Colleagues,

At today’s faculty meeting, the GSLIS faculty voted to adopt the following policy on guest speaker honoraria, which will take effect from Fall 2024. The following text has been added to the GSLIS Department Handbook (in preparation).

Please let me know if you have any questions or see any improvements that can be made to the text.

Best

James

Guest Speakers

Faculty may invite guest speakers to class to support the delivery of the learning outcomes for that session. Each synchronous section of each class is allocated $150 for guest speaker honoraria each semester. Asynchronous classes are not eligible for honoraria. Honoraria may only be paid to non-academics such as librarians, archivists, activists, artists, etc. How much to pay each guest speaker from the total $150 is at the discretion of the instructor. For example, the instructor may offer $150 to one speaker, $50 to three speakers, etc. 

For guest speakers to be paid, they must send an invoice and a completed W9 to Esther Van Sertima. Invoices are approved by the Chair before going to the Queens College Foundation for payment. Faculty are advised to let their guest speakers know when first inviting them to speak that Queens College Foundation is typically short staffed and therefore very slow to pay.

This policy is subject to change in line with the department’s finances.