Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station

Multistate Travel Fund & Committee Support Policy

December 7, 2022

Policy

Are you traveling to a meeting?

Contact: Janet Brodie, jtbrodie@iastate.edu, 294-0875

In CALS, the Ag Experiment Station offers reimbursement, up to $1,500, for approved travel expenses for faculty whose salary is supported by the Ag Experiment Station and who are official representatives or Administrative Advisors on a Hatch Multistate project. Support is restricted to one official meeting annually. The associated IOW0 annual project reporting must be current before the travel support request can be granted.

  1. Travel cannot be authorized until the meeting is officially posted to NIMSS.
    • It's easy to verify if a meeting has been officially posted:
      • Go to NIMSS,
      • Type in your committee number (e.g., NC1198) in the search field; select "Search"
      • Select "View"
      • Select "Meetings"
      • Select "View Meeting Authorization."
        Contact the project's administrative advisor if you do not find a "View Meeting Authorization" tab and believe the meeting has been called.
      • If someone other than the CALS official representative or the meeting administrative advisor is requesting travel support, contact your AES Project Coordinators (CC: Janet Brodie, jtbrodie@iastate.edu) at aes_research@iastate.edu.  There are options available, and it begins with an email inquiry.
  2. Contact Janet Brodie, jtbrodie@iastate.edu, for the travel worktag.  She will confirm that the IOW0 project reporting is current (support is unavailable if reporting is past due.) If you are unsure about the status of the project reporting and would like to check, please email aes_research@iastate.edu.
    • Include the local IOW0 (e.g., IOW05756) and the multistate project number (e.g., NC1177).
    • Include the official posted meeting date, location, and NIMSS link, e.g., https://nimss.org/projects/19057.
      • All expenditures must be allowable and appropriate and have an ISU business purpose that complies with USDA (Uniform Guidance regarding travel costs (e-CFR, section 200.474)), Iowa Board of Regents, and ISU spending policies.
      • Janet will notify you of the status of your support request. Expenses charged to the worktag before the travel dates are not allowed.
    • Travel is for the cost of attending the multistate committee’s annual meeting.  It is not unusual for these meetings to be held in conjunction with other meetings or conferences.  Please prorate expenses so that only expenses related to the annual meeting are included on the multistate worktag.
      • For example, hotel costs should include only the nights you would need to stay if only attending the annual meeting on the multistate worktag.   Similarly, per diems, parking, etc, should only be charged to the multistate travel worktag for the time frame needed for the multistate annual meeting.  Additional nights in the hotel, days of parking, or per diems for attending a meeting/conference held in conjunction with the multistate annual meeting should be put on a separate worktag.   
      • Expenses like airfare and mileage can be fully charged to the multistate meeting because those charges would still need to be paid if the multistate annual meeting was the only meeting attended.
      • Sometimes members of the multistate committee will speak or assist in meetings as part of their committee work.  While these activities may relate to work on their multistate project, the travel funds being provided is only for attendance of the annual meeting and only charges related to attending the multistate project’s annual meeting. 

Are you hosting a committee meeting?

Contact: Janet Brodie, jtbrodie@iastate.edu, 294-0875

In CALS, the Ag Experiment Station offers reimbursement, up to $1,500, for hosting a Hatch Multistate meeting for faculty whose salary is supported by the Ag Experiment Station and who are official representatives or Administrative Advisors on a Hatch Multistate project. Support is limited to one official meeting per year. Reporting must be current if the Multistate project has an associated IOW0 project before the meeting support request can be granted.

  1. Before the meeting:
    • Develop a preliminary budget.
      • Consider implementing a registration fee if the budget indicates a shortfall.  The ISU Extension and Outreach Registration Services web page outlines the process to assist you with taking credit card payments.  (This is the only service available for registrations and meetings.)
    • Email the preliminary budget to Associate Dean Dr. Michael Retallick, msr@iastate.edu (CC: Janet Brodie, jtbrodie@iastate.edu, and aes_research@iastate.edu on the email.)
  2. If the meeting support request is granted, please notify your department's administrative assistant(s) that you have received approval to charge up to $1,500 of approved meeting expenses on the worktag provided.

We appreciate faculty representing Iowa State University and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station on multistate committees. We are pleased to be able to offer funding to help defray the cost of attending/hosting official Multistate Committee meetings called by administrative advisors.