URECA PROGRAM

NEW POLICIES FOR 2022-23

 

Gift Card Policy for URECA Students

• MTSU will provide a taxable stipend to the student researcher in the amount of the gift cards purchased.
• The student researcher, in association with their faculty mentor, will be responsible for tracking their electronic gift card payments and the associated card distribution for the study.
• For accounting control purposes, the student must retain their gift card purchase receipt and provide the receipt to their faculty mentors for verification.
• Students will not be issued their final stipend payment until they have submitted gift card documentation including a purchase receipt and distribution documentation.
• Based on the additional controls that Amazon provides, Accounting Services and the Undergraduate Research Center recommend that students use Amazon to send gift cards to participants. Amazon provides a record of gift cards that have been sent and received by participants; this documentation provides support that the cards have been distributed. Please note that Accounting Services reserves the right to request this documentation as well.

 

URECA Funding for Publications

Expenditures supporting publications that will not return royalties to the author or authors may be requested from URECA funds.  Similar to conference travel support, funding to support publications must meet the following guidelines: 

1. At least one MTSU undergraduate student must listed as an author on the supported publication. 
2. Students seeking funding for publication support should email their requests to the URECA Program Manager, Dr. Jamie Burriss.  Please include documentation of the accepted publication.
3. The student may request up to $400 to assist with the cost of publication.   The $400 can be paid directly to the publisher or reimbursed to the student. 
4. Funding is limited to once per academic year, which is defined as the start of the fall semester through the end of the summer semester. 

Support for royalty generating publications are not permitted from URECA funds.