Faculty Conference Travel Reimbursement Policies

The Government Department’s Faculty Travel Funding Request Policy for the 2013-14 academic year is outlined below:

• We are pleased to announce that the annual travel subsidy for faculty has been increased to $1,200 per faculty member; contingent on availability of funds and adherence to the terms set forth herein. Please note that this policy only pertains to conferences taking place during the current academic year; August – May. No funding is available during the summer months of June and July. Individual Departmental Research accounts can also be used to support conference travel. Faculty are expected to exhaust their allocated research funds before requesting additional travel funding from the Department. Pending requests for reimbursement must submitted by May 1st for any given academic year.
• All reimbursement requests for this Departmental funding must be accompanied by the Conference Travel Reimbursement Request Form, along with the documentation listed on the form. Pending availability, funds will normally be provided to: a) faculty presenting papers or posters at a conference or b) faculty not presenting papers but actively participating in a scholarly meeting to include: chairing a panel and taking part in a workshop; discussant on a panel or committee.
• Faculty with secondary appointments in Government may request travel support but are expected to exhaust travel support offered by their primary units prior to doing so.
• With regard to faculty on leave, we ask that you draw on other sources of income, such as your fellowship, grant or host institution, where possible.
• Please note that the Department can only reimburse for the following types of conference related expenses: transportation (air, car, train, bus, cabs), accommodations (hotel, motel, inn, or hostel) and registration fees. However you may use your research account to cover any other related business expenses and/or any overages beyond the amount the Department provides.
• Upon your return, please submit your request for reimbursement to Mihaela David. Reimbursements will not be processed if the attached form has not been completed or is missing any of the outlined documentation. Providing there are no documentation problems and/or special approvals needed, you should receive your reimbursement with your next month’s pay.

Department Reimbursement Procedures

• In the interest of keeping the reimbursement processing flowing in our office, please adhere to the following procedures when submitting any request for reimbursement:
• All reimbursements must be accompanied by a signed memo indicating the business purpose of the expense(s) as well as an itemized list of the costs, broken down by category (lodging, cabs/parking/subway, airfare, registration, books, supplies, memberships, subscriptions). If you are seeking reimbursement from a particular account or source of funding, please indicate that as well. If your reimbursement comes from a non-GOVT account, you will need to submit your reimbursement to the appropriate department; we cannot process reimbursements from other department accounts.
• All original receipts must be included and taped on a separate sheet of paper. Financial Affairs does not process loose or stapled receipts. Email confirmations do not constitute as receipts. Receipts must include the proof of transaction (amount, payment method) information. For credit card purchases, you may also submit a copy of your statement listing the charge if a receipt is not available or lost. Please note that airfare and train reimbursements require that you keep and submit all original boarding passes and receipts.
• If you are traveling abroad, you will also need to provide documentation of the exchange rate for the currency of the expenses. This can easily be done by going to sites like http://www.xe.com/ and printing the calculated exchange rate. There is a neat tool on that site called “travel expenses calculator” (under Tools) that will generate an expense report detailing each receipt with the exchange rate of the date of the transaction that you can then include with your reimbursement request.
• If you are seeking reimbursement for business mileage use of your personal vehicle, please note that as of January 1, 2012, reimbursement rate for this cost is 56.5 cents per mile. You will also need to include a printed out map evidencing the distance in miles traveled. Again, sites like http://www.mapquest.com/ are very useful with this.

All reimbursement requests not adhering to the above policy will be returned and significant delays may result.