Guidelines for reimbursement are below. We ask you to keep expenses as low as possible; any money you can save will remain available to fund additional meetings requested later in the year. The Committee for Support of Faculty Scholarship (CSFS) has set the maximum reimbursement for any trip to a professional meeting at $2,000.

Please request funding for your first professional meeting by November 1st. After that date remaining funds will be allocated for additional professional meetings. We cannot guarantee that funds will be available for first trips requested after November 1 of each year.

Expenses for attendance at professional meetings. Please follow the procedures outlined below to enable us to make the allocation of the Faculty Travel funds as equitable and as effective as possible. Again, any efforts you can make to reduce costs, including sharing a room, will make it possible to fund additional meetings.

1. Original copies of receipts for all expenses, including registration, are needed for reimbursement. Please complete a Travel Expense Voucher and return along with all original itemized receipts to the Dean's office (Nollen 2) within thirty days from date of travel or prior to June 30, whichever comes first.

2. Please make your flight arrangements as early as possible to ensure the lowest possible fares. You are invited to book your trip to include a stay-over the night before your meeting, in cases where a substantial saving is possible. The college will pay for the additional meals and lodging, if this plan will substantially reduce airfare cost. You may purchase your airline ticket directly and apply for reimbursement, or you may have your academic support office purchase the ticket through the Internet or on the phone and pay for it using a College purchasing card; the fare will be charged to faculty travel. If you prefer, you may use the services of Hamilton Travel, who will bill us directly.

3. We have three options for getting to the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids airports:

A. A faculty or staff member can drive their own car and park in airport parking. The College will reimburse them for the round trip mileage at the standard rate of $0.55 (as of January 1, 2009) and for airport parking.

B. A faculty or staff member can arrange for a car to be reserved from Enterprise, pick up the car at the Campus Security Office and drop it off at the airport terminal (Faculty academic support assistants will make these arrangements as requested by faculty members. Click here for instructions.). Upon return, a car can be picked up at the airport and returned to the Campus Security Office. There will be no charge to the faculty or staff member for this service. Please be prepared to present a valid driver's license when picking up a college-owned or rental vehicle.

C. Under special circumstances, a faculty or staff member may request a driver for transportation to and from the airport. Marcia Baker must approve the driver prior to making reservations. The cost of this service includes mileage and the labor cost of the driver and is typically in the $65-90 range each way. The faculty member will personally pay all costs in excess of $66.00 each way. If the faculty or staff member has a relative or friend drive them to and from the airport, they will be reimbursed at the standard rate of $0.55 per mile (as of January 1, 2009) for each roundtrip (generally, 120 miles rd trip x .55 = $66.00) to the airport.

• Airfares of over $500 within North America will require an explanation. International airfares will only be covered up to $800 for travel between September 15 and May 15 or $950 from May 15 to September 15. Trips that occur after July 1 will accrue to the following academic year.
• All travel costs (including travel to and from airports) to meetings in nearby cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, or Minneapolis will be reimbursed at a maximum rate of $300. Those driving will be reimbursed at $0.55 per mile, plus parking and tolls. Faculty preferring to fly will pay any costs above this rate of $300.
• Meals, including gratuities of up to 20%, are reimbursed up to $55 per day. Please note that original, itemized receipts are needed in order to be reimbursed. Between-meal refreshments are considered personal expenses, and are not covered.

Additional Professional Meetings. Requests to support travel to additional meetings will be considered four times during the year. The request for the additional trip should include a one- to two-paragraph justification plus the standard travel form with the budget for the trip. In the case of traditional scholarly meetings, the Committee for Support of Faculty Scholarship (CSFS) will provide advice on the funding decisions. In the case of meetings to support your teaching, the Instructional Support Committee (ISC) will provide advice on the funding decisions. Justification should include comment upon the relevance of the meeting to current scholarly or pedagogical projects and alternatives considered to reduce the cost of travel and attendance. Funding for additional meetings is generally approved only for faculty members who will be presenting (or have an active leadership role) at the meeting and who occupy regular, continuing faculty positions.

All proposals for additional professional meetings received before the following deadlines will be considered; those received later will be held until the next date. September 15, November 15, February 15 or April 15.

Expenses for Additional Meetings. The following formula will be used when allocating funds for additional meetings. Once the maximum budget is established, faculty members may be reimbursed for expenses up to that total, regardless of expense line. For instance funds saved on lodging costs may be applied to supplement what was granted for travel.

• Registration: maximum $100
• Transportation: within 350 miles - maximum $250; greater than 350 miles - maximum $400
• Meals & lodging for those giving presentations or chairing sessions: maximum $150 per diem (meals/gratuities alone are reimbursable at no more than $55 per day)

Go to the Faculty Travel Form