The Daily Bruin

As we begin the 2010-11 academic year, it is time once again to gather as a community.

Please mark your calendars:

The fall 2010 George Fox University Employee Community Meeting is scheduled from 8 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 20. Attendance is required.

Breakfast will be served in Klages Dining Room from 8 to 8:35 a.m. The meeting will follow in Bauman Auditorium, starting with worship at 8:45 a.m. led by Bill Jolliff.

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

As we move into August, please consider nominating a deserving colleague for the August Employee of the Month award. As always, your nomination should include the person’s name, job title, a concise but specific summary of this person’s recent contributions (past 30 days or so) – what was done, who was impacted, etc. – and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.

Please submit your nomination by Monday, Aug. 16, via e-mail to Peggy Kilburg. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select the recipient from the nominations submitted. The winners for both the July and August awards will be announced at our community meeting on Friday morning, Aug. 20, and will each receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.

Interested employees are welcome to apply for an administrative assistant III position in the undergraduate teacher education department (located in the Villa Academic Complex).

If you are interested in this 40-hour-per-week, 10.5-month position (Aug. 1 to June 15 annually/.88FTE), please apply by this Wednesday, July 21. To do so, e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to obtain a copy of the job description and transfer request.

A transfer request, cover letter and resume must be submitted (e-mail or hard copy) to Human Resources by Wednesday.

FoxTALE will be unavailable from 6 to 7 a.m. (Pacific Time) on Tuesday, July 27, for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

– IT

Interested employees are welcome to apply for an administrative assistant III position in the undergraduate teacher education department (located in the Villa Academic Complex).

If you are interested in this 40-hour-per-week, 10.5-month position (Aug. 1 to June 15 annually/.88FTE), please apply by this Friday, July 16. To do so, e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to obtain a copy of the job description and transfer request. A transfer request, cover letter and resume must by submitted (e-mail or hard copy) to Human Resources by Friday.

It is time once again to order university stationery. For detailed order instructions, go to the university’s communications website.

Elizabeth Holme (Print Services) will work with the Office of Marketing Communications in ordering general university (i.e. non-departmental stationery) letterhead and envelopes. You will continue to purchase all non-departmental stationery (including “second-sheet letterhead”) through her.

Orders are due by Tuesday, July 20.

Please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg (HR) by this Friday if you would like to nominate a support staff member or administrator for July 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 (what was done, who was impacted, etc.), and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.

Please submit your nomination by Friday, July 16. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select the Employee of the Month from the nominations submitted. The winner of both the July and August Employee of the Month awards will be announced at the all-employee meeting in August, and each will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.

Interested employees are welcome to apply for an administrative assistant III position in the undergraduate teacher education department (located in the Villa Academic Complex).

This opening is the result of what HR refers to as the “domino effect.” Brenda Burg was selected to fill the new executive assistant I position to assist the dean of instruction and others in the AAO beginning Aug. 1. Brenda’s job change has created a vacancy for a 40-hour-per-week, 10-month position (.88FTE). It will be open only to internal applicants (employees) through at least Friday, July 16.

Please e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to obtain a copy of the job description and transfer request if you are interested. To apply, please submit a transfer request, cover letter and resume to Human Resources by July 16.

This is a reminder that an all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, 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. In addition, a chat room has been set up to allow for interaction. A video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing the following day at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

Google Groups has replaced group e-mail and listservs that we have had in the past. IT will offer a training session on how to administrate Groups in our new mail system. This is a webinar session that you can join from any computer on Monday, July 12, between 10 and 11 a.m. PDT.

Space is still available, so sign up on the R.S.V.P. form. For details on what this session covers, see Google Groups Documentation.

Before July 12, visit the iVocalize support website and go through the four sections available on the Getting Started page. Be sure to run the system requirements test available on this page. If you need assistance, contact the Service Desk at servicedesk@georgefox.edu or ext. 2569.

The login information for the training session will be sent to you via e-mail prior to the event. For more information about the transition, including FAQ and Quick Guides, visit georgefox.edu/email-conversion.

An all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, 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. For best results, use Mozilla Firefox for your web browser, and your computer must have QuickTime Player installed. Simply copy the link into the address bar of your browser. If you have any problems, contact the Service Desk at ext. 2569.

In addition, a chat room has been set up to allow for interaction. A video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing the following day at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

The university will close Monday, July 5, to observe the Independence Day holiday. All offices, bookstores and libraries will be closed.

With June now behind us, please think about a colleague who would be deserving of the July Employee of the Month award. As always, your nomination should include the person’s name, job title, a concise but specific summary of this person’s recent contributions (past 30 days or so) – what was done, who was impacted, etc. – and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.

Please submit your nomination by Friday, July 16, via e-mail to Peggy Kilburg. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select the recipient from the nominations submitted. The winner will be announced at our all-employee meeting (date not yet set) and will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.

As part of the Strategic Plan, the board of trustees requested that the university look into the possibility of outsourcing bookstore services as it did with dining services years ago. There were two primary reasons given for the request. First, the textbook market has been going through rapid changes in recent years with the emergence of digital texts, online purchasing, textbook rentals and the increasing demand for used textbooks. Keeping up with these changes can be costly to both students and the university. Second, more students are choosing to buy their textbooks and supplies through businesses other than our bookstore, thus putting the university at financial risk as it deals with inventory that goes unsold.

After a lengthy review process of four companies (including our own bookstore), the board’s Finance Committee unanimously voted to outsource the university’s bookstore services to Validis, a company that currently manages 277 bookstores (125 of which are colleges, many similar to George Fox), beginning Oct. 1, 2010. A Bookstore Review Committee of 10 people, including faculty, staff and a student representative, which conducted several interviews with universities using Validis, unanimously agreed that, if the university were to outsource, Validis would be their choice.

Validis comes to this agreement with an outstanding reputation for student service and employee satisfaction. They have the highest employee retention rate in the bookstore management industry and have agreed to employ all of our current bookstore staff with comparable salaries and benefits. And the university will continue to provide tuition-remission benefits to those bookstore employees currently using them.

The Validis administrators overseeing the agreement with the university were also Christians and have agreed to encourage bookstore staff to continue to function as Christian mentors. It is the university’s hope and expectation that the Validis relationship will be similar to our work with Bon Appetit, and our reference checks on the company seem to confirm that this will be the case.

Validis has also agreed to commit funding for bookstore renovations, as well as funding toward a new student center, which is the next major building project planned for the university.

The board and President Baker are grateful for the service of the bookstore staff and believe the new partnership will help to serve the growing needs of the university community.

The university is seeking an executive assistant I to work 30 hours per week for 10 months (August-May). The individual will assist the dean of instruction and others in the academic affairs office beginning Aug. 1. This .62FTE position is currently open only to internal applicants (employees). Please e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to obtain a copy of the job description and transfer request if you are interested in this opening.

To apply, you will need to submit the completed transfer request, cover letter and resume to Human Resources no later than Tuesday, June 29.

An all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 24, 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. For best results, use Mozilla Firefox for your web browser, and your computer must have QuickTime Player installed. Simply copy the link into the address bar of your browser. If you have any problems, contact the Service Desk at ext. 2569.

In addition, a chat room has been set up to allow for interaction. A video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing the following day at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

The Bruin Bookstore and its online store will close down business to conduct its annual year-end inventory process starting at noon next Monday, June 28. To strive for accuracy, we are not able to conduct any business during this closure. Phone calls, voice mail messages and e-mails will not be responded to until this procedure is completed. There also will not be any money on hand to make change. Please plan ahead to get all your Bruin necessities before June 28. We truly appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

The bookstore will reopen starting at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 6, after the July 4 holiday weekend. Thank you for supporting your Bruin Bookstore!

The university is seeking to fill this 30-hour-per week/10-month (August-May) position to assist the dean of instruction and others in the academic affairs office beginning Aug. 1. This .62FTE position is currently open only to internal applicants (employees). Please e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to obtain a copy of the job description and transfer request if you are interested in this opening.

To apply, you will need to submit the completed transfer request, cover letter and resume to Human Resources no later than Tuesday, June 29.

IT will be upgrading the FoxFiles software on Tuesday, June 22, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., PDT. There will be no impact to any of your documents since this is a software upgrade; however, documents will not be available during the upgrade. FoxTALE course documents and media located in FoxFiles will be temporarily unavailable during this window of time as well.

Contact the IT service desk if you have any questions.

An all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. this Thursday, June 24, 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. For best results, use Mozilla Firefox for your web browser, and your computer must have QuickTime Player installed. Simply copy the link into the address bar of your browser. If you have any problems, contact the Service Desk at ext. 2569.

In addition, a chat room has been set up to allow for interaction. A video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing the following day at itunesu.georgefox.edu.