Note: This page has been archived as of March 17, 2026, and links may no longer work. Please fill out our General Inquiry form if you have any questions.
March 2026 Newsletter Content Overview
- General
- Farewell from Heidi
- Accounting and Grants
- Grants: Effort reporting cycle update
- Payments and Procurement
- New checklists for Pay/Pro requests
- Conference Registration Taxability
- Upcoming ProCard/CTA and Travel Trainings and Classes–this week!
- HR/Payroll
- Spring quarter I-9 reminders
- Foreign National Services
- Premium Processing Fee Increase
GENERAL
Farewell from Heidi
Hello and Happy Spring!
This is my last missive before I retire on April 1 (no joke). It is a very weird feeling to be stepping away from daily contact with my treasured colleagues and collaborators, but the time is right for y’all to enjoy new leadership and fresh perspectives and for me to sleep in, read, travel, weave, make music, write, garden, take long walks, pet cats and sip my coffee (and other beverages) slowly.
I’m hard-pressed to express just how thankful I am to Cara, Amy, Jack, Jim, Michael, Jason, Sam, Gabrielle, Katie, Jenny, Dahlia, Will, Josh, Maureen, donna, Alice, Lisa, Veronica, MiKaela, Ashley, Brandy, Sophia, Kylie, Marian, Andrea, and Andrew—a.k.a., the CAS Administrative Support Team–for all your persistence, hard work, good humor, and endless inspiration.
If you have not already, I hope everyone reading this newsletter will get a chance to meet some of our colleagues supporting the new CAS cohorts. In addition to the HR Managers and Finance Analysts reporting to Ivy and Robert, respectively, I have been privileged to work with Jake and Taylor, the creative and insightful Administrative Assistant Supervisors bringing stability, trust and comradery to the Languages, Social Sciences 1 and Performing Arts cohorts. Reporting to them are teams of administrative assistants supporting cohort units on-site in departmental offices: Misha, Sariah, Kris, Yesenia, Chris C., Whitney, Wei-Wei, Jamie, Chris H., and Lara are some of the hardiest, most patient folks I know. Thank you all for turning the administrative cohort idea into a functional reality.
Helping build administrative support for the College of Arts and Sciences has been challenging and deeply satisfying, and working within the brilliant and supportive culture of the CAS Dean’s Office has been an honor. Linda Nelson has been my champion and friend throughout; she is also one of the quickest, most incisive thinkers I have ever known (and a delightfully irreverent office-mate).
With deep gratitude to each and every one of you, I hand off the baton to the wonderful Mary Ann Valentine. You will meet her in the coming weeks. Please give her a hearty welcome.
Heidi Tilghman
ACCOUNTING AND GRANTS
Grants: Effort reporting cycle update
Effort certification continues for both effort and project statements in the June 2025—December 2025 cycle. In addition to the current cycle, there are past due certifications which also need attention. Please continue prioritizing this task.
Here is the status of effort and project reporting as of March 17, 2026:
| Status | Effort | Project |
|---|---|---|
|
Pre Review |
128 |
312 |
|
With PI for Certification |
44 |
153 |
|
Certified – great job! |
92 |
507 |
|
Total |
264 |
972 |
Need help?
- For ECC access, visit the ECC System Access page to get started.
- For questions regarding this process, please use our Grants Inquiry form to contact our Accounting and Grants team.
PAYMENTS AND PROCUREMENT
New checklists for Pay/Pro requests
Need help identifying what information or documents are needed when submitting a request to AST’s Pay/Pro team? Look no further! We have published new checklists on the following AST pages:
- Payments
- Purchasing
- Reimbursements
- Vendor Contracts
These detailed checklists are designed to clarify what information and documentation is needed to avoid the pitfalls that delay payment. We recommend reviewing these checklists to ensure you’re up-to-date with submission best practices, and we encourage you to share them with your unit members (including faculty!).
Conference Registration Taxability
Washington State changed the taxability for some items on October 1, 2025. We have recently been informed of some specific changes pertaining to conference registrations.
Registration for conferences taking place in Washington State will be considered taxable, and if no sales tax was originally charged, use tax will be added during the reimbursement or ProCard reconciliation process. You will also see a new expense item on travel reimbursements that specifies that the conference takes place in Washington State.
Registrations for conferences taking place outside of Washington State will continue to be considered non-taxable, and the process will not change.
Upcoming ProCard/CTA and Travel Trainings and Classes—this week!
Procurement Services often hosts training opportunities that are great ways to learn from the experts about new-to-you processes and stay current on new information. A few upcoming options include:
- ProCard Verification Class: March 18 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (registration required)
- Central Travel Account (CTA) Verification Class: March 19 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (registration required)
- UW Travel Information Meeting: March 19 from 10:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. (Zoom link and meeting details)
For more information on the ProCard and CTA trainings and other opportunities, visit the Procurement Training website.
HR/PAYROLL
Spring quarter I-9 reminders
As a reminder, AST will be offering increased I-9 appointment availability during the first week of spring quarter between March 30 and April 3. Please encourage your incoming spring hires to schedule an I-9 appointment with our team as soon as possible.
Please contact teamcas-i9@uw.edu if you or your hires have any questions.
FOREIGN NATIONAL SERVICES
Premium Processing Fee Increase
For petitions received by USCIS after March 1, 2026, a new premium processing fee of $2,965 is in effect. We will be in touch regarding any pending cases affected by this change. Please reach out to the Foreign National Services team at teamcas@uw.edu with any questions or concerns.
As always, please fill out our General Inquiry Form (preferred) or email teamcas@uw.edu if you have any questions or concerns.
Administrative Support Team
Last Updated: