Friends, We will not have a departmental faculty meeting next Monday, Feb. 14. In return for this gift of time, I ask that you read the 3 messages below: 1) Travel Reimbursements We are getting flak from the bean-counters about the lack of adequate documentation of our travel and meal reimbursements. When you fail to provide adequate receipts it makes a lot of extra work for Gayle, who doesn't need it. In future, such expenses may simply not be reimbursed. Please note: Meal receipts must be original and itemized -- not just how much you spent, but what was ordered. I know it's a pain to ask, but most restaurants are able to handle it, even for multiple copies. If it's really not possible (some out of the way restaurant in Italy), then attach a note explaining why and we'll try. A credit card receipt is not sufficient. Air tickets: If you purchased the ticket through a Tufts travel agent (Carlson, Agencia), all you need is the original receipt. If you purchased it anywhere else you need additional documentation: 1. The original receipt AND all Boarding passes/ticket stubs OR 2. You must provide two of the following along: Boarding passes/ticket stubs, travel itinerary, credit card statement used to purchase the ticket, hotel bill identifying the dates of the trip and the city visited. Incidental expenses: Travel charges of less than $10 don't require receipts, but they may not total more than $25 per day and I must initial the entries on the travel report. In general, more documentation is better. When in doubt, flood them with paper. Most of these rules trace back to the IRS, so there's not much we can do about them. 2) Email migration As you should know, the department, along with the rest of the University, is migrating from Trumpeter to a different email system. Our transition will occur on the night of Feb. 22. Email that goes through cosmos will not be affected. You have received emails with details about the process, which I will not repeat here. From what I hear from other departments, you can expect that there may be some problems -- hidden folders, occasional lost incoming emails, duplicate emails, and various other problems have been reported. It will all get worked out over time, but some annoyance is likely. 3) Upcoming department meetings: Thurs. Feb. 24 (Mon. schedule) -- Discussion of CMP candidates Mon. Feb. 28 -- Report of CMP search committee (we hope) Mon. Mar. 7 -- Discussion of HEP candidates Mon. Mar 14 -- Report of HEP search committee Roger |
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