As of 4/10/2025, the group sizes have been reduced to limit discretionary spending, per President Cauce’s University-wide directive. Please see below for details.
The department’s reimbursement policy for faculty, postdocs, and graduate students who have meals with seminar speakers, visiting prospective faculty and graduate students is as follows.
Funding Information
Many UW funds are either not approved for food and/or alcohol purchases, or have some restrictions. The University has a strict policy and procedural steps for approval to pay for meals and/or light refreshments when using a budget that is not discretionary or not food-authorized. Please see the Procurement Services outline for the Food Approval Policy and Applicability.
*Grant, contract, or other sponsored project funds may not be used if the sponsor regulations or specific agreement guidelines prohibit the purchase of food for the purposes covered by this policy.
Meal Reimbursement Policy
The department’s reimbursement policy for faculty and graduate students who have meals with seminar speakers, visiting prospective faculty, and graduate students is below.
For ALL meals, the following is required:
- No alcohol is reimbursable.
- Full reimbursement for guest’s meal.
- Submit a list of participants along with the Reimbursement Request and itemized receipt; indicate the speaker’s meal items on the receipt (circle, star, or note).
| Meal | # of participants | $ Amount per faculty/student meal (includes meal, tax, tip) |
| Breakfasts | Group size maximum is two (2), including guest. | $19.00 per meal |
| Lunches | No group size limit set, but reimbursement is limited to the equivalent of guest plus three (3) faculty or student meals. | $22.00 per meal |
| Dinners with Colloquium Speakers | No group size limit set, but reimbursement is limited to the equivalent of guest plus two (2) faculty or student meals. | $70.00 per meal |
| Dinners with Job Candidates | No group size limit set, but reimbursement total is limited to the equivalent of guest plus four (4) faculty or student meals. | $80.00 per meal |
| Coffee Meetings | We do not provide reimbursement for coffee meetings. If a visitor or speaker wishes to have coffee, it should be ordered with lunch or the visitor can request reimbursement with their travel expenses. | |
Alcohol Policy
Alcohol is only paid for by the department with prior approval and under the following circumstances:
- Faculty recruitment
- Department-sponsored events (through a caterer).
Budget Information
Meals are charged to the department’s discretionary budget, Friends of Earth and Space Sciences.
Update History
April 10, 2025; January 23, 2023.