University of Washington
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Guidelines for Visitor Entertainment Expenses
Basic Issue
Even when you host a visitor using grant funding, the department's discretionary
budget typically covers entertainment expenses (e.g., meals), because it's
not legal to put this on a grant budget. So unless you're using a personal
discretionary budget that you've generated yourself (e.g., from industry
gifts), you're depleting the department's precious discretionary resources.
Also, if we hope that anyone will put visitor entertainment expenses
on their own discretionary budgets, then everyone has got to feel that
departmental discretionary resources are being used with, um, discretion.
In this spirit, then, here is an updated policy on visitor entertainment
expenses.
In General [revised 2/07]
The reimbursement limits described below are the amounts you can
claim from department funds.
If the total expense exceeds the departmental limit, you may
use your own food-approved gift budget or startup funds to
cover the excess.
In your reimbursement request, please be very clear
about each funding source and amount.
We hope that faculty with discretionary budgets will pay the
complete entertainment expenses for their
personal visitors using these funds, preserving departmental
discretionary resources for departmental visitors (e.g.,
faculty candidates, distinguished lecturers) or for those
situations in which there is no alternative.
These guidelines were established in October 1995. Revision dates
for specific sections are noted.
Lunch [revised 8/99, 4/01]
It's OK to charge for the visitor, and for a reasonable number
of students and faculty.
Reimbursement from department funds will
be limited to a maximum of $15 per person, and to a maximum of $75 overall.
Lunch for CSE faculty only
Policies for lunch are here.
Dinner [revised 1/98, 2/00]
Policy: For people other than the visitor,
reimbursement from department
funds will be limited to a maximum of $60 per person, and
to a maximum of $200 overall.
For the visitor, the department will reimburse the full bill (including a
pro-rata share of wine, etc.).
Implementation: If your bill is lower than the lesser of $60/person
or $260 (that is, we include the visitor here), just submit the bill and
the names, and it gets payed. We expect this to be the common case. If
your bill is greater than this -- that is, if you over-spent but want to
collect the full amount for the visitor -- submit an itemization that clearly
shows the visitor amount, the per-non-visitor amount, and the total amount.
Faculty Recruiting Events [revised 3/00, 6/07]
We will reimburse up to $150 for "collegial events"
related to faculty recruiting -- dessert parties, whirlyball,
any legal large-group event.
Honoraria
When you host a visitor on a grant, the payment of an honorarium is of
course entirely up to you. However, as a general rule people here pay a
"token" honorarium of roughly $100. It's customary to cover lodging expenses.
lazowska@cs.washington.edu