transactions at the peak of the market. Citigroup had been unable to syndicate the loans before the onset of the credit crunch. The loans were reported to have been sold in the "mid-80 cents on the dollar" relative to face value. In late 2008, Apollo received margin calls associated with the financing of its purchase of certain loan portfolios as the values of the loans decreased.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2008, Apollo filed a Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In May 2008, Apollo invested in Vantium, a company that buys residential mortgage assets as part of a strategy to profit from the United States housing market correction.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, several of Apollo's investments came under pressure. Apollo's 2005 investment in the struggling US retailer Linens 'n Things suffered from a significant debt burden and softening consumer demand. In May 2008, Linens filed for bankruptcy protection, costing Apollo all of its $365 million investment in the company. In 2009, the company was sued by a noteholder claiming mismanagement.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Apollo exercised its "PIK toggle" option at Claire's to shut off cash interest payments to its bondholders and instead issue more debt, to provide the company with additional financial flexibility.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In December 2008, Apollo completed fundraising for its latest fund, Apollo Investment Fund VII, with roughly $14.7 billion of investor commitments. Apollo had been targeting $15 billion, but had been in fundraising for more than 16 months, with the bulk of the capital raised in 2007.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In November 2009, Liberty Global acquired Unity Media GMBH; funds managed by Apollo owned a 31% interest.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In December 2009, Apollo announced the acquisition of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company for $635 million and assumed debt valuing the company at $2.4 billion. In April 2010, the deal was terminated due to poor shareholder response.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2013, Apollo acquired Pitney Bowes Management Services (PBMS) for $400 million. From PBMS, Apollo formed Novitex Enterprise Solutions. Novitex is a document-outsourcing provider that manages business-critical services for over 500 companies across 10 industries. In 2017, it was merged into Exela Technologies.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: On March 11, 2013, Apollo Global Management made the only bid for the snacks business of Hostess Brands, including Twinkies, for $410 million.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In December 2013, Apollo bought a portfolio of Irish home loans from Lloyds Bank for €307 million, less than half their face value. The shares were bought by an Apollo Global Management subsidiary, Tanager Limited.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In October 2014, Apollo merged its Endemol television studio with 21st Century Fox's Shine Group. The merged company became Endemol Shine Group, with AGM and Fox each owning half of the studio.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: Also in June 2015, Apollo won the bidding during an auction for Saint-Gobain's Verallia glass bottle-manufacturing unit for €2.95 billion.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In June 2016, funds managed by Apollo Global Management acquired Diamond Resorts International. It was sold to Hilton Worldwide in August 2021.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2016, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Constellis for $1 billion. Constellis is a private military contractor that was created as a result of a merger between rival contractors Triple Canopy and Academi in 2014. Academi, founded by Erik Prince and formerly known as Blackwater USA, is best known for its role in the Nisour Square massacre, where Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In February 2017, Apollo Education Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, was acquired by investment funds managed by Apollo and the Vistria Group, for $1.14 billion.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In June 2017, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired 80.1% of Philips Lumileds division for $1.5 billion.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In November 2017, Apollo lent $184 million to Kushner Companies to refinance the mortgage on a Chicago skyscraper.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In October 2018, funds managed by Apollo Global Management acquired a portfolio of $1 billion in energy investments from GE Capital's Energy Financial Services unit.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In February 2019, AGM was in talks to buy Nexstar Media Group for over $1 billion. However, on February 14, 2019, Cox Media Group announced that it was selling its 14 television stations to Apollo. In March 2019 filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Apollo disclosed that, through the newly formed Terrier Media, the Cox stations would be acquired for $3.1 billion (to be reduced by the value of a minority equity stake in Terrier that will be retained by Cox Enterprises); Terrier will also concurrently acquire Northwest Broadcasting, giving the company 25 television stations. On June 26, 2019, Cox announced that its 60 radio stations, as well as its national advertising business CoxReps, and local OTT advertising agency Gamut, would also be acquired by the new company, which concurrently announced that it would retain the Cox Media Group name instead of Terrier Media. On February 10, 2020, Cox Enterprises bought back the Ohio newspapers it sold to AGM. The FCC required Apollo to reduce the daily newspapers to three days or sell them.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: On June 10, 2019, Apollo announced that it would acquire Shutterfly for $2.7 billion, as well as its competitor Snapfish in a separate transaction valued at around $300 million, with District Photo as a minority stakeholder.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In August 2019, Apollo agreed to provide around $1.8 billion of debt financing to support New Media Investment Group's acquisition of Gannett. On October 23, 2019, AGM announced it signed agreements to take a 48.6% stake in Italian gambling group Gamenet SPA.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In November 2019, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Florida-based Tech Data Corp. for $5.4 billion from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In December 2019, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Cox Media Group for $3 billion, acquiring Cox's 13 television stations, 54 radio stations, three newspapers, national television advertising business – CoxReps, and local OTT advertising business – Gamut. Smart Media.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In February 2020, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Covis from Cerberus Capital Management.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2020, AGM announced that it would invest $300 million in Cimpress, an Irish-domiciled printing group that owns Vistaprint.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: On July 3, 2020, Apollo and The Walt Disney Company sold Endemol Shine Group to French studio Banijay Group.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In September 2020, Apollo entered into a $5.5 billion real-estate investment partnership with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In March 2021, Apollo Investment Corporation closed a $110 million mezzanine credit facility between LendingPoint and MidCap Financial Trust.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In March 2021, Leon Black resigned as CEO and chairman after revelations that he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for personal tax-related advice between 2012 and 2017. He was replaced as CEO by Marc Rowan.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In April 2021, Apollo launched Apollo Origination Partnership, a $1.8 billion direct-lending fund seeking unlevered returns of 8-10% and 12-14% leveraged returns.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In May 2021, Apollo's Gamenet acquired the Italian gaming businesses of International Game Technology for €950 million.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In July 2021, funds managed by Apollo acquired EmployBridge, a large industrial-staffing company that has been cited for dozens of safety violations and wage infractions.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: On August 3, 2021, Apollo announced the acquisition of the incumbent local exchange carrier operations in 20 states from Lumen Technologies for $7.5 billion, including $1.4 billion of assumed debt.


title: Apollo Global Management

text: In 2022, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Chicago-based and family-owned specialty grocer Tony's Fresh Market and California-based Hispanic grocery chain Cardenas from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, both for an undisclosed amount.


title: Petrol engine

text: A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as "E10" and "E85").


title: Petrol engine

text: Most petrol engines use spark ignition, unlike diesel engines which typically use compression ignition. Another key difference to diesel engines is that petrol engines typically have a lower compression ratio.


title: Petrol engine

text: Most petrol engines use either the four-stroke Otto cycle or the two-stroke cycle. Petrol engines have also been produced using the Miller cycle and Atkinson cycle.


title: Petrol engine

text: Most petrol-powered piston engines are straight engines or V engines. However, flat engines, W engines and other layouts are sometimes used.


title: Petrol engine

text: Petrol engines use spark ignition and high voltage current for the spark may be provided by a magneto or an ignition coil. In modern car engines the ignition timing is managed by an electronic Engine Control Unit.


title: Petrol engine

text: The power output of small- and medium-sized petrol engines (along with equivalent engines using other fuels) is usually measured in kilowatts or horsepower.


title: Petrol engine

text: Typically, petrol engines have a thermodynamic efficiency of about 20% (approximately half that of some diesel engines).


title: Petrol engine

text: Applications of petrol engines include automobiles, motorcycles, aircraft, motorboats and small engines (such as lawn mowers, chainsaws and portable generators).


title: Petrol engine

text: The first practical petrol engine was built in 1876 in Germany by Nicolaus August Otto, although there had been earlier attempts by Étienne Lenoir in 1860, Siegfried Marcus in 1864 and George Brayton in 1876.


title: BMW X3

text: The BMW X3 is a compact luxury crossover SUV manufactured by BMW since 2003, based on the BMW 3 Series platform. Now in its third generation, BMW markets the car as a "Sports Activity Vehicle", the company's proprietary descriptor for its X-line luxury vehicles.


title: BMW X3

text: The first-generation X3 was designed by BMW in conjunction with Magna Steyr of Graz, Austria—who also manufactured all X3s under contract to BMW. BMW manufactured the second-generation X3 at their Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, United States. The third generation of the BMW X3 is manufactured at BMW South Africa's Rosslyn plant, a facility that underwent a major upgrade to prepare for the X3 production, replacing the long-running 3 Series production in the plant. About 76,000 units will be manufactured there annually.


title: BMW X3

text: The car was the first mid-size, premium SUV on the market. In 2008, BMW started competing with the Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class (renamed GLC-Class since 2016), and numerous other SUVs in this segment. The X3 is smaller than the X5 and X6, and bigger than the X1 and the X2.


title: BMW X3

text: The first-generation BMW X3, internally designated as the "E83", was produced from 2003 to 2010 and based on the BMW 3 Series platform. The E83 was designed by BMW in conjunction with Magna Steyr of Graz, Austria who also manufactured all first-generation X3s under contract to BMW.


title: BMW X3

text: As a precursor to the X3, in 2003 BMW presented the "xActivity" concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show featuring the 3 Series platform and a fixed-profile convertible body style with reinforced longitudinal rails connect the A-pillars to the rear of the car on both sides, eliminating B- or C-pillars.


title: BMW X3

text: The X3 premiered in September 2003 at the Frankfurt Auto Show (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung), sharing its rear suspension with the E46 330xi and using an automatic four-wheel drive system marketed as "xDrive". All X3 models feature BMW's all-wheel drive system, with a default 40:60 torque split between the front and rear axles and the ability to direct all torque to either axle. The system used an electronically controlled multiple-plate clutch to enable infinitely adjustable, fully variable distribution of torque from front to rear with the capability of up to 100 percent of engine torque going to either axle. BMW markets the crossover as a "Sports Activity Vehicle", the company's descriptor for its X-line of vehicles.


title: BMW X3

text: The X3 was conceived to combine the agility of a compact model with the driving experience of the company's X5. The X3 featured an upright, high H-point seating configuration, marketed as "command seating". Styling exhibited interacting concave and convex surfacing, characteristic for the company at the time along with a reinterpreted Hofmeister kink.


title: BMW X3

text: BMW upgraded the model in 2005 and facelifted the model in 2007, with revised body bumpers, engine, interior trim, and suspension.


title: BMW X3

text: The X3 "3.0i" won the Canadian Car of the Year "Best Sports Utility Vehicle" award for 2005. The X3 was initially criticised for its harsh ride, austere interior, lack of off-road capability and high price.


title: BMW X3

text: U.S-spec X3 models were well-equipped, with standard equipment such as: the BMW Business A/M-F/M-CD radio (with optional dealer-activated Bluetooth functionality for wireless phones), an eight-speaker premium audio system, leatherette-trimmed seating surfaces, dual power front bucket seats, aluminum interior trim accents, keyless entry, and seventeen-inch (17") aluminum-alloy wheels. Optional equipment included a ten-speaker premium audio system with Digital Sound Processing (DSP), Sirius Satellite Radio, a dashboard-mounted color GPS navigational system that replaced the upper dashboard storage compartment and contained a modified version of BMW's "iDrive" multimedia system, eighteen-inch (and later nineteen-inch) aluminum-alloy wheels, Nevada leather-trimmed seating surfaces, heated front and rear seats, a heated steering wheel, a security system, BMW Assist, a panoramic dual-pane moonroof, Xenon front headlamps with adaptive front headlamps, and sport front bucket seats.


title: BMW X3

text: For 2006, the U.S.-spec X3 lost its 2.5L M54 inline 6-cylinder engine for the 2.5i model. The only model available from 2006 onwards for the U.S.-spec X3 was the 3.0L M54 inline 6-cylinder engine (later, the N52 inline 6-cylinder engine) and the 3.0i model (later, 3.0Si or xDrive30i). This further increased the X3's base price.


title: BMW X3

text: In September 2006, the E83 received a facelift with revised headlights, grille, front bumper, tail lights, rear bumper, and interior.


title: BMW X3

text: For the 2007 model year, the US market X3 was powered by the N52 inline 6-cylinder engine that debuted on the 2006 E90 3 Series. Internationally, the X3 received smaller engines including the 4-cylinder petrol and diesel options. In Europe, the range started with a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder petrol, a 4cyl. turbo diesel and continues with 6-cylinder turbo & bi-turbo diesels. The largest diesel offered was the sport diesel with .


title: BMW X3

text: U.S. market 2006 X3's were equipped with a version of the 'M' technik body kit with unpainted door sills and wheel arches. U.S. spec Sport Package 2006 X3's received the full 'M' body kit (with painted front, side and rear plastic) available internationally as a factory accessory. 2.5i was removed for sale from the U.S. and Adaptive headlamps and a panoramic sunroof were made available, as well as upgraded dashboard components and leather seating.


title: BMW X3

text: Since September 2008, the Edition Exclusive and Edition lifestyle were available. The M-Sport Package was replaced in March 2009 by the Sport Limited Edition.


title: BMW X3

text: The X3 Cross Country, also known as the X3 CC is an X3 prepared for rally raid competition. It features a 2.9-litre inline-6 (debore and destroked M57TU2D30 engine from 3.0 litre to 2.9-litre), twin turbocharged diesel engine.


title: BMW X3

text: The F25 is the second generation of BMW X3. The vehicle was unveiled in 2010 at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. For this generation, production moved from Magna Steyr in Austria to at BMW's United States plant in Greer, South Carolina. Production started on 1 September 2010, and ended in August 2017.


title: BMW X3

text: Dimensions-wise, the F25-based X3 is almost as large as the original E53 series X5. At launch, all models use all-wheel drive, badged as xDrive. Transmission choices are a six-speed manual or eight-speed ZF 8HP automatic transmission. The emission standard for all engines was Euro 5. A rear-wheel drive only model called sDrive was added to the range in some markets in 2012.


title: BMW X3

text: M Performance Parts were released in the facelift and can be installed to all models. These include carbon fibre mirrors, a sport steering wheel, M rims, black kidney grilles and Aluminium pedals. 30d models also get a power boost kit making 27 hp more (286 hp) and 18d and 20d models can be fitted with a dual exhaust.


title: BMW X3

text: UK models went on sale on 18 November 2010. Early UK models included the xDrive20d. xDrive30d was added in April 2011. xDrive35d was added from September 2011. sDrive18d was added on 20 August 2012. From Spring 2013, the latest generation of BMW Professional Navigation System became available.


title: BMW X3

text: US models arrived in US BMW Centers by the end of 2010 as 2011 model year vehicles. Early US models included xDrive28i, xDrive35i. In 2013 model year (produced in April 2012 and delivered in May 2012), a turbo four cylinder xDrive28i was introduced as replacement for the inline six xDrive28i, with new features such as standard Auto Start/Stop, Driving Dynamics Control with ECO PRO, New Driver Assistance Package (includes Lane Departure Warning). All US market vehicles come with an 8-speed automatic transmission.


title: BMW X3

text: For 2011, the F25 X3 is available in the US, only with a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder gasoline engine either normally aspirated or with a twin-scroll turbocharger.


title: BMW X3

text: In 2012, the F25 X3 xDrive28i model's 3.0L naturally-aspired inline six-cylinder gasoline engine was replaced by the 2.0L TwinPower twin-scroll, single-turbo inline four-cylinder gasoline engine that was first introduced on the BMW 3 Series (F30), the BMW N20, more specifically coded N20B20O0. A rear-wheel-drive sDrive28i model joined the X3 model lineup, marking the first non-xDrive BMW SAV to ever be sold in the United States.


title: BMW X3

text: In 2013, the F25 X3 xDrive28d model joined the X3 lineup, powered by a 2.0L turbocharged inline four-cylinder diesel engine, again first introduced on the BMW 3 Series (F30). As of 2017, the xDrive28d model of the F25 X3 is no longer available for sale in the United States.


title: BMW X3

text: In 2014 for the 2015 model year, the F25 received an LCI (Life Cycle Impulse) facelift. Changes include new modified twin circular headlights (optional LED headlights), redesigned kidney grille, new front, and rear bumpers, and exterior mirrors with integrated turn signal indicators; a centre console with the optional automatic climate control system in high-gloss black-panel look, new cup holders with a sliding cover for the centre console, new exterior colours, upholstery designs, interior trim strips, and light-alloy wheels; new xLine equipment package, optional Smart Opener for the automatic tailgate and storage packages.


title: BMW X3

text: The vehicle was unveiled in 84th Geneva International Motor Show 2014, followed by 114th New York International Auto Show 2014 (xDrive28d).


title: BMW X3

text: BMW X3 20d diesel was reported to exceed EU Limit Euro 6 by over 11 times. On 24 September 2015, BMW denied this report in a statement.


title: BMW X3

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> United States only. The xDrive28d used the four-cylinder engine from the European-specification xDrive20d models. Vehicles with Diesel engine sold in the United States were since end of 2008 equipped with selective catalysator using Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to reduce NOx emissions, while vehicles sold in Europe had a bypass exhaust pipe only.


title: BMW X3

text: The third generation is codenamed G01 and was unveiled in June 2017. Drivetrains include two 2.0-litre diesel units known as B47, a next-generation 3.0-litre diesel engine (B57), and a petrol variant (B58): a gasoline-powered, turbo-charged straight-six with a displacement of 2,998 cc and a plug-in hybrid.


title: BMW X3

text: Technology is shared with the BMW 5 Series (G30), such as gesture control (optional), LED exterior and interior lighting, and the BMW iDrive 6.0 system with a 12.5-inch touch-screen monitor for navigation systems. Depending on the model, the new X3 is as much as lighter than a comparably equipped corresponding model from the previous X3 generation.


title: BMW X3

text: In July 2018, BMW introduced the ability to option the X3 with the "sDrive" intelligent rear-wheel drive system.


title: BMW X3

text: In 2019, the X3 xDrive 30e (which shares its powertrain and platform with the G20 330e xDrive) iPerformance model was introduced, sharing its engine with the X3 sDrive20i/xDrive20i and a electric motor, it has a maximum electric range of . It has a 12 kWh battery (9.6 kWh usable) along with a newly developed system called "XtraBoost" allowing a temporary power increase from the electric motor of up to .


title: BMW X3

text: In the same year, BMW introduced the X3 M and X3 M Competition (F97) and the X4 M and X4 M Competition (F98), with the former being the first time an X3 had a full M version while the latter being the first time an X4 had a M version, the X3 M and X4 M are fitted with a 3.0 L S58 straight-six that produced 473 horsepower with the Competition models producing 503 horsepower.


title: BMW X3

text: Full M models can be fitted with full M specific M Performance Parts. These include a spoiler, sport steering wheel, carbon fibre vents and kidney grilles.


title: BMW X3

text: The Alpina XD3 made its debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. The XD3 is fitted with an Alpina-modified version of BMW's B57 diesel inline-six engine. In the quad-turbo left-hand drive version, the engine outputs and , giving a 0– time of 4.6 s and a top speed of . In the bi-turbo right-hand drive version, the engine outputs and , giving it a 0– time of 4.9 s and a top speed of .


title: BMW X3

text: The iX3 is a battery electric version of the X3. Debuted in April 2018 as a concept model, production began in September 2020 at BMW's factory in Dadong, China and was released to customers in 2021.


title: Shaunie O'Neal

text: Shaunie Henderson (born November 27, 1974), formerly O'Neal, is an American television personality and one of the executive producers of VH-1's reality TV series "Basketball Wives", "Basketball Wives LA", and "Baller Wives". She was formerly a film marketer and ex-wife of former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal.


title: Shaunie O'Neal

text: Shaunie is one of the executive producers of "Basketball Wives", a reality series that follows the wives, ex-wives, and girlfriends of professional basketball players. Another reality television show, "Basketball Wives LA", follows the Los Angeles wives, ex-wives, and girlfriends of professional basketball players. O'Neal is the center of a third reality television series, "Shaunie's Home Court", a reality series that follows the lives of her five children and family.


title: Shaunie O'Neal

text: On December 26, 2002, she married basketball player Shaquille O'Neal at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They got engaged after dating for two years and married two years later. Before and during their marriage, the couple had four children: Shareef (b. 2000), Amirah (b. 2001), Shaqir (b. 2003), and Me'arah (b. 2006). Shaunie has a son, Myles, from a previous relationship, while Shaquille O'Neal has a daughter, Taahirah, with his former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh. Shaquille and Shaunie separated after five years of marriage on September 4, 2007, but reconciled shortly after. On November 10, 2009, Shaunie filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in 2011. Their oldest son, Shareef, is a standout basketball player, who committed to UCLA in 2018, and later transferred to LSU in 2020.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became the state's only land-grant university in 1863. Today, Penn State is a major research university which conducts teaching, research, and public service. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and online delivery. The University Park campus has been labeled one of the "Public Ivies", a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In addition to its land-grant designation, it also participates in the sea-grant, space-grant, and sun-grant research consortia; it is one of only four such universities (along with Cornell University, Oregon State University, and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa). Its University Park campus, which is the largest and serves as the administrative hub, lies within the Borough of State College and College Township. It has two law schools: Penn State Law, on the school's University Park campus, and Dickinson Law, in Carlisle. The College of Medicine is in Hershey. Penn State is one university that is geographically distributed throughout Pennsylvania. There are 19 commonwealth campuses and 5 special mission campuses located across the state.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Annual enrollment at the University Park campus totals more than 46,800 graduate and undergraduate students, making it one of the largest universities in the United States. It has the world's largest dues-paying alumni association. The university's total enrollment in 2015–16 was approximately 97,500 across its 24 campuses and online through its World Campus. The university offers more than 160 majors among all its campuses. The university's research expenditures totaled $836 million during the 2016 fiscal year.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Annually, the university hosts the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON), which is the world's largest student-run philanthropy. This event is held at the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus. In 2022, THON raised a program record of $13.7 million. The university's athletics teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Penn State Nittany Lions, competing in the Big Ten Conference for most sports. Penn State students, alumni, faculty, and coaches have received a total of 54 Olympic medals.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The school was sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society and founded as a degree-granting institution on February 22, 1855, by Pennsylvania's state legislature as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania. The use of "college" or "university" was avoided because of local prejudice against such institutions as being impractical in their courses of study. Centre County, Pennsylvania, became the home of the new school when James Irvin of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, donated of landthe first of the school would eventually acquire. In 1862, the school's name was changed to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, and with the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, Pennsylvania selected the school in 1863 to be the state's sole land-grant college. The school's name changed to the Pennsylvania State College in 1874; enrollment fell to 64 undergraduates the following year as the school tried to balance purely agricultural studies with a more classic education.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: George W. Atherton became president of the school in 1882, and broadened the curriculum. Shortly after he introduced engineering studies, Penn State became one of the ten largest engineering schools in the nation. Atherton also expanded the liberal arts and agriculture programs, for which the school began receiving regular appropriations from the state in 1887. A major road in State College has been named in Atherton's honor. Additionally, Penn State's Atherton Hall, a well-furnished and centrally located residence hall, is named not after George Atherton himself, but after his wife, Frances Washburn Atherton. His grave is in front of Schwab Auditorium near Old Main, marked by an engraved marble block in front of his statue.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In the years that followed, Penn State grew significantly, becoming the state's largest grantor of baccalaureate degrees and reaching an enrollment of 5,000 in 1936. Around that time, a system of commonwealth campuses was started by President Ralph Dorn Hetzel to provide an alternative for Depression-era students who were economically unable to leave home to attend college.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In 1953, President Milton S. Eisenhower, brother of then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, sought and won permission to elevate the school to university status as The Pennsylvania State University. Under his successor Eric A. Walker (1956–1970), the university acquired hundreds of acres of surrounding land, and enrollment nearly tripled. In addition, in 1967, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, a college of medicine and hospital, was established in Hershey with a $50 million gift from the Hershey Trust Company.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In the 1970s, the university became a state-related institution. As such, it now belongs to the Commonwealth System of Higher Education. In 1975, the lyrics in Penn State's alma mater song were revised to be gender-neutral in honor of International Women's Year; the revised lyrics were taken from the posthumously published autobiography of the writer of the original lyrics, Fred Lewis Pattee. Professor Patricia Farrell acted as a spokesperson for those who wanted the change.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In 1989, the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport joined ranks with the university, and in 2000, so did the Dickinson School of Law. The university is now the largest in Pennsylvania, and in 2003, it was credited with having the second-largest impact on the state economy of any organization, generating an economic effect of over $17 billion on a budget of $2.5 billion. To offset the lack of funding due to the limited growth in state appropriations to Penn State, the university has concentrated its efforts on philanthropy (2003 marked the end of the Grand Destiny campaign—a seven-year effort that raised over $1.3 billion).


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In 2011, the university and its football team garnered major international media attention and criticism due to a sex abuse scandal in which university officials were alleged to have covered up incidents of child sexual abuse by former football team defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Athletic director Timothy Curley and Gary Schultz, Senior Vice President for Finance and Business, were indicted for perjury. In the wake of the scandal, coach Joe Paterno was fired and school president Graham B. Spanier was forced to resign by the board of trustees. Sandusky, who maintained his innocence, was indicted and subsequently convicted in June 2012 on 45 counts for the abuse.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: A subcommittee of the board of trustees engaged former FBI director Louis Freeh to head an independent investigation on the university's handling of the incidents. Freeh released his findings in July 2012, reporting that Paterno, Spanier, Curley, and Schultz "conceal[ed] Sandusky's activities from the board of trustees, the university community and authorities" and "failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade". On July 23, 2012, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced sanctions against Penn State for its role in the scandal. The NCAA penalized Penn State football with a $60 million fine, a ban from bowl games and post-season play for four years, a reduction in scholarships from 25 to 15 per year for four years, the vacating of all wins from 1998 to 2011 and a 5-year probationary period.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The validity of the sanctions later came into question, and emails surfaced that indicated highly ranked officials within the NCAA did not believe the organization had the jurisdiction to pass down the original sanctions. Subsequent emails, brought forward under subpoena, quoted an NCAA vice-president, "I characterized our approach to PSU as a bluff when talking to Mark [Emmert, NCAA president] ... He basically agreed [because] I think he understands that if we made this an enforcement issue, we may win the immediate battle but lose the war." On September 8, 2014, the sanctions, following a report by former U.S. Senator and athletics integrity monitor George J. Mitchell citing progress by Penn State in implementing reforms, were officially repealed by the NCAA, and on January 16, 2015, all previous records were restored.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: An investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, whom the Paterno family retained to review the Freeh report, concluded that the report that placed so much blame on Penn State and Paterno was a "rush to injustice" that could not be relied upon. He found that not only did the evidence "fall far short" of showing Paterno attempted to conceal the Sandusky scandal, but rather that "the contrary is true". In November 2014, state Sen. Jake Corman released emails showing "regular and substantive" contact between NCAA officials and Freeh's investigators, suggesting that the Freeh conclusions were orchestrated.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: On February 2, 2017, Timothy Piazza, a pledge of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity located off-campus in State College, died while undergoing hazing activities at the fraternity. Eighteen members of the Penn State Beta Theta Pi fraternity were charged in connection with Piazza's death, and the fraternity was closed and banned indefinitely.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Penn State Nittany Lions football Head Athletic Trainer played a large role in the organizing and facilitating of hazing pledges between the 2016 and 2017 academic school years.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: On January 24, 2020, Penn State announced it was monitoring an outbreak of COVID-19 as it had begun to spread inside of the United States. In February, Penn State restricted travel to China, Italy and Japan as well as requiring students returning from level 3 countries to be quarantined. During Spring Break, on March 11, 2020, Penn State canceled all in-person classes at its 20 campuses until at least April 3, which was later extended to the remainder of their spring and summer semesters.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The largest of the university's 24 campuses, University Park is located in State College borough and College Township in Centre County, near the geographic center of the state. Its dedicated ZIP code is 16802. With an undergraduate acceptance rate of 49 percent, it is the most selective campus in the Penn State system. It is one of the most selective schools in the state of Pennsylvania, according to various publications. During the fall 2018 semester, 40,363 undergraduate students and 5,907 graduate students were enrolled at University Park. Of those, 46.5 percent were female and 42.4 percent were non-Pennsylvania residents.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The University Park campus is centrally located at the junction of Interstate 99/U.S. Route 220 and U.S. Route 322, and is due south of Interstate 80. Before the arrival of the Interstates, University Park was a short distance from the Lock Haven – Altoona branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The last run of long-distance trains from Buffalo or Harrisburg through Lock Haven was in 1971. Today, the nearest Amtrak passenger rail access is in Tyrone, 25 miles to the southwest. Intercity bus service to University Park is provided by Fullington Trailways, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and OurBus. The University Park Airport, serving four regional airlines, is near University Park.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In addition to the University Park campus, 19 campus locations throughout the state offer enrollment for undergraduate students. Over 60 percent of Penn State first-year students begin their education at a location other than University Park. Each of the 19 commonwealth campuses offer a unique set of degree programs based on the student demographics. Any student in good academic standing is guaranteed a spot at University Park to finish his or her degree if required or desired, known as "change of campus" or, more accurately, "the 2+2 program"; where a Penn State student may start at any Penn State campus, including University Park, for two years and finish at any Penn State the final two years.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In 1998, the university launched Penn State World Campus, or Penn State Online, which offers more than 60 online education programs, degrees, and certificates. Distance education has a long history at Penn State, one of the first universities in the country to offer a correspondence course for remote farmers in 1892. Examples of online programs include an MBA, a master of professional studies in homeland security, a Bachelor of Science in nursing, and post-baccalaureate certificates in geographic information systems and applied behavior analysis.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State is a "state-related" university, part of Pennsylvania's Commonwealth System of Higher Education. As such, although it receives funding from the Commonwealth and is connected to the state through its board of trustees, it is otherwise independent and not subject to the state's direct control. For the 2006–2007 fiscal year, the university received 9.7 percent of its budget from state appropriations, the lowest of the four state-related institutions in Pennsylvania. Initial reports concerning the 2007–2008 fiscal year indicated that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is recommending a 1.6 percent increase in state appropriations. Penn State's appropriation request, submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education in September, requested a 6.8 percent increase in funding.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State has eighteen colleges, including three at special-mission campuses. The University Park campus is organized into fourteen distinct colleges, plus the Graduate School and the Division of Undergraduate Studies:


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In addition, the university's board of trustees voted in January 2007 to create a School of International Affairs, with the first classes admitted in the fall 2008 semester. The school is part of Penn State Law.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Formerly the School of Nursing, on September 25, 2013, the board of trustees granted the nursing program college status.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The 32-member board of trustees governs the university. Its members include the university's president, the Governor of the Commonwealth, and the state Secretaries of Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, and Education. The other members include six trustees appointed by the Governor, nine elected by alumni, and six elected by Pennsylvania agricultural societies. Six additional trustees are elected by a board representing business and industry enterprises. Undergraduate students do not elect any trustees; the court case "Benner v. Oswald" ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not require the undergraduate students be allowed to participate in the selection of trustees.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: , the chair of the board of trustees is Keith E. Masser, a graduate of Penn State and the chairman and chief executive officer of Sterman Masser, Inc.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The board's main responsibilities are to select the president of Penn State, determine the goals and strategic direction of the university, and approve the annual budget. Regular meetings of the board are held bi-monthly and take place primarily on the University Park campus, although on occasion meetings are held at other locations within the Commonwealth.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The university president is selected by the board and is given the authority for actual control of the university, including day-to-day management. In practice, part of this responsibility is delegated by the president to other administrative departments, the faculty, and the student body. Neeli Bendapudi became the university's 19th and current president on May 9, 2022, upon the departure of Eric J. Barron. The executive vice president and provost is the chief academic officer of the university. The current provost, Nicholas P. Jones, assumed office on July 1, 2013.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State has a long history of student governance. Elected student leaders remain directly involved in the decision-making of the university administration, as provided for in the board of trustees' standing orders. There are three student governments recognized by the university administration: the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA), the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), and the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG).


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) is the representative student government of the undergraduate students at Penn State's University Park campus, which was established in 2006 after the former student government, Undergraduate Student Government (USG), lost its recognition by way of a student referendum. Graduate and professional students at the university are represented by the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), the oldest continuously existing student governance organization at Penn State.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The 19 commonwealth campuses of the university are governed by the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG), formerly known as the Council of Branch Campus Student Governments (CBCSG).


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In 2019, the World Campus Student Government Association (WCSGA) was formed to advocate for the interests and concerns of the more than 20,000 Penn State World Campus students.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The 2022 annual ranking of "U.S. News & World Report" categorizes The Pennsylvania State University as "selective". For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), Penn State received 78,578 applications and accepted 45,269 (57.6%). Of those accepted, 8,614 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 19.0%. Penn State's freshman retention rate is 93.1%, with 85% going on to graduate within six years.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The university started test-optional admissions with the Fall 2021 incoming class in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has extended this through Fall 2023. Of the 37% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1200–1400. Of the 8% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 26 and 32.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Pennsylvania State University-University Park is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 5 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 16 freshman students were National Merit Scholars.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The Smeal College of Business, The Sam and Irene Black School of Business, Penn State Harrisburg, and Penn State Great Valley are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The university offers an accelerated Premedical-Medical Program in cooperation with Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Students in the program spend two or three years at the university before attending medical school at Jefferson.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Penn state 101–150th among universities worldwide and 42–56th nationally for 2020. "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the university 63rd (tie) among national universities and 23rd (tie) among public schools in the United States for 2021. In 2022, the university is ranked 96th in the QS World University Rankings. The 2021 "World University Rankings" by "Times Higher Education" ranked the university as the 114th best university in the world. The 2021 'Global University Ranking' by "CWTS Leiden Ranking" ranked the university as 52nd best university in the world, 18th in the U.S.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Over 10,000 students are enrolled in the university's graduate school (including the law and medical schools), and over 70,000 degrees have been awarded since the school was founded in 1922.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State's research and development expenditure has been on the rise in recent years. For fiscal year 2013, according to institutional rankings of total research expenditures for science and engineering released by the National Science Foundation, Penn State stood second in the nation, behind only Johns Hopkins and tied with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the number of fields in which it is ranked in the top ten. Overall, Penn State ranked 17th nationally in total research expenditures across the board. In 12 individual fields; however, the university achieved rankings in the top ten nationally. The fields and sub-fields in which Penn State ranked in the top ten are materials (1st), psychology (2nd), mechanical engineering (3rd), sociology (3rd), electrical engineering (4th), total engineering (5th), aerospace engineering (8th), computer science (8th), agricultural sciences (8th), civil engineering (9th), atmospheric sciences (9th), and earth sciences (9th). Moreover, in eleven of these fields, the university has repeated top-ten status every year since at least 2008. For fiscal year 2011, the National Science Foundation reported that Penn State had spent $794.846 million on R&D and ranked 15th among U.S. universities and colleges in R&D spending.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: For the 2008–2009 fiscal year, Penn State was ranked ninth among U.S. universities by the National Science Foundation, with $753 million in research and development spending for science and engineering. During the 2015–2016 fiscal year, Penn State received $836 million in research expenditures.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Applied Research Lab (ARL), located near the University Park campus, has been a research partner with the United States Department of Defense since 1945 and conducts research primarily in support of the United States Navy. It is the largest component of Penn State's research efforts statewide, with over 1,000 researchers and other staff members.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Materials Research Institute (MRI) was created to coordinate the highly diverse and growing materials activities across Penn State's University Park campus. With more than 200 faculty in 15 departments, 4 colleges, and 2 Department of Defense research laboratories, MRI was designed to break down the academic walls that traditionally divide disciplines and enable faculty to collaborate across departmental and even college boundaries. MRI has become a model for this interdisciplinary approach to research, both within and outside the university. Dr. Richard E. Tressler was an international leader in the development of high-temperature materials. He pioneered high-temperature fiber testing and use, advanced instrumentation and test methodologies for thermostructural materials, and design and performance verification of ceramics and composites in high-temperature aerospace, industrial, and energy applications. He was founding director of the Center for Advanced Materials (CAM), which supported many faculty and students from the College of Earth and Mineral Science, the Eberly College of Science, the College of Engineering, the Materials Research Laboratory and the Applied Research Laboratories at Penn State on high-temperature materials. His vision for Interdisciplinary research played a key role in creating the Materials Research Institute, and the establishment of Penn State as an acknowledged leader among major universities in materials education and research.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The university was one of the founding members of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), a partnership that includes 17 research-led universities in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The network provides funding, facilitates collaboration between universities, and coordinates exchanges of faculty members and graduate students among institutions. Former Penn State president Graham Spanier is a former vice-chair of the WUN.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Pennsylvania State University Libraries were ranked 14th among research libraries in North America in the 2003–2004 survey released by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The university's library system began with a 1,500-book library in Old Main. In 2009, its holdings had grown to 5.2 million volumes, in addition to 500,000 maps, five million microforms, and 180,000 films and videos. The university is a member of the Center for Research Libraries.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The university's College of Information Sciences and Technology is the home of CiteSeerX, an open-access repository and search engine for scholarly publications. The university is also the host to the Radiation Science & Engineering Center, which houses the oldest operating university research reactor. Additionally, University Park houses the Graduate Program in Acoustics, the only freestanding acoustics program in the United States. The university also houses the Center for Medieval Studies, a program that was founded to research and study the European Middle Ages, and the Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE), one of the first centers established to research postsecondary education. It is a member of the CDIO Initiative, an international network of universities working to develop unique teaching methods in engineering.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: As of fall 2010, the racial makeup of the Penn State system including all campuses and special-mission colleges, was 75.4 percent white, 5.5 percent black, 4.3 percent Asian, 4.4 percent Hispanic, 0.2 percent Native American, 0.1 percent Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 1.7 percent two or more races, 5.8 percent international students and 3.1 percent of an unknown race. Over the period 2000–2010, minority enrollment as a percentage of total enrollments has risen 5.3 percentage points,<ref name="Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity"></ref> while minorities as a percentage of total teaching positions rose 2.0 percentage points from 1997 to 2002.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State has been the subject of controversy for several issues of discrimination. Following some violent attacks on African-Americans in downtown State College in 1988 and complaints that Penn State was not adequately recruiting African-American faculty and students to representative population levels, student activists occupied Old Main. They demanded that Penn State do more to recruit minority students and address intolerance toward minority students on campus and the local community. After President Bryce Jordan canceled a promised meeting with students and organizations in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center on April 8, 1988, 250 students and activists nonviolently occupied Penn State's Telecommunications building on campus. The following morning, 50 state troopers and 45 local and campus police, equipped with helmets, batons, and rubber gloves, entered the building as the crowd outside sang "We Shall Overcome", arresting 89 individuals for trespassing. All charges were later dismissed.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In 1990 a vice provost for educational equity was appointed to lead a five-year strategic plan to "create an environment characterized by equal access and respected participation for all groups and individuals irrespective of cultural differences." Since then, discrimination issues include the handling of death threats in 1992 and 2001, controversy around LGBT issues, and the investigation of a 2006 sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by former Lady Lions basketball player Jennifer Harris, alleging that head coach Rene Portland dismissed her from the team in part due to her perceived sexual orientation.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: There are seven housing complexes on campus for students attending the University Park campus: East Halls, North Halls, Pollock Halls, South Halls, West Halls, Eastview Terrace, and Nittany Apartments. Each complex consists of a few separate buildings that are dormitories and a commons building, which has: lounges, the help desk for the complex, mailboxes for each dormitory room, a convenience store, a food court, an all-you-care-to-eat buffet. Different floors within a building may be designated as a Special Living Option (SLO). SLOs are offered to members of certain student groups (such as sororities), students studying particular majors, students who wish to engage in a particular lifestyle (such as the alcohol-free LIFE House), or other groups who wish to pursue similar goals.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: , 864 student organizations were recognized at the University Park campus. In addition, the university has one of the largest Greek systems in the country, with approximately 12 percent of the University Park population affiliated. Additional organizations on campus include Thespians, Blue Band, Chabad, Glee Club, Aish HaTorah, Student Programming Association (SPA), Lion's Pantry, Boulevard, Apollo, 3D Printer Club, Digi Digits, and the Anime Organization, which hosts an annual Central Pennsylvania-based anime convention, Setsucon.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Every February, thousands of students participate in the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON), the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. In previous years, participants stood for 48 hours nonstop and performed a line dance at least once every hour to stay alert. In 2007, THON was moved to the Bryce Jordan Center and now lasts 46 hours. THON raises millions of dollars annually for childhood cancer care and research for its sole beneficiary, Four Diamonds. In 2022, THON raised a program record of $13.7 million.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Lion's Pantry is an undergraduate student-run on-campus food pantry (and a registered student organization). The Lion's Pantry serves undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. With increasing awareness of hunger on college campuses, the Lion's Pantry is one of the nation's most successful startup food pantries. They partner with groups ranging from Boulevard, UPUA, Greek Life, and more to receive over 8,000 food donations a year. The club was also awarded the Class Gift of 2017 in the form of an endowment.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Student media groups on campus include "The Daily Collegian", Penn State's student-run newspaper; "Onward State", a student-run blog; "The Underground", a multi-cultural student media site; The LION 90.7 FM (WKPS-FM), a student-run radio station; CommRadio, a student-run, internet-based radio program; "La Vie", the university's annual student yearbook; "Kalliope", a student-produced literary journal; "Valley", a student-run style and life magazine; "Phroth", a student-run humor magazine; and "Penn State Live", the official news source of the university published by its public relations team.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: "The Daily Collegian" has continuously been ranked as one of the top college newspapers by the Princeton Review. The paper, founded in 1904, provides news, sports, and arts coverage and produces long-form features. It publishes in print on Mondays and Thursdays while classes are in session. Since the summer of 1996, the traditional paper publication has been supplemented by an online edition. Online content is published every day. Penn State's commonwealth campuses receive a weekly copy of the paper titled "The Weekly Collegian".


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: "Onward State" is a student-run blog geared towards the university's community members. The blog, which was founded in 2008, provides news, event coverage, and opinion pieces. "U.S. News & World Report" named the blog the "Best Alternative Media Outlet" in February 2009.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The Underground is a multicultural student-run media site devoted to telling the untold stories within the Penn State community. The publication seeks to foster the multicultural student voice through creating an open forum of discussion and promoting diversity and community involvement. The media site was founded in 2015.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The LION 90.7 FM (WKPS-FM) was founded in 1995 as a replacement for Penn State's original student radio station WDFM. The LION broadcasts from the ground floor of the HUB-Robeson Center, serving the Penn State and State College communities with alternative music and talk programming, including live coverage of home Penn State football games.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: CommRadio is operated by the Penn State College of Communications. It was founded in the spring of 2003 as an internet-based audio laboratory and co-curricular training environment for aspiring student broadcasters. It airs both sports coverage and news. Other programming includes student talk shows, political coverage, AP syndicated news, and soft rock music. In recent years, ComRadio broadcasters have won numerous state awards for their on-air work.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: "La Vie" (the Life), the university's annual student yearbook, has been in production documenting student life continuously since 1890. "La Vie 1987," edited by David Beagin, won a College Gold Crown for Yearbooks award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: "Kalliope" is an undergraduate literary journal produced by students and sponsored by the university's English Department. It is published in the spring. "Kalliope" includes works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art. In addition, "Klio", an online publication, provides students with literary pieces in the fall semester.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: The student-run humor magazine is "Phroth", which publishes two to four issues each year. Its roots date back to 1909 when it was called "Froth". Several "Froth" writers and editors have gone on to win fame: Julius J. Epstein wrote the screenplay for the film "Casablanca" (1942) and won three Academy Awards; Jimmy Dugan wrote for the "Saturday Evening Post", "National Geographic", and "The New York Times"; and Ronald Bonn was a producer with "NBC Nightly News" and "CBS Evening News".


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: In addition, Penn State's newspaper readership program provides free copies of "USA Today", "The New York Times", as well as local and regional newspapers depending on the campus location (for example, the "Centre Daily Times" in University Park). This program, initiated by then-President Graham Spanier in 1997, has since been instituted on several other universities across the country.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Penn State's mascot is the Nittany Lion, a representation of a type of mountain lion that once roamed what is now University Park. The school's official colors, now blue and white, were originally black and dark pink. Penn State participates in the NCAA Division I FBS and in the Big Ten Conference for most sports.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Two sports participate in different conferences: men's volleyball in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) and women's hockey in College Hockey America (CHA). The fencing teams operate as independents.


title: Pennsylvania State University

text: Athletic teams at Penn State have won 79 national collegiate team championships (51 NCAA, 2 consensus Division I football titles, 6 AIAW, 3 USWLA, 1 WIBC, and 4 national titles in boxing, 11 in men's soccer and one in wrestling in years prior to NCAA sponsorship). The 51 NCAA Championships ranks fifth all time in NCAA Division I, and is the most of any Big Ten school.