E-Colleague

MyGFU will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance beginning Wednesday, Dec. 29. at 5:30 p.m. through Sunday afternoon, Jan. 2, 2011.

On Friday, Dec. 17, the $5,250 tax break for tuition assistance from employers was extended for another two years. Section 127 of the U. S. tax code allows George Fox employees to exclude from income up to this amount each year in tuition remission they receive for graduate courses. (This exclusion does not apply to graduate tuition remission for spouses.) This exclusion would have expired on Dec. 31, 2010, had Congress not acted to extend it.

Please note: All undergraduate tuition remission to employees, spouses and dependents is excluded from income under Section 117 of the tax code, which applies to employees of educational institutions.

The bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama late last week that extended what is commonly referred to as the Bush tax cuts contains a provision that will affect employees’ net pay for one year only.

The payroll (Social Security) tax is being reduced by 2 percentage points to 4.2 percent for 2011. This payroll tax is currently 6.2 percent of employee earnings and appears on our GFU pay statements in the “Taxes” section as “Fed OASDI/EE.” The amount of an employee’s earnings used to pay medical insurance premiums, dental insurance premiums and to contribute to flexible spending accounts is not subject to this tax, so an employee’s salary should be reduced by those deductions to determine what this amount is each month. You will first see the result of this payroll tax reduction on your Jan. 31 pay statement. The Fed MED/EE (Medicare tax), which appears on the row above, will continue to be 1.45 percent.

As you make any long-term financial plans, it is important to be aware that beginning in January 2012 this Social Security tax will again be 6.2 percent.

This legislation did not reduce the employer’s matching amount of this tax, so the university will continue to contribute a 6.2 percent Social Security tax on your earnings.

Each year our Christmas and New Year’s Day holiday schedule varies a little bit, so to be sure we are all on the same page (and off on the same days), following are days/dates of this year’s holidays:

• Thursday, Dec. 23
• Friday, Dec. 24
• Monday, Dec. 27
• Friday, Dec. 31

Best wishes for a wonderful celebration of our Savior’s birth and for some times of rest and relaxation as well.

– Human Resources

Join IT for general FoxTALE sessions and sessions on the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration.

Want an introduction to FoxTALE? Consider these sessions:

• FoxTALE Introduction, Newberg: HVR 211, Jan. 5, 9 a.m. – noon
• FoxTALE Grade Book Workshop, Portland: PDS 210, Jan. 4, 10 a.m. – noon
• FoxTALE Grade Book Workshop, Newberg: HVR 211, Jan. 7, 9-11 a.m.

The start of the spring 2011 term brings the full implementation of the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration. Following are sessions that cover the integration.

• FoxTALE-MyGFU Integration, Portland: PDS 210, Jan. 4, 3:30-5 p.m.
• FoxTALE-MyGFU Integration, Online Webinar, Jan. 5, 1:30-2 p.m.
• FoxTALE-MyGFU Integration, Newberg: HVR 210, 211, Jan. 7, 1:30-3 p.m.

Read session descriptions and sign up on this R.S.V.P. form. See all of the faculty and staff development sessions IT hosts at Schedule of Events.

Don’t forget the all-employee meeting scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16, in Hoover 105.

For those at the university’s regional sites, the meeting will be available for viewing at stream.georgefox.edu/live/commmtg.sdp. A chat room has also been set up, and a video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing in the days following the meeting at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

An all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16, in Hoover 105.

For those at the university’s regional sites, the meeting will be available for viewing at stream.georgefox.edu/live/commmtg.sdp. A chat room has also been set up, and a video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing in the days following the meeting at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

Please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg (HR) by Monday, Dec. 13, if you would like to nominate a support staff member or administrator for December Employee of the Month. Your e-mail should include the person’s name, job title, a concise but specific summary of this person’s contribution(s) to the university, its students, and/or its employees in the past 30 days or so, and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.

The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select someone for this honor from the nominations submitted. The winner will be announced at the community meeting next Thursday, Dec. 16, and will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.

This Friday, Dec. 10, is the final day employees will be able to complete the Best Christian Workplaces survey, so please take about 10 minutes to do so this week if you haven’t already. Just log in to this link and use the access code 2079-571.

If you would rather complete the survey on paper, please request it from Chris Koch. You can then return it to him and he will ensure that it is submitted confidentially. The Best Christian Workplaces Institute will present the survey results in summary format to maintain all employees’ confidentiality. These results will be shared with employees early in 2011.

University policy allows a maximum of one year’s vacation accrual to be carried over into the next year. Any excess accrued vacation balance is forfeited.

Available on the HR website are vacation accrual charts with instructions, one each for support staff and administrators. Please use a chart along with the information on your Nov. 30 pay statement to determine if you need to use any vacation before Jan. 1, 2011.

Please keep in mind that the vacation balance on your Nov. 30 pay statement:

• Does not include any vacation you may have taken in November since those time sheets and time-off reports have not yet been received or processed in HR
• Does not include vacation you will earn in December

Links to these charts can be found at this link. If you have vacation hours that should be used by Dec. 31, please talk to you supervisor about scheduling time off between now and then.

December holidays include Thursday and Friday, Dec. 23-24; Monday, Dec. 27; and Friday, Dec. 31.

If you have any questions after you have reviewed your vacation balance and the chart that applies to your vacation accrual, feel free to contact HR for assistance.

Would you take a few seconds (literally, seconds) to complete a two-question survey? We’d like to find out if you have an iPad and if you’d be interested in finding out how people are using their iPads.

Go to a George Fox faculty poll, iPad Use, at this link. Thanks from your grateful IT staff.

The university community is invited to a farewell reception in honor of Reid Kisling (Registrar) from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, in the Stevens Center’s Duke Atrium. Reid has accepted the position of senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Newberg and will be leaving the university Dec. 31 after five years of service.

Do you have a colleague deserving of the December Employee of the Month award? If so, please take a few minutes to submit a nomination that includes a specific summary of the person’s recent contributions (past 30 days or so) and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.

Please submit your nomination via e-mail to Peggy Kilburg by Monday, Dec. 13. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will select the recipient from the nominations submitted. This award and a $100 gift card to The Allison will be presented at our community meeting on Thursday, Dec. 16.

Interested in living or working overseas, but not sure how to do it? The Big Guide to Living and Working Overseas can help. Your Office of Career Services has a subscription to this great interactive website that allows you to access its abundant resources for free.

Visit careers.georgefox.edu and find the link under “News and Updates” to activate your free account. Once registered, you can network with others interested in living or working abroad, both inside and outside of George Fox, and can access numerous videos and text resources to help you prepare for your upcoming adventure.

If you have any questions, please contact Career Services at ext. 2330, via e-mail at careers@georgefox.edu, or in person at our new location on the first floor of the Stevens Center.

New enhanced financial reports are now available to you in the PeopleSoft menu located under “GFU Reports” in your PeopleSoft reports menu. The “Budget Summary” report is similar to what you have had in the past, but now includes purchase order requests (encumbrances) in the calculations. This will be very helpful in your planning process. In the report “Budget Detail” you will find a wealth of details not previously available. In addition, a restricted fund report is now available.

A training session has been scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 30, from 10 to 11 a.m. in Stevens 307 so you can learn more about what can be found in these reports. This session will give a quick overview of the new reports and how to run them. There will be time for questions and individual assistance. You will need to R.S.V.P. soon to confirm your attendance, as space is limited. (R.S.V.P. to Debbie Cash, who will be doing the training).

Additional training sessions may be scheduled as needed. Until then you can use this link to find a “cheat sheet” on our website that will help you to get started right away using these enhanced reports. Questions? Contact Debbie Cash at ext. 2171.

These new reports have come about through significant effort and tenacity over a long period of time by individuals in financial affairs, institutional technology, and Chris Payne, our PeopleSoft consultant.

Please use all of your stationery items with the outdated oval-shaped logo items by July 1, 2011. After that time, only stationery with the updated logo may be used externally.

You may contact Danette Newkirk in Marketing Communications if you have any questions regarding stationery usage.

The university will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 25-26, for the Thanksgiving holiday. All offices, bookstores and libraries will be closed those two days.

It has been three years since the university participated in the Best Christian Workplaces Survey, and the executive leadership team and I would again like to receive your feedback on a variety of topics such as communication, job satisfaction, compensation, benefits, mission, and a number of other items.

If you haven’t already, please take about 10 minutes to complete this confidential, online survey between now and Dec. 10. If you would like to complete a paper copy of the survey rather than online, you can contact Chris Koch, our director of assessment, and return a completed survey to him. He will ensure that it is entered confidentially.

The Best Christian Workplaces Institute collates all employee responses and provides a valuable assessment of our organization, presenting the survey results in summary format to maintain your confidentiality. During spring semester, we will share with employees a summary of the survey results, including a comparison with the results from fall 2005 and fall 2007. We will then consider ways we can improve in any area where we may not be doing as well as we would like.

To access the survey, please click here, then enter this organization access code where requested: 2079-571

I very much appreciate you taking time to complete this survey, and I look forward to sharing the results with you in early 2011.

– Robin Baker

Don’t forget the women’s brown bag lunch event, featuring Barbara Palmer, this Monday, Nov. 22, from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the Cap and Gown Room. All faculty, administrators and staff are invited. For those at the regional sites, the event will be streamed at this link.

Barbara is senior vice president and market executive of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, and has served on the university’s board of trustees for 17 years. From her wealth of experience, she will share with us her leadership journey and thoughts about mentoring and being mentored.

The event is being sponsored by the Women’s Leadership Development Committee. Please bring your own lunch. Beverages and cookies will be served.

This is a reminder that all women employees – faculty, administrators and staff – are invited to a brown bag lunch with guest speaker Barbara Palmer from noon to 1:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 22, in the Cap and Gown Room. The event will be live-streamed for all other university sites at noon PST.

Barbara is senior vice president and market executive of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, where she has been employed for 37 years. She has management responsibility for two offices in Portland and Vancouver. Barbara has served on the university board of trustees for 17 years and also participates on boards for Transitional Youth, United Way Campaign, Medical Teams International, and Employers for Excellence in Education.

From her wealth of experience, Barbara will share with us her leadership journey and thoughts about mentoring and being mentored.

The Women’s Leadership Development committee invites all women employees on the Newberg campus to join us for this event as we continue exploring leadership development. Please bring your own lunch. Beverages and cookies will be served.