Welcome to the Sustainability and the Global Environment Research Center

1710 University Ave

Madison, WI 53726

Phone: (608) 265-0572

Fax: (608) 265-4113

If you have any questions or need anything, we are happy to help.  Call or send us an e-mail.

Laurel Fletcher, Room 213

lkfletcher@wisc.edu, (608) 265-0572

Please contact a SAGE administrator like Laurel Fletcher before you arrange travel or buy anything that will be paid on UW funds.  The University has rules for making purchases, and we will ensure that your purchases comply and can be reimbursed.

Keys

Please ask Laurel Fletcher for keys, lkfletcher@wisc.edu .  The University charges $75 for each key that is not returned when you leave.

Conference Room Reservations 

Please e-mail Laurel to reserve either Room 234 (the small conference room in the middle of the SAGE hallway), or Room 272 (the big conference room on the 2^nd floor).  Room 272 belongs to RARC so they will have to approve the request, but Laurel can forward it to them.  If neither room is available, an admin can help you look for rooms in nearby buildings. 

e-Reimbursement

If you have expenses for work that need to be reimbursed, you can enter them in the e-Reimbursement system, or you can have Laurel do it for you.  E-Reimbursements must be filed within 90 days of the expense date (or the last day of the trip for a travel e-R), and within 30 days for expenses that required a cash advance.  Please give us your receipts before the deadline because we may have questions.

Tax-exempt status

If you are buying things on UW funding (including your own money that you expect to be reimbursed with UW funding), please use the UW tax exempt number/letter/card to avoid paying taxes inside Wisconsin.  You can get a tax exempt letter from a department admin, or from the cork bulletin board in the SAGE lunch room.

Work Travel

Contact a SAGE admin before you begin arranging travel. 

Combined work/personal travel:  There may be extra complications if your travel involves any personal time (vacation days, leaving from a different city for personal reasons, etc).  If the flight with personal time/city costs more than it would have for business only, your UW funding can only pay for the business portion of the flight.  We will help you set up a cost comparison.

Receipts

Taxis:  If a taxi receipt is greater than $25, the receipt is needed for reimbursement.  Taxis under $25 do not require a receipt.  For all taxis we need to know the date and your starting and ending locations (for example, “hotel to airport” or “conference location to hotel”).

Meals: You do not need to keep receipts for meals you buy during business travel; you can be compensated at the per diem rate.  However, keep a record of any meals that were provided for you (free breakfast with the hotel, lunch hosted by another department, dinner provided by the conference, etc). 

Hosting meals:  If you are hosting a meal for others:

• There must be students or at least one non-UW employee in the group.  Meals that include only UW employees are not reimbursable.
• You must keep the receipt or a photograph/scan of the receipt.  The receipt must include both:  all the items that were purchased (itemized receipt); and proof that the amount was paid (cash register receipt).  Many restaurants issue these as two separate receipts.
• Make a list of all attendees, including employer and job title
• Maximum meal expenses are listed below.  Meal limits are different for meals paid by the Weston lecture series; please contact Erin Smith at eesmith7@wisc.edu

 Cash advance

Please speak to Martina or Laurel if you need a cash advance for a trip.  The cash advance needs to go through several approvals, so please let us know at least 3 weeks in advance, if possible. 

Flights
All flights that will be bought or reimbursed by the University must be purchased through Travel Incorporated.  These can be bought over the phone with an agent, or online through Travel Inc’s website, Concur.  If you do not have a Concur profile yet, and are a UW employee, please set up your profile by following these directions

Student travel will also be done through Concur/Travel Inc, but students who are not also UW employees are not able to create Concur profiles.  An admin can set up your travel within her own Concur profile, as a guest.

Hotels

Hotel costs must be under the location maximum rate and compliant with UW travel regulations.  Maximum rates can be found here.

If you contact department admins, we can have the bill charged directly to our purchasing cards.

Conference hotels

If a hotel will be paid by the University, and it is the “conference hotel” (the meeting has reserved a room block there, or includes it on a written list of recommended hotels), you can book it even if it costs more than the location maximum rate, but must use one of these three methods:

1. the hotel itself (in person, on the phone, or on the hotel website)
2. Travel Inc, either by phone or on the Concur website
3. if the conference has a block of rooms that can be reserved through a special website, you can use that.  If you are using a room block reservation set up by the conference, please check the price of the hotel in Concur before you buy; in some cases Concur has lower prices than the room block.  This is a UW requirement. However, you do not need to document the price in Concur/Travel Inc (just check it).

If the conference recommends several hotels, please choose the lowest-cost option that meets your needs.

Also, please get a copy of the document that shows it is a conference hotel, and give it to the admin doing your reimbursement.

Non-conference hotels

If you need a hotel and the conference does not have one chosen as the conference hotel, you must choose a hotel that is below the daily room rate maximum (this can be found by using the Travel Rates Calculator.  If you buy a hotel that costs more than this, you must pay for the difference in cost.  (contact an admin if you can’t find a hotel in the right price range)  Also, non-conference hotels must be booked through either the Concur website, the hotel’s own website, or Travel Inc over the phone.

AirBnB is allowed on UW funding.

Hotels cannot be booked using travel websites other than Concur, such as booking.com, hotels.com, Expedia, etc.

Approved Driver Database

If you are planning to drive for University business, you must be listed on the Approved Driver Database.  Please start this process early in case there are delays in processing.  You cannot be reimbursed for mileage or vehicle rental if you are not an approved driver.  You do not need to be in the Database if you will not be driving for UW business.  A U.S. or Canadian driver's license is required to register.

To register for the database, use instructions below:

It will only take a few minutes to register, but a U.S. or Canadian driver’s license is required. 

https://businessservices.wisc.edu/managing-risk/driver-authorization-and-insurance/driver-authorization/

You will need:

• Driver’s license number
• UDDS code for SAGE is 402400. 

Rental Cars

Cars for UW travel must be rented from the UW fleet; one of the University’s two contracted vendors (National/Enterprise); or, if neither National nor Enterprise are available, from Hertz.  Rental from these companies must be on the UW or Big Ten contract.  If you book through Concur or over the phone with Travel Inc, the contract will be applied automatically.  If booking in person at a rental agency, use the code XZ44067.  Information on car rental is available here: Using a vehicle during UW business travel – Division of Business Services – UW–Madison (wisc.edu) 

Please submit the full rental contract/receipt with your reimbursement request.

Driving Your Own Car

If you drive your own car you will be reimbursed based on mileage. As of 1/1/24 the mileage reimbursement rate is $.67 per mile. Mileage reimbursements must be documented by a MapQuest or Google Maps printout or screenshot. Mileage reimbursement requests for roundtrips of 1,000 miles or greater must be supported by an airfare cost comparison obtained during the trip-planning process. All associated costs must be considered (e.g., additional nights’ lodging, per diem allowance) when determining the final reimbursement amount. 

Emergencies

If you are asked to evacuate the building or the alarms go off, due to a potential safety concern, please leave immediately and go to the UW Foundation Lobby at 1848 University Avenue.

Mail

Outgoing mail is located on the table near the loading dock on the 1^st floor.

Campus mail requires no postage.  There are empty envelopes for outgoing campus mail in the bin to the left of the mailboxes on the 2^nd floor of SAGE.

If anyone plans on receiving packages it is helpful if they include the SAGE department name and your room number in the mailing address. 

To receive mail, have it sent to:

            UW-Madison SAGE, Room ___

            1710 University Ave

            Madison, WI 53726

Phones

There is a conference phone in Room 234.

Dialing instructions for SAGE phones:

Coffee pot

Please unplug the coffee pot and water boiler if you are the last person in the lunch room at the end of the night.

Recycling

The University has dual-stream recycling.  This means that paper/cardboard needs to be separated from glass/aluminum/plastic recyclables.

Paper/cardboard:  goes in recycling bin in lunch room

Glass/aluminum/plastic:  goes in recycling bin in Room 207, next to sink

Compost:  goes in tiny green covered bucket next to Room 207 sink.  When it gets full, someone needs to take it to the large bin out back of the loading dock.