Guest Speakers

Guidelines for Honorarium Requests

The purpose for an honorarium request is for class enrichment through the expertise of a distinguished guest speaker, who is external to the University. All guests need to be included in the course syllabus, and the syllabus submitted for review and approval prior to the start of the semester. All honoraria requests should be submitted to the department chair, who should then submit the paperwork to the office of the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. A brief statement of the need for a guest lecturer as well as the qualifications of the speaker should be included in a memo to the Senior Associate Dean. A copy of the syllabus is required by Accounts Payable for processing and payment.

The number of speakers is limited to three guests per course unless the structure of the course requires more. In this case, specific pre-approval needs to be granted by the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs prior to the start of the semester.

International guests may be allowed to receive an honorarium payment, with special requirements and additional paperwork submitted. Pre-approval from the Senior Associate Dean is also required for an international guest speaker.

While other full-time BU faculty and BU staff are always welcome to address your students and speak about their professional expertise, the honorarium payment is designed for guests external to the University, and therefore full-time employees are not eligible for an honorarium payment. A guest speaker is not a replacement of the instructor of record, and therefore the instructor of record should be present as well.

Processing Honoraria Payments

The MET Dean’s office needs a W-9 from each individual guest lecturer/speaker before the University will issue the first payment to them. This is required of not only guest lecturers but all people or companies to be paid through the Accounts Payable System (instead of Payroll). If the guest speaker is currently on payroll we do not need the W-9. W-9s are valid for one year, and need to be resubmitted if it has been longer than one year since a guest last spoke. Do not email W-9 forms through regular email channels. W-9s can be submitted directly through the honorarium request form.

Please make sure the wording for the description does not indicate “teaching” or “taught” for guest speakers. Anyone who performs teaching duties for Boston University must be paid through University Payroll. An acceptable description may include: “Honorarium payments are for guest speakers who are invited to address a class/participate in a presentation/provide a lecture on a one-time basis.” These individuals should have no responsibility for grading or taking class attendance. On the Honorarium Request form, please be sure to fill in the name of the instructor of record.

All honoraria requests should be submitted to the department chair, who should then submit the paperwork via the Honorarium Request form to the office of the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. A brief statement of the need for a guest lecturer as well as the qualifications of the speaker, should be included in a memo to the Senior Associate Dean. A copy of the syllabus is required by Accounts Payable for processing and payment.