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Resources for Faculty & Staff

Foreign Program Administration: While You Are Away

Program Director Responsibilities

Managing Field Advances
 The Field Advance is an amount of money issued to the Program Director to meet program-related expenses overseas. Field Advances can be used for student room and board, local coordination, instruction, excursions, books, group dinners, etc. A Field Advance should be requested one month prior to departure and accounting for it is the responsibility of the Program Director.

This accounting process is relatively straightforward: for each expense, the Field Advance Custodian obtains a receipt and adds the expenditure to a ledger. At the conclusion of the program, the receipts, divided into the following five categories, and the ledger (similarly arranged) are returned to the Fiscal Analyst for submission to General Accounting. This also occurs when unspent portions of the Field Advance are returned to the Fiscal Analyst.

The five categories of expenditure are:

  • Supplies
  • Services
  • Research & Instruction
  • Transportation, Food & Lodging
  • Other

Prior to departure, the Program Director should review Univesity guidelines for field advances and be sure to download the preformatted field advance template.

Faculty Per Diem: Faculty can be reimbursed for per diem expenses upon their return. These items are NOT to be included in the field advance accounting.

Timing of the Field Advance Accounting: General Accounting requires that Field Advances be accounted for within 10 days of return. The Program Director's accounting should be submitted to the CAUP Fiscal Analyst one week after return.

Ensuring Student Welfare
 Housing: The students' degree of satisfaction with the living situations abroad can often make or break their opinions of the program. It is important that these situations are adequate. When housing problems occur, it is the Program Director's responsibility to mediate the problem and, when appropriate, to take steps to relocate the student(s) involved.

Health and Emergencies: Occasionally health problems occur which require the Program Director's special attention, e.g., serious accidents, pregnancy, mental or emotional breakdown, etc. The Program Director should be supportive while identifying medical or other professional help, as the situation requires. In the case of psychological problems, the Program Director should communicate immediately with the IPE. The IPE will then enlist the help of the UW Counseling Services.

In cases where a student has a serious illness or has been hospitalized, or where the Program Director believes that a problem is jeopardizing a student's ability to participate in the program, the Program Director should immediately inform the IPE and the CAUP Administrator. The IPE will act as the conduit to US-based health care professionals and the student's family and, in addition, will fax to the Program Director the Medical Report for use by local health-care professionals.

Student Emergency Contacts: In response to an emergency situation involving a particular student, the Program Director should contact the IPE, which will then contact the student's emergency contact.

Additional Information

Contacts

Trina Deines, Associate Dean of International Programs
deines@u.washington.edu
(206) 685-8455

Rachel Ward, Budget/Fiscal Analyst
wardrm@u.washington.edu
(206) 616-2440


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