Annual Report for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1980- June 30, 1981

Report of the Director
Before turning to other events in the life of
the Institute in the years 1930 to 1980, 1 should
like to add my own expression of appreciation
to the presentation by his fellow Trustees to
Howard C. Petersen on the occasion of his
retirement as Chairman of the Board. It has
been my privilege to work with Howard Pe-
tersen for the first five years of my directorship.
I have counted on him for his support
in more ways than I can enumerate here. Our
feelings for him are perhaps best expressed
by the following Trustee resolution of April
25, 1981:
To our colleague Howard C. Petersen, our affec-
tionate and deep appreciation for his numerous con-
tributions as Trustee, beginning in 1969, and con-
tinuing as Chairman of the Finance and Nominations
Committees (1972-73) and as Chairman of the Board
(1974-81). His diplomatic skills, sound judgment
and firmness of purpose in protecting the interests
of the Institute as a whole were always in evidence
and never more than during the difficult early years
of his leadership of the Board. Frequently it was
his good humor and good sense that kept us moving
toward goals worthy of a great institution. His
patience and his wisdom were crucial ingredients
to the solutions to sometimes painful problems. He
has our gratitude, our friendship and our admi-
ration, and we look forward to his continued fel-
lowship as Trustee.
In his report, Mr. Petersen referred to the
Fiftieth Anniversary Fund and its uses for the
visiting members fellowship program. Few
private institutions in the world can equal the
Institute's record of support for advanced in-
dividual research and scholarship or surpass
it in the care exercised in the selection of those
who comprise its community of scholars. In
the pages which follow, I will describe various
aspects of this program which, as Mr. Peter-
sen has indicated, is a central purpose of the
Institute for Advanced Study.
Selection
Selection of visiting members is made on the
basis of applications sent to each School. Applications
are normally submitted by October
15 of the preceding year. All visiting members
are chosen on the basis of open competition.
The Faculty of each School constitutes a
permanent search and selection committee.
Through wide reading and personal contact,
each of the Faculty identifies the more prom-
ising and distinguished scholars in his partic-
ular field and in the larger realm of his School's
interests. Some of these scholars are encouraged
to apply for membership.
This has traditionally been an important way
of bringing members to the Institute, but it is
relied on to a decreasing degree. Nor is it true
that an invitation to submit an application is
tantamount to appointment; solicited appli-
cations go through the same process of dis-
cussion and election by the entire Faculty of
each School as do the unsolicited. Final selections
for each School are made by each
School's Faculty.
The largest number of applications arrive
unsolicited. The most powerful force for
bringing in such applications is word-of-mouth
recommendations throughout the scholarly
world by former members. The other forces
that bring in applications are the Institute's
well-established reputation and direct notificahon
in several directories and scholarly
journals.
The major consideration in choosing a vis-
iting member is the expectation, based on past
performance, that his or her term at the Institute
will result in work of high quality and