The Linguistics department requires all faculty and staff to request Chair approval before spending any UW funds (start-ups, research/travel funds etc.). The only exception is grant funds, which were essentially approved when the grant was awarded (see grant section below).
Pre-approval process (updated June 2026)
Please submit the pre-approval form to receive approval for your purchase or activity-related spending.
Requests will be reviewed weekly (biweekly during the summer quarter) by the Chair. Once reviewed, the Chair will follow up with you and provide written approval if approved.
On the form, please select an option based on what you are looking to do. You can request approval for:
- physical (computer devices, food, supplies, etc.) and non-physical goods (subscription, e-gift cards, etc.)
- travel (fares, lodging, per diem)
- services (honoraria, invoices)
- hiring someone (hourly employees, reader/grader etc.)
- applying for a grant
- or anything else! (We can't imagine all the things you might need to do your work.)
If you have any special notes about your need, please include those in the form. It's ok to submit tentative information as a starting point, too.
Reimbursements
As you may already know, the College of Arts and Sciences has changed the way we request reimbursements:
- Faculty and graduate students now submit their own requests for reimbursement through the Administrative Support Team (AST). AA3s can process reimbursements for guests only.
- Reimbursement requests must be submitted within 60 days of the final day of travel.
The following instructions outline how to submit a request for reimbursement. If you get stuck, reach out to our AA3 with questions.
How to submit a reimbursement:
The College of Arts and Sciences processes all reimbursements through the AST. The forms can be found here: College of Arts and Sciences AST webpage.
From the portal home page, please select ‘Payment and Procurement’. Then select either UW Reimbursements for purchases or UW Travel Reimbursements for travel expenses (airfare, lodging, meals, transit, etc.).
If you have any questions, the AST can be contacted directly by using the general inquiry form.
Before submitting a reimbursement, please have the following ready:
- Review all travel reimbursement guidelines
- Chair (of the department funds are coming from) approval in writing
- All receipts ready
- For conferences you’ll need the URL for the conference webpage.
- Travel dates and times (this is important if requesting per diem for meals)
- Cost Center or other worktag (budget number) information
- *If you don't know the worktags that's okay, just include the budget name and select "I don't have my worktag details", and your request will be routed to our Finance Analyst to provide them.
Tips for receipts:
- Receipts in a foreign language need to be translated into English (machine translation is fine as long as it makes adequate sense)
- Airfare - Receipt needs to include:
- Traveler Name
- Airline
- Flight Itinerary
- Total Cost with the cost breakdown
- Last 4 digits of the card used for payment (this is important)
- Cardholder (reimbursee) name
- Show that fare is for economy/main cabin*
- *If you paid for a seat upgrade this usually cannot be reimbursed unless there was a business or accommodation justification
- Lodging - Receipt (actual receipt, not just a confirmation) needs to include:
- Traveler Name
- Company name and address
- Dates of travel
- Room type
- Breakdown of all expenses should include the pre and post-tax amount.
- Last 4 digits of the card used for payment (this is important)
- Cardholder (reimbursee) name
- Transportation - Receipt needs to include:
- Form of transportation
- Date of travel
- Breakdown of all fees
- *If using rideshare services (ex. Lyft) UW cannot reimburse for premium rides unless there is a business or accommodation justification and the name on the receipt needs to match the traveler.
- Last 4 digits of the card used for payment (this is important)
- Cardholder (reimbursee) name
- Miscellaneous – Receipt needs to include:
- Itemized breakdown of items purchased should include the overall purchase cost including taxes.
- Company of where it was purchased
- Last 4 digits of the card used for payment (this is important)
- Cardholder (reimbursee) name
- *If receipt has a mix of work and personal items UW can only reimburse for work related items. Please highlight the work-related charges on the receipt and AST will calculate the reimbursement based on the highlighted sections.
Once a ticket has been submitted you will receive an email confirmation with the ticket number. The email will be their automated response letting you know it was received and will be assigned to someone on their administrative support team (AST). *Please do not delete this email as you may need the ticket number for tracking.
Once the ticket has been assigned to someone in AST, you’ll receive another email letting you know they received the ticket and will reach out if they have any questions. They will reach out via email for all follow-ups.
You can also track all ticket requests via the link at the top of the College of Arts and Sciences Portal page called ‘Find Your Tickets’.
Also keep in mind it costs the UW at least $50 to process a single reimbursement. If the department would like you to purchase and be reimbursed for items, you may be requested to bundle multiple reimbursements into a submission of no less than $50.
IMPORTANT! Reimbursement receipts must be submitted within 60 days of the purchase date. For travel reimbursements, receipts must be submitted no longer than 60 days after the end of travel. You will need to seek approval from the Divisional Dean, if you submit documentation past the 60-day deadline. For more information regarding the 60 Reimbursement Policy see the AST's resource section.
Travel
If you are not using the reimbursement method for airfare, transit, or specified lodging, then you may be able to use our departmental Tangerine Travel account, which charges directly to our departmental Central Travel Account (CTA) card. However, you must familiarize yourself with UW's CTA card policies before using this service.
Most importantly, you must keep these limitations to the CTA card in mind:
- Personal travel expenditures are prohibited on a CTA. This includes incidentals and personal time added before or after UW business travel. Flight dates need to be in line with UW business need for the travel when using the CTA.
- If 4 or fewer UW faculty/staff are lodging at the same hotel for the same time period, the CTA card can NOT be used.
- If 5 or more UW faculty/staff are lodging at the same hotel for the same time period, the CTA may be used with prior written approval from The ProCard Office. Email procard@uw.edu.
- Student lodging (1 or more) is allowed.
- UW employees and students are subject to per diem.
- For lodging, only room and tax are allowed on the CTA.
- Upgrades to airfare and hotels are not allowed.
If your trip does not meet these requirements, you must use the reimbursement method rather than our departmental CTA card. So, you can either book the travel yourself OR let the Tangerine agent know that you need to charge it to your personal card rather than the card on file. Either way, you must pay for the trip yourself and then submit a travel reimbursement request for any UW business travel expenses.
There are a lot of other things to consider when booking travel, too. For example, if you are traveling to a foreign country you may be required to register your travel through the UW Global Travel Security. After you have submitted the form to the UW Global Travel Security you will receive an approval message through e-mail. The admin team will request a copy of this approval message before purchasing or reimbursing international travel. For more information on this policy, please see the Office of Global Affairs page.
Another consideration is the Fly America Act when booking international flights using any federal funding.
If you ever need help understanding policies or want to run your trip by someone to make sure it is following them appropriately, please contact UW Travel Services at travel@uw.edu or 206-543-5858. They are very responsive and can tell you whether your trip is appropriate and whether a CTA card can be used. If your trip may be questionable, policy-wise, feel free to get approval from them first and forward it to our Chair and AA3 so that they know they can approve the trip when Tangerine Travel reaches out to them for approval.
Grants
Grant funds (GRXXXXXX Workday tag) have already been approved when the grant was approved so no additional pre-approval is needed from the Chair. As soon as you begin the process of applying for a grant, or are even considering applying for a grant, please use the CAS Research Support Team (RST) Proposal Intake Form.
When using grant funds you should confirm that the grant has sufficient funds and that your use is appropriate according to the grant guidelines. If you're unsure, reach out to the Grant Manager.
For travel, you still need to make sure your trip(s) follows all UW travel policies. You can reach out to UW Travel Services at travel@uw.edu or 206-543-5858 for help with this. Any travel booked through Tangerine Travel, i.e. using our departmental CTA card, will also still go through the Department Chair and AA3 for approval as well.