Jim Wightman, who chaired the review, commended the institute's national and international activity, near self-sufficiency, and director Lay Nam Chang's good record of communication with the physics department head. Input was invited from the physics faculty members. The two who responded to the invitation were interviewed by the review committee. Discussion of a research title series continued. Little feedback had been received by commission members from their constituents.
Appointments are for three to five years, and the faculty members are eligible for promotions.
The research faculty can direct graduate students. Janet Johnson said she e-mailed 85 faculty members and got one response. The respondent favored the change, but believed that a research professor should not be seen as a full professor. Eyre agreed, and also expressed concern with a sentence in the proposal which says if a faculty member transfers from research to tenure-track status, years of service don't count. Peters said that in the case of a young person with three years as an assistant research professor before becoming a tenure-track faculty member, if the three years counted they would give him or her less time to prepare for tenure evaluation.