<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>If you're looking for an intellectually stimulating environment and a tight-knit community, you may want to consider one of the following universities.
From our recent list of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartest-colleges-in-america-2014-10">the smartest colleges in America</a>, we pulled out the top liberal arts schools, <a href="http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/data">as categorized by US News &amp; World Report</a>. These colleges emphasize undergraduate studies in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Most are small, with class sizes typically under 20 students, which fuels learning and forges close relationships with peers and professors.
In order to determine a school's overall smarts, <a href="http://www.tip.duke.edu/node/960" target="_blank">Jonathan Wai</a>, a Duke University Talent Identification Program researcher, analyzed the average standardized test scores that schools report to <a href="http://www.usnews.com/" target="_blank">US News</a>. (Those that did not report scores are not included.)
These tests are often criticized, but research shows that both the <a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/ps/frey.pdf" target="_blank">SAT</a> and <a href="http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/koening2008.pdf" target="_blank">ACT</a> are good measures of general cognitive ability and give a reasonable snapshot of the brainpower level of that school.
ACT scores were translated into SAT scores (math + verbal) using <a href="http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf" target="_blank">this concordance table</a>, so that all schools could be compared using one metric. Then, an average of the 25th and 75th percentile was computed (<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/56143/1339-us-colleges-ranked-average-student-brainpower.pdf" target="_blank">see a full description of the methodology and limitations here</a>).
On the following ranking, a (2) next to the school's name indicates that some or all students aren't required to supply scores; a (3) indicates that the school did not supply all students it has scores for, or did not tell US News if it had; a (4) indicates that the data is from a previous year, rather than from the most recent year; and a (9) indicates that the school may not require scores from all applicants and that it may not have submitted data for all students.
<h3>Here are the smartest liberal arts colleges in America:</h3>
<table style="width: 401px;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> </col></col></col></colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" width="70" height="14">Smarts Rank</td>
<td width="259"> School</td>
<td class="xl63" width="72"> Average SAT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">1</td>
<td>Harvey Mudd College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1480</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">2</td>
<td>Pomona College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1460</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">3</td>
<td>Amherst College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1440</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">3</td>
<td>Swarthmore College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1440</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">5</td>
<td>Williams College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1435</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">5</td>
<td>Bowdoin College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1435</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">7</td>
<td>Carleton College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1430</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">8</td>
<td>Wellesley College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1410</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">8</td>
<td>Claremont McKenna College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1410</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">10</td>
<td>Haverford College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1400</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">10</td>
<td>Washington and Lee University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1400</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">10</td>
<td>Wesleyan University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1400</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">13</td>
<td>Vassar College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1395</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">14</td>
<td>Middlebury College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1385</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">14</td>
<td>Hamilton College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1385</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">16</td>
<td>Reed College (9)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1375</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">17</td>
<td>Scripps College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1367</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">18</td>
<td>Oberlin College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1363</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">19</td>
<td>Colgate University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1360</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">19</td>
<td>United States Air Force Academy</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1360</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">21</td>
<td>Macalester College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1350</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">22</td>
<td>Colby College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1345</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">22</td>
<td>Bates College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1345</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">24</td>
<td>Grinnell College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1340</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">24</td>
<td>Bryn Mawr College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1340</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">24</td>
<td>Barnard College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1340</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">27</td>
<td>Davidson College (3)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1335</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">27</td>
<td>Smith College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1335</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">29</td>
<td>Colorado College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1325</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">29</td>
<td>Mount Holyoke College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1325</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">29</td>
<td>Connecticut College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1325</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">32</td>
<td>Whitman College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1321</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">33</td>
<td>Kenyon College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1320</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">33</td>
<td>Wheaton College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1320</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">35</td>
<td>Franklin and Marshall College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1315</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">36</td>
<td>University of Richmond</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1310</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">36</td>
<td>Union College (NY) (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1310</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">38</td>
<td>College of the Holy Cross (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1305</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">38</td>
<td>Pitzer College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1305</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">38</td>
<td>Occidental College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1305</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">38</td>
<td>Hendrix College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1305</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">38</td>
<td>St. John's College (NM) (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1305</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">43</td>
<td>Bucknell University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">43</td>
<td>Denison University (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">43</td>
<td>Rhodes College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">43</td>
<td>Hillsdale College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">47</td>
<td>Centre College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1285</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">47</td>
<td>Gettysburg College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1285</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">47</td>
<td>St. Olaf College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1285</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">47</td>
<td>Lawrence University (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1285</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">47</td>
<td>New College of Florida</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1285</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">52</td>
<td>United States Military Academy (3)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1283</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">53</td>
<td>United States Naval Academy</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1280</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">53</td>
<td>Bennington College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1280</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">55</td>
<td>Dickinson College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1278</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">56</td>
<td>Lafayette College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1275</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">56</td>
<td>Bard College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1275</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">56</td>
<td>St. John's College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1275</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">56</td>
<td>Lewis &amp; Clark College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1275</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">60</td>
<td>Sewanee-University of the South (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1265</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">61</td>
<td>Sarah Lawrence College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1250</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">61</td>
<td>Thomas Aquinas College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1250</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">63</td>
<td>Kalamazoo College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1245</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">63</td>
<td>College of Wooster</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1245</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">63</td>
<td>Earlham College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1245</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">63</td>
<td>Illinois Wesleyan University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1245</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">63</td>
<td>Knox College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1245</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">68</td>
<td>Skidmore College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1240</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">68</td>
<td>Trinity College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1240</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">68</td>
<td>Muhlenberg College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1240</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">71</td>
<td>Furman University (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1235</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">72</td>
<td>DePauw University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1225</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">72</td>
<td>Beloit College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1225</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">72</td>
<td>Gustavus Adolphus College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1225</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">72</td>
<td>Wheaton College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1225</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">72</td>
<td>Transylvania University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1225</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">72</td>
<td>University of Puget Sound (3)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1225</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">78</td>
<td>College of the Atlantic (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1220</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">79</td>
<td>St. Lawrence University (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1215</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">79</td>
<td>Austin College (3)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1215</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">81</td>
<td>Soka University of America</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1210</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">82</td>
<td>Grove City College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1207</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">83</td>
<td>Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1205</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">83</td>
<td>Hope College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1205</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">83</td>
<td>Berry College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1205</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">86</td>
<td>Willamette University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1195</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">86</td>
<td>University of North Carolina-Asheville</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1195</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">88</td>
<td>St. Mary's College of Maryland (3)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1190</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">89</td>
<td>Luther College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1185</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">89</td>
<td>Westmont College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1185</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">89</td>
<td>Cornell College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1185</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">89</td>
<td>Calvin College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1185</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">93</td>
<td>Allegheny College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1180</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">94</td>
<td>St. Michael's College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1175</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">95</td>
<td>Wofford College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1170</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">96</td>
<td>Southwestern University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1168</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>St. John's University</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>College of St. Benedict</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>Millsaps College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>St. Mary's College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>Washington College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>Coe College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>Lake Forest College (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>University of Minnesota-Morris (3)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>Wittenberg University (2)</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xl64" height="14">97</td>
<td>Lyon College</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">1165</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Note: The above schools are categorized as liberal arts colleges by <a href="http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/data">US News &amp; World Report</a>.</h3>

The 106 Smartest Liberal Arts Colleges In America

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>New college graduates are entering a volatile job market where even an elite degree doesn't guarantee success.
"In business, and particularly in high tech, it's not enough to be great at what you do, you have to catch at least one really big wave and ride it all the way in to shore," Google chairman Eric Schmidt and former senior VP of product Jonathan Rosenberg write in their new book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Google-Works-Eric-Schmidt/dp/1455582344">How Google Works</a>."
Because they are frequently asked by young professionals for career advice, they decided to highlight the main lessons they'd like to impart. We've summarized their advice below:
<h3>1. Treat your career like you're surfing.</h3>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Kevork Djansezian/Getty" title_caption="Ride the biggest waves for as long as possible." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54359053ecad04190b06f089-960/surfing-5.jpg"></a>Kevork Djansezian/GettyRide the biggest waves for as long as possible.</div></div>
"Think of the industry as the place you surf ... and the company as the wave you catch. You always want to be in the place with the biggest and best waves," Schmidt and Rosenberg write.
Since stock options and other forms of equity are limited for newer employees anyway, the best investment you can make in your career is developing expertise in an industry that is transforming and growing.
"It's not just the internet companies that have a big upside, but also energy, pharmaceuticals, high-tech manufacturing, advertising, media, entertainment, and consumer electronics," they write. "But even businesses like energy and pharmaceuticals, where product cycle times are long, are ripe for massive transformation and opportunity."
<h3>2. Go with a company that understands technology.</h3>
Even if you're not going to work in Silicon Valley, you'll want to work at a company that knows where technology is going and what impact it is having and will have in its industry, since these will be the companies that thrive while others die or stagnate.
The authors say that a simple way to tell if a particular company "gets it" is to look at how it's adapted to industry changes in the past, as well as taking a look at the company's leadership. If a company's CEO has a history of entrepreneurship and tech, there's a better chance the company will be able to grow or remain strong.
<h3>3. Develop a five-year plan.</h3>
Rosenberg writes that he's a big fan of the following advice from the musician, satirist, and mathematician Tom Lehrer: "Life is like a sewer: What you get out of it depends on what you put into it."
He and Schmidt recommend that young professionals write a five-year plan that answers the following: "Where do you want to be? What do you want to do? How much do you want to make? If you saw this job on a website, what would the posting look like? What does your résumé look like?" Even try to get an idea of where you'd like to be 10 years from now.
In the context of this ideal, figure out how you'll take advantage of your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses. And if you conclude that you're ready to start your dream job today, you're not dreaming big enough.
<h3>4. Get comfortable with numbers.</h3>
"We are in the era of big data, and big data needs statisticians to make sense of it. The democratization of data means that those who can analyze it well will win. Data is the sword of the twenty-first century, those who wield it well, the samurai," Schmidt and Rosenberg write.
That doesn't mean you should rush out to grab a stats textbook if you never studied it in school, but you should at least be familiar with the way your company crunches data and how you can use that information to perform at a higher level.
<h3>5. Learn as much as possible about your company and industry.</h3>
"At Google, we always tell people who come to us seeking advice to ingest <a href="https://investor.google.com/corporate/2004/ipo-founders-letter.html">the founders' letter from our 2004 IPO</a> and all the internal strategy memos that Eric and Larry [Page] subsequently wrote," Schmidt and Rosenberg write. They explain that most people at the company think they're too busy to read them, but that they're missing out by not prioritizing their company's values and strategy.
Do the same at your own company, and don't stop there. Be on top of industry news and develop a network of other people in your field and keep each other informed, the authors explain.
An easy way to do this is to use Twitter to connect to your industry's power players and essential news outlets.
<h3>6. Prepare an elevator pitch of your current and future goals.</h3>
Imagine that you run into your CEO in the hallway and they ask you what you're working on. You've only got 30 seconds.
This shouldn't be just a rhetorical exercise, Schmidt and Rosenberg explain. You should always be able to concisely explain what you're working on, what's driving it, how your success is being measured, and how it fits into the big picture.
And if you're looking for a job, you should be able to, in the span of 30 seconds, highlight the most interesting parts of your résumé and explain how you would like to make an impact at the company you're going to interview with. "What can you say that no one else can?" they ask.
<h3>7. Go somewhere new.</h3>
Schmidt and Rosenberg say if you have a chance to start your career in a place outside of your comfort zone, you should go for it.
Business, "regardless of size or scope, is permanently global, while humans are naturally provincial." Don't get trapped in a bubble where you subconsciously assume that all of your clients and the rest of the industry inhabits the same part of the world as you do.
They recommend taking any opportunities to work abroad at your company while you're young, and if those opportunities don't arise, then get an idea of your industry's presence in other parts of the world whenever you travel. For example, if you're in media, pick up a newspaper at whatever place you're visiting and see how they may have been interpreting news differently from where you're coming from.
<h3>8. Find a way to combine passion and contribution.</h3>
In her Barnard commencement speech, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said, "It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution."
Schmidt and Rosenberg agree that one of your everlasting career goals should be finding a way to not only love what you do, but do something that provides you with a comfortable life and makes an impact on the world.
Of course, the authors understand the difficulty of striking this balance and recommend a measured approach. "Make your five-years-out ideal job closer to your if-only-I-could dream job, yet attainable from your current path," they write.

Google Chair Eric Schmidt's 8 Best Pieces Of Career Advice For Young Professionals 

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Tony Awards ProductionsHigh Jackman crashed this morning's nominations.</div></div></div>The 2014 <a href="http://www.tonyawards.com/index.html" target="_blank">Tony Awards nominations</a> were announced on Tuesday morning by actors Lucy Liu and Jonathan Groff, with Hugh Jackman crashing the ceremony.
A few TV stars were nominated, including Bryan Cranston for "All The Way" and Neil Patrick Harris for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder" leads the pack with 10 nods, followed by "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" with 8 nominations.
The Tonys will air on June 8 on CBS.
Check out the list of nominees below:
Best Play
Act One All the Way Casa Valentina Mothers and Sons Outside Mullingar
Best Musical
After Midnight Aladdin Beautiful A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Best Revival of a Play
The Cripple of Inishmaan The Glass Menagerie A Raisin in the Sun Twelfth Night
Best Revival of a Musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Les Miserables Violet
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Samuel Barnett- Twelfth Night Bryan Cranston- All the Way Chris O'Dowd- Of Mice and Men Mark Rylance- Richard III Tony Shalhoub- Act One
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Audra McDonald- Lady Day at Emerson's Bar &amp; Gril Tyne Daly- Mothers and Sons Estelle Parsons- The Velocity of Autumn LaTanya Richardson Jackson- A Raisin in the Sun Cherry Jones- The Glass Menagerie
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Mike Pont/Getty ImagesNeil Patrick Harris, who stars in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," is nominated for Best Actor in a Musical.</div></div></div>
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Ramin Karimloo- Les Miserables Neil Patrick Harris- Hedwig and the Angry Inch Jefferson Mays- A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Bryce Pinkham- A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Andy Karl- Rocky
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Idina Menzel- If/Then Mary Bridget Davis - A Night with Janice Joplin Jessie Mueller- Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Kelli O'Hara- The Bridges of Madison County Sutton Foster- Violet
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Reed Birney- Casa Valentina Paul Chahidi- Twelfth Night Stephen Fry- Twelfth Night Mark Rylance- Twelfth Night Brian Jacob Smith- The Glass Menagier
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Sarah Green- The Cripple of Inishmaan Celia Keenan-Bolger- The Glass Menagerie Sophie Okonedo- A Raisin in the Sun Mare Winningham- Casa Valentina Anika Noni Rose- A Raisin in the Sun
Best Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin - Aladdin Douglas McGrath - Beautiful Woody Allen - Bullets Over Broadway Robert L Freedman - A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Best Score
Jason Robert Brown- The Bridges of Madison County Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey- If/Then Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman- A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Alan Menken and Chad Beguelin- Aladdin
Best Director of a Musical Warren Carlyle- After Midnight Michael Mayer- Hedwig and the Angry Inch Leigh Silverman- Violet Darko Tresnjak- A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder
Best Director of a Play Tim Carroll- Twelfth Night Michael Grandage- The Cripple of Inishmaan Kenny Leon- A Raisin in the Sun John Tiffany- The Glass Menagerie
Best Book of a Musical
Aladdin- Chad Beguelin Beautiful - The Carole King Musical - Douglas McGrath Bullets Over Broadway- Woody Allen A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder- Robert L. Freedman
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Aladdin- Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin The Bridges of Madison County- Music &amp; Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder- Music: Steven Lutvak, Lyrics: Robert L. Freedman &amp; Steven Lutvak If/Then- Music: Tom Kitt, Lyrics: Brian Yorkey Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night Bryan Cranston, All The Way Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men Mark Rylance, Richard III Tony Shalhoub, Act One Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons LaTanya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Sun Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar &amp; Grill Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Ramin Karimloo, LES MISERABLES Andy Karl, Rocky Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Mary Bridget Davies, A Night with Janis Joplin Sutton Foster, Violet Idina Menzel, If/Then Jessie Mueller, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night Stephen Fry, Twelfth Night Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Sarah Greene, The Cripple of Inishmaan Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway Joshua Henry, Violet James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin Jarrod Spector, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Linda Emond, Cabaret Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Anika Larsen, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical Adriane Lenox, After Midnight Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, Act One Bob Crowley, The Glass Menagerie Es Devlin, Machinal Christopher Oram, The Cripple of Inishmaan Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Christopher Barreca, Rocky Julian Crouch, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway Best Costume Design of a Play
Jane Greenwood, Act One Michael Krass, Machinal Rita Ryack, Casa Valentina Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night Best Costume Design of a Musical
Linda Cho, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway Arianne Phillips, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Isabel Toledo, After Midnight Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, The Cripple of Inishmaan Jane Cox, Machinal Natasha Katz, The Glass Menagerie Japhy Weideman, Of Mice and Men Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Christopher Akerlind, Rocky Howell Binkley, After Midnight Donald Holder, The Bridges of Madison County Best Sound Design of a Play
Alex Baranowski, The Cripple of Inishmaan Steve Canyon Kennedy, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar &amp; Grill Dan Moses Schreier, Act One Matt Tierney, Machinal Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, After Midnight Tim O'Heir, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Mick Potter, LES MISERABLES Brian Ronan, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical
Best Direction of a Play
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie Best Direction of a Musical
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch Leigh Silverman, Violet Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder Best Choreography
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight Steven Hoggett &amp; Kelly Devine, Rocky Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway
Best Orchestrations
Doug Besterman, Bullets Over Broadway Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County Steve Sidwell, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman's Guide to Love &amp; Murder
Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre - Jane Greenwood
Regional Theatre Award - Signature Theatre, New York, N.Y.
Isabelle Stevenson Award - Rosie O'Donnell
Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre - Joseph P. Benincasa, Joan Marcus, Charlotte Wilcox

'Hedwig And The Angry Inch' And 'A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder' Lead Tony Award Nominations

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hollis Johnson / Mike Nudelman / Business Insider</div></div></div>Imagine a restaurant that always has some empty tables.Sales are actually OK, and it's profitable, but the restaurateur's backers are obsessed with profits per table. They think raising that number would make the restaurant seem exclusive and attractive to new investors.But no matter how hard he tries, the restaurateur just can't get more people in the door. So he does something else: He takes away some tables.It costs money to move and store the tables, but that very month, the same number of people visit the restaurant, and profits per table go up. Sales haven't changed, but now the investors are happy.If this bothers you, consider that it's exactly like something public companies in America do every day.<h2>$2.1 trillion</h2>Colloquially called buybacks, share repurchases - in which a company uses its own cash to buy its own stock - are all the rage these days. Pushed by shareholders, US businesses <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buybacks-disappearing-could-mean-recession-2016-3">spent $2.1 trillion on buybacks in the last five years</a>, according to research from HSBC.That's $2.1 trillion not spent on training employees, building new factories, or paying off borrowings. It's not even directly being handed back to shareholders in a dividend that could be reinvested.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-icahns-new-website-is-live-and-he-wants-apple-to-commence-a-tender-offer-immediately-2013-10">In the same letter</a>, Icahn argued that if Apple repurchased the shares, "the result would be an immediate 33% boost to earnings per share, translating into a 33% increase in the value of the shares."But buybacks <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/activists-buyback-pressure-winning-2016-3">obviously have fans</a>, like billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-icahn-interview-after-tim-cook-meeting-2013-10">wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook</a> in 2013: "It is our belief that a company's board has a responsibility to recognize opportunities to increase shareholder value, which includes allocating capital to execute large and well-timed buybacks." Buyback proponents say they reward these long-term shareholders by effectively increasing their ownership of the company, and they help boost the value of a stock by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/contribution-buybacks-eps-growth-2015-11">raising the company's earnings per share</a>. And when there's no other compelling use for a company's cash, this is a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-companies-fund-share-buybacks-2015-11">better alternative than risky spending</a> on takeovers or other big investments.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image">Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for New York TimesCarl Icahn, chairman of Icahn Enterprises.</div></div></div>But the other view on buybacks is that - like the restaurant removing tables - their only impact is in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stock-buybacks-and-stock-prices-2014-8">making things look better</a> than they seem. Yes, earnings per share rise, but that's<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-buybacks-boosting-earnings-per-share-2015-5"> not because earnings are growing</a>. Even their fiercest proponents - somewhat hypocritically - say they're overused.Here's Icahn again, just this month, speaking on CNBC:"I'm the first to say that there are too many buybacks, by the way. I think that many companies are doing buybacks rather than put money into much-needed capital improvements."Icahn also said in the interview that he thinks one reason this is going on is that executives are paid with stock, and they think buybacks will boost the value of that stock.But all the evidence shows that - in recent years - they've not actually helped boost stock values at all.<h2>They used to be illegal</h2>For most of the stock market's history, buybacks were actually illegal - considered to be insider trading - the thought being that if you ran the company, you would have nonpublic information to know when to buy shares.This changed in 1982, when the Securities and Exchange Commission <a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8335.htm">passed rule 10b-18</a>, which, despite a few mechanical restrictions, opened the gates for companies to begin to repurchase shares en masse.Buybacks then became a part of the corporate lexicon, and for a while they did well. Numerous studies found that in the 1990s, companies that completed buybacks outperformed the broader market. Soon, buybacks became increasingly popular, crossing the $100 billion-per-quarter mark in 2006 and taking off after the recession in 2008-2009.Today, everyone from the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-increases-buyback-dividend-in-2016-2015-12">airplane-maker Boeing</a> to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/announced-buybacks-up-50-in-2015-but-that-probably-doesnt-matter-2015-6">pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences</a> are repurchasing shares. After being pushed by Icahn, Apple is in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-earnings-q2">midst of a multibillion buyback program</a>, spending roughly $3 billion in the first quarter of 2016 alone. And a growing number of companies are borrowing money to fund the repurchases.This use of debt also presents a few new issues for firms doing repurchases. On the basic level, as Jonathan Glionna at Barclays noted recently, if it becomes harder to borrow (which appears to be happening), the spigot that allows the face-saving buybacks will be shut off.Analysts have been concerned about the historic size of US companies' debt for some time, and buybacks are contributing to this burden - again without doing anything to grow a business or generate additional cash flow that could help make sure the debt is paid down.Think of it in terms of the restaurant: If the restaurateur had taken a loan to remove the tables, he'd have debt to repay, but no additional income to pay it with.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Dragan Radovanovic/Business Insider</div></div></div><h2>Why are companies buying themselves?</h2>There are a two answers to this question - one theoretical, one practical.Companies don't want to just sit on money, much for the same reason that investors don't like holding piles of cash either: Inflation erodes the value of the cash, so putting it to work makes sense.During periods of economic growth, it is better to allocate profits to capital (like a factory) or labor. This is an investment in the future of the firm, but it is also risky because the economy could worsen.So in periods of economic uncertainty - like right now - companies choose to give cash to shareholders instead."I'm very sympathetic to companies buying back shares," Mike Thompson, head of S&amp;P Investment Advisory Services, told Business Insider. "In an environment like this return cash to shareholders keeps them pleased with the short-term gains while not committing to large investments that could hurt performance."<h2>Making it all look better</h2>Theoretically that all sounds great, but practically speaking, a company engages in buybacks because its stock is cheap. For instance, every time Berkshire Hathaway's share price falls under a certain level, Warren Buffett said that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/berkshire-hathaway-meeting-live-stream-2016-4">he automatically snaps up shares</a>.Then if the value of the company goes back up, the company can always reissue the shares and use the gain to fund other projects. And it simply makes them look good. This use of buybacks as an image booster has become one of the most divisive ideas about repurchases, with many analysts and market watchers calling it "financial engineering."One of the most tracked measures of a company's performance is earnings per share. EPS numbers usually are the first thing investors and the media look for in a business's results - and whether the number beat expectations set by industry and sell-side research analysts at financial firms.Critics of buybacks say they're the easiest way to game the system and come in above EPS forecasts, thus making a company look better. Since EPS is generated by dividing profits by shares in the market, if you shrink the number of shares, the EPS will rise. One company that has faced scathing criticism over this issue is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-corporate-america-history-2016-6">IBM</a>, in particular from billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Andy Kiersz/Business Insider" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/575f22fe910584145c8c891c-960/ibm-buybacks-v2.png"></a>Andy Kiersz/Business Insider</div></div></div><h2>IBM shows us how it works</h2>IBM spent $4.6 billion in buybacks last year alone, and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-buybacks-cannibalized/">$125 billion</a> in the decade prior, according to Reuters. Here's what it has to show for its efforts: In the past five years, its total share count is down by about one-fifth, and earnings per share are up 15%. But actual net income in the same period? Down 11%. Sales have fallen, too. Druckenmiller, who has been betting against IBM since 2013, cited the buybacks (rather than investment in the business) as a factor when he first made his case publicly against the company. "They should be investing and taking on the challenge of the Amazons of the world. Instead they're cutting costs, they're buying back stock so their earnings look good," he told Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle in late 2013. "Very short-term thinking. When I look out on a couple of years I would think they've got issues." And lately he has argued that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/druckenmiller-thinks-fed-is-setting-world-up-for-disaster-2016-5">this use of capital is a problem</a> across corporate America."The corporate sector today is stuck in a vicious cycle of earnings management, questionable allocation of capital, low productivity, declining margins and growing indebtedness," Druckenmiller said in May. "You can only live on your seed corn so long."<h2>The meaning for the market</h2>Whatever the reason companies are buying back their own stock, it is becoming on of the biggest trends of the post-financial-crisis stock market.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buybacks-disappearing-could-mean-recession-2016-3">According to research by HSBC</a>, buybacks have been the largest source of net demand for the stock market since 2009.The problem is that the buybacks may not be working. According to data from FactSet's Andrew Birstingl, the performance of companies engaging in buybacks has been disappointing."In the past year, companies repurchasing shares saw an excess weighted cumulative return of -1.9% relative to the benchmark, while companies not repurchasing shares saw a return of 9.8% relative to the benchmark," Birstingl wrote in his quarterly look at buybacks.On a three-year horizon, those companies buying back shares ended up with a -2.9% return against a gain of 11.5% for those not doing repurchases. IBM, incidentally, has lost about $50 billion in market value since the end of 2013, or about 30%.Additionally, a study by Inmoo Lee of the KAIST College of Business, Yuen Jung Park of Hallym University, and Neil D. Pearson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2694355">companies that completed buybacks</a> outperformed the benchmark prior to 2001. Firms that completed share repurchases between 2002 and 2006, however, have not generated any better returns since that time than those who did not.Based on this research, for both the short- and long-term, buybacks aren't helping share prices.So why do them at all? <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2694355">According to Lee, Park, and Pearson</a>, it may just be an image play. Here are the researchers (emphasis ours):However, it is very plausible that in recent years, firms are more pressured to return cash back to investors who are aware of the market's positive reaction to buyback announcements and want to earn even higher returns after experiencing positive returns as Carl Icahn pressed Apple to buyback more shares. Alternatively, it is possible that managers whose compensation is tightly linked to stock performance become more aware of buyback's positive announcement effects in recent years and use buyback announcements to boost up stock prices for their own benefits. If these non-fundamental related motivations drive buyback waves in recent up markets, we would expect poorer performance of these.In other words, all those theoretical capital-allocation reasons mean nothing. It's about image. "The Price of Profits," our series with Marketplace, looks at what happens when profits become a company's product. For more, visit <a href="http://priceofprofits.org/" target="_blank" data-referer-safe="1" data-referer-original-href="http://priceofprofits.org">priceofprofits.org</a>.

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