Citroën is a French automobile manufacturer founded in 1919 by the French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group since 1976. In 1934, the firm established its reputation for innovative technology with the Traction Avant; this car was the world's first mass-produced front wheel drive car, one of the first to feature a unibody construction, with no chassis supporting the mechanical components. In 1954 they produced the world's first hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system in 1955, the revolutionary DS, the first mass-produced car with modern disc brakes and, in 1967, they introduced in several of their models swiveling headlights that allowed for greater visibility on winding roads. With a successful history in motorsport, Citroën is the only automobile manufacturer to have won three different official championships from the International Automobile Federation: the World Rally Raid Championship five times, the World Rally Championship eight times and the World Touring Car Championship.

Citroën has been selling vehicles in China since 1984 via the Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën joint venture, which today represents a major market for the brand. In 2014, when PSA Peugeot Citroën ran into severe financial difficulties, the Dongfeng Motor Corporation took an ownership stake. André Citroën built armaments for France during World War I. There was nothing automatic about his decision to become an automobile manufacturer once the war was over: the automotive business was one that Citroën knew well, thanks to a successful six-year stint working with Mors between 1908 and the outbreak of war; the decision to switch to automobile manufacturing was evidently taken as early as 1916, the year when Citroën asked the engineer Louis Dufresne with Panhard, to design a technically-sophisticated 18HP automobile for which he could use his factory once peace returned. Long before that happened, however, he had modified his vision and decided, like Henry Ford, that the best post-war opportunities in auto-making would involve a lighter car of good quality, but made in sufficient quantities to be priced enticingly.

In February 1917 Citroën contacted another engineer, Jules Salomon, who had a considerable reputation within the French automotive sector as the creator, in 1909, of a little car called Le Zèbre. André Citroën's mandate was characteristically demanding and characteristically simple: to produce an all-new design for a 10 HP car that would be better equipped, more robust and less costly to produce than any rival product at the time; the result was the Type A, announced to the press in March 1919, just four months after the guns fell silent. The first production Type A emerged from the factory at the end of May 1919 and in June it was exhibited at a show room at Number 42, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris which sold Alda cars. Citroën persuaded the owner of the Alda business, Fernand Charron, to lend him the show-room, still in use today; this C42 showroom is where the company organises exhibitions and shows its vehicles and concept cars. A few years Charron would be persuaded to become a major investor in the Citroën business.

On 7 July 1919, the first customer took delivery of a new Citroën 10HP Type A. That same year, André Citroën negotiated with General Motors a proposed sale of the Citroën company; the deal nearly closed, but General Motors decided that its management and capital would be too overstretched by the takeover. Thus Citroën remained independent till 1935. Between 1921 and 1937, Citroën produced half-track vehicles for off-road and military uses, using the Kégresse track system. In the 1920s, the U. S. Army purchased several Citroën-Kégresse vehicles for evaluation followed by a licence to produce them; this resulted in the Army Ordnance Department building a prototype in 1939. In December 1942, it went into production with the M2 Half Track M3 Half-track versions; the U. S. produced more than 41,000 vehicles in over 70 versions between 1940 and 1944. After their 1940 occupation of France, the Nazi's captured many of the Citroën half-track vehicles and armored them for their own use. Mr Citroën was a keen marketer: he used the Eiffel Tower as the world's largest advertising sign, as recorded in Guinness World Records.

He sponsored expeditions in Asia, North America and Africa, demonstrating the potential for motor vehicles equipped with the Kégresse track system to cross inhospitable regions. These expeditions conveyed journalists. Demonstrating extraordinary toughness, a 1923 Citroën that had travelled 48,000 km was the first car to be driven around Australia; the car, a 1923 Citroën 5CV Type C Torpedo, was driven by Neville Westwood from Perth, Western Australia, on a round trip from August to December 1925. This vehicle is now restored and in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. In 1924, Citroën began a business relationship with the American engineer Edward G. Budd. From 1899, Budd had worked to develop stainless steel bodies for railroad cars, for the Pullman in particular. Budd went on to manufacture steel bodies for many automakers. At the Paris Motor Show in October 1924, Citroën introduced the Citroën B10, the first all-steel body in Europe; these automobiles were successful in the marketplace, but soon competitors introduced new body desig

In 2013, Rice University held its 100th commencement. Since 1986, commencements have been held in the Academic Quadrangle; every commencement at Rice has included the hymns Veni Creator Spiritus and Lord of All Being, Throned Afar. 2019: Annise Parker 2018: Michael Bloomberg 2017: Mae Jemison 2016: Sheryl WuDunn 2015: Colin Powell 2014: Helene D. Gayle 2013: Neil deGrasse Tyson 2012: Salman Khan – 2011: David Brooks – 2010: Muhammad Yunus – 2009: Zainab Salbi – 2008: George Rupp – 2007: John Doerr – 2006: Bill White – 2005: Michelle Hebl 2004: Alberto Gonzales 2003: Shannon Lucid 2002: Bill Cosby 2001: Morris Dees 2000: George H. W. Bush 1999: Helmut Schmidt – 1998: Kurt Vonnegut 1997: Alan Dershowitz 1996: Anita K. Jones 1995: Bill Bradley 1994: Elizabeth Dole 1993: Jimmy Carter 1992: Richard von Weizsäcker 1991: James A. Baker IIIFrom 1971 to 1990, Rice did not invite speakers to address graduates at commencement. During that time, addresses were given by university presidents Norman George Rupp.

From 1952 to 1985, commencements were held on the east side of Lovett Hall. 1970: T. Harry Williams, Professor of History, L. S. U. 1969: Harry H. Ransom, Univ. of Texas 1968: William H. Masterson, Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga 1967: Robert A. Charpie, Electronics Division, Union Carbide 1966: Jack K. Williams, V. P. for Academic Affairs and Dean, Clemson Univ. 1965: Henry Allen Moe, American Philosophical Society 1964: Charles Hard Townes, Provost, M. I. T. 1963: John Connally, Texas 1962: Merrimon Cuninggim, Executive Director, Danforth Foundation 1961: Herbert E. Longenecker, Tulane Univ. 1960: Harvie Branscomb, Vanderbilt Univ. 1959: George R. Harrison, Dean of the School of Science, M. I. T. 1958: John W. Gardner, Carnegie Foundation 1957: Julius Adams Stratton, Chancellor, M. I. T. 1956: John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Dean of Engineering, Harvard Univ. 1955: J. William Fulbright, Arkansas 1954: J. E. Wallace Sterling, Stanford Univ. 1953: Roger Philip McCutcheon, Dean of the Graduate School, Tulane Univ.

1952: Douglas Southall Freeman, Scholar from Richmond, VirginiaIn 1951, commencement was held in Autry Court. 1951: Lewis Webster Jones, Univ. of ArkansasFrom 1935 to 1950, commencements were held in courtyard of the Chemistry Laboratories. 1950: Robert Andrews Millikan, V. P. of the Board, California Institute of Technology 1949: Detlev W. Bronk, Johns Hopkins Univ. From 1916 to 1948, commencements were held on Monday, preceded by a Baccalaureate sermon on Sunday. 1948: Blake Ragsdale Van Leer, Georgia School of Technology 1947: Frederick Hard, Scripps CollegeFrom 1942 to 1946, addresses were delivered by William Vermillion Houston, President of Rice Institute. In 1944 and 1946, Rice held two commencement ceremonies each year as part of a “wartime speed-up educational program.” 1941: Isaiah Bowman, Johns Hopkins Univ. 1940: James Rowland Angell, President Emeritus, Yale Univ. 1939: George Edgar Vincent, Former President, Rockefeller Foundation 1938: George Norlin, Univ. of Colorado 1937: Frank Pierrepont Graves, State Univ. of New York 1936: Harold Willis Dodds, Princeton Univ.

1935: Ralph Budd, Burlington LinesFrom 1916 to 1934, commencements were held in the Academic Quadrangle. 1934: John Campbell Merriam, Carnegie Institution of Washington 1933: Edwin Grant Conklin, Professor of Biology, Princeton Univ. 1932: Roscoe Pound, Dean of the Law School, Harvard Univ. 1931: Captain James A. Baker, Chairman of the Board, Rice Institute 1930: Ralph Adams Cram, Supervising Architect, Rice Institute 1929: William Edward Dodd, Professor of American History, Univ. of Chicago 1928: John Huston Finley, New York Times 1927: Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, Belgian Ambassador to the U. S. 1926: Joseph Sweetman Ames, Professor of Physics, Johns Hopkins Univ. 1925: Stockton Axson, Professor of English, Rice Institute 1924: Charles William Dabney, Former President, Univ. of Cincinnati 1923: Edgar Fahs Smith, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Univ. of Pennsylvania 1922: Frank Thilly, Professor of Philosophy, Cornell Univ. 1921: Charles William Eliot, President Emeritus, Harvard Univ. 1920: J. C.

Hutcheson, Judge of the Federal Court 1919: William M. Thornton, Dean of the Department of Engineering, Univ. of Virginia 1918: Nelson Phillips, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas 1917: William H. Carpenter, Columbia Univ. 1916: David Starr Jordan, Chancellor Emeritus, Stanford Univ. Rice University Commencement Programs and Ephemera

Abram-Perezville is a former census-designated place in Hidalgo County, Texas. The population was 5,376 at the 2010 United States Census, it is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area. For the 2010 census, the CDP was split into Perezville. Abram-Perezville is located at 26°14′20″N 98°24′17″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.3 square miles, of which 5.1 square miles is land and 0.2 square miles is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,444 people, 1,617 households, 1,387 families residing in the CDP; the population density was 1,073.9 people per square mile. There were 3,060 housing units at an average density of 603.6/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 47.17% White, 0.22% African American, 0.06% Asian, 48.79% from other races, 3.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 81.59% of the population. There were 1,617 households out of which 42.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.9% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 14.2% were non-families.

11.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.37 and the average family size was 3.67. In the CDP, the population was spread out with 32.8% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 14.0% from 45 to 64, 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.8 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $22,532, the median income for a family was $23,956. Males had a median income of $19,044 versus $18,188 for females; the per capita income for the CDP was $8,195. About 32.4% of families and 41.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 56.8% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over. Abram-Perezville is served by the La Joya Independent School District. In addition, residents are allowed to apply to magnet schools operated by the South Texas Independent School District