Increased mileage rate effective July 1, 2011: For travel expenses incurred on or after July 1, 2011, the default rate of $.255/mile will be increased to $.2775/mile. The default mileage reimbursement rate is calculated at 50% of the full IRS rate and is applicable for trips of more than 100 miles if the traveler chooses to use a personal vehicle when a vehicle is available from Transportation Services. The full IRS rate is increasing from $.51/mile to $.555/mile.

The full IRS rate of $.555/mile may be claimed when:

• The round trip is less than 100 miles.
• The round trip is 100 miles or more but the traveler is unable to reserve a vehicle from Transportation Services.
• The traveler is permanently based off-campus.
• The traveler is not an ISU student or an ISU employee. This includes travel expenses reimbursed under Professional Service Agreements.
• Round trip travel to/from designated airports is 100 miles or more and the combined airfare and mileage cost is less expensive than airfare and mileage from the Des Moines International Airport. Designated airports are the Kansas City International Airport, the Omaha International Airport and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Questions regarding this reimbursement rate change may be directed to Bill Cahill 294-5124 or Erin Johnson 294-5180 in the Accounting Office. Please share this information with employees in your unit affected by this change.

• Chad Hart spoke with Dan Looker of Successful Farming about ethanol policy and impacts. He spoke with Chris Benderev of NPR about farm policy and the upcoming farm bill debate (background info for now but may tape something later). And he spoke with Jeff DeYoung of Iowa Farmer Today about the Missouri River flooding and price impacts on the national and local level.


• Hart spoke with Mike Anderson of IowaWatch about ethanol policies and presidential candidates. Bruce Babcock, director of CARD and professor of economics, spoke to Dan Pillar of the Des Moines Register about the Environmental Working Group's farm subsidy database, recently updated, and what it shows about payments to Iowa farmers.


• Hart responded to several calls from reporters in response to USDA's acreage and stocks reports, which surprised markets with projections of higher corn planted acreage: Fran Howard, AgWeb; Greg Myers, Financial Times; Dick Laymen, WHO Radio; Bethany Pint, Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman; Scott Kilman, Wall Street Journal; and Chet Hollingshead, AgriBusiness Report.


• Dave Swenson was interviewed Thursday by Donnelle Eller, a business reporter with The Des Moines Register; and Rebecca Maxwell, a reporter with WHO-AM in Des Moines, for pieces profiling Iowa manufacturing. Both stories were tied to President Obama scheduled visit to an Alcoa plant in Davenport Tuesday. Sue Danielson, assistant news editor, WHO-AM, also interviewed him today on the importance of manufacturing to the nation's recovery and the vulnerability of Iowa manufacturing to the pace of global recovery. The media contacts were all the result of a News Service tipsheet.


• Swenson was interviewed Wednesday by Nick Krause, a reporter with The New York Times, who had questions on the potential job impacts to ethanol producing states were the ethanol blenders credit to be eliminated.


• Swenson was also interview by Emily Carlson, WHO TV,  and Emily Horner, Iowawatch.org, on the importance of Iowa manufacturing and the President's visit to the ALCOA plant at Riverside. In reference to President Obama's visit to the Alcoa plant on Tuesday, Ed Tibbets, Quad City Times, wanted a comparison of manufacturing job performance in the QC area compared to the state since 2008 and an evaluation of the importance of Obama's visit to the regional economy.

Information courtesy of Jackie King, ISU News Service.

The Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, invites researchers to submit papers for the 7th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development. The Conference provides a forum for dissemination of modern research in economic growth and development economics, both theoretical and empirical. Papers with an India focus are especially welcome.

Please send your research paper with an abstract (in a separate page) of at most 150 words by e-mail to the undersigned no later than 30 September 2011. Authors of accepted papers will be informed by 15 October 2011. All papers will be refereed. Limited accommodation facility and domestic travel support will be provided to the outstation participants as per the rules of the institute.

To get an idea about recent conferences, visit the conference website: http://www.isid.ac.in/~pu/dec_11_conf.html

E-mail Address for Submission: isid_dev@isid.ac.in