Employees may notice a change in their net pay on their Jan. 29 pay statements from 2009. This change is likely due to a change in the amount withheld for federal income taxes. New tax tables went into effect for 2010 as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
W-2’s were put in employees’ campus boxes on Wednesday (except for those that normally receive their pay statements at their home addresses). Please watch for yours if you have not already picked it up. Most of the information on these forms is easy to understand or explained in the fine print on the reverse, but we thought it would be helpful to provide a little extra information:
Items in Boxes 12a-12d are required by the IRS. The amount (if any) in Box 12a labeled “C” is the taxable cost of your group term life insurance paid by the university in 2009. (This amount was also included in your pay as taxable income in 2009.) The amount (if any) in 12b labeled “E” is the contribution you made to a supplemental retirement plan beyond the 3 percent that the university matches.
Box 14 shows the amount of your contribution to the university-sponsored retirement plan and is labeled “TIAA,” which is the IRS code/section assigned to our plan. This represents 3 percent of your pay from the time you began participation.
Employees (and their tax preparers) often ask why the amount in Box 1 is different than the amount listed in Box 3 and 5. Because any contributions you made to the retirement plan(s) are not subject to income taxes, those amounts (shown in 12b and 14) are not included in Box 1. However, those contributions are still subject to Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes, so they are included in the amount shown in both Box 3 and 5. If you add the amount in Box 1 to any amounts in Boxes 12b and 14, the total will equal the amount in Box 3 and 5.
You may find this information boring and/or confusing, but we recommend you save and keep it in a safe place, along with your W2, so you will have both when you (or your tax preparer) files your tax return.
Finally, big kudos and many thanks to Brooke McGillivray, Melodee Powers and Tory Cole for their extra efforts to get these 2,200 W2’s out ahead of the legal deadline of Feb. 1.
For anyone interested in events/opportunities/conversation regarding the Friends/Quaker church, please accept this open invitation to join QuakeSpace, a Google group administered by the undergraduate Friends Center at George Fox. Send an e-mail to Jamie Johnson (jejohnson@georgefox.edu) to be added, and join the 100 other people in the group.
If there is any possibility that you will use tuition remission during the 2010-11 academic year, whether for yourself, a spouse, and/or dependent(s), be sure to complete a Tuition Remission Request Form for each person and submit it as soon as possible. These are due by Monday, March 1, but we would appreciate receiving them as early as possible.
Please visit this link to an HR Employee Benefits page that provides instructions for completing the forms and a link to the forms themselves. It is important to read this information before you begin completing a Tuition Remission Request Form. Incomplete forms will be returned without being processed. For information about the Tuition Exchange program, contact Karlyn Fleming (Academic Affairs).
Shane Roghaar, our TIAA-CREF representative, will be on the Newberg campus Feb. 9 and April 13. You may make an appointment with him to discuss your investments by visiting this link on the HR/Benefits web page. Employees in other locations may contact Shane to arrange a telephone consultation at 866-928-4221.
An all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:40 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, in Hoover 105. The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 28 but had to be changed.
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.
Friday is last day to submit nominations for January Employee of the Month. Please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg (HR) if you would like to nominate a support staff member or administrator for January 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 this Friday, Jan. 22. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select the Employee(s) of the Month from the nominations submitted. The winner(s) will be announced at the all-employee meeting on Thursday, Feb. 4, and will receive a $100 gift certificate to The Allison.
As a new semester begins, consider using IT’s WiFi enabled Classroom Responseware solution from TurningPoint Technologies: rwpoll.com. Contact IT for an account. And don’t forget all the uses that our George Fox-enabled Google accounts can provide you. Read about these accounts on the IT site.
George Fox University libraries now provide access to thousands of electronic books through Foxtrax, the library’s online catalog. Our most recent acquisition is a collection of 45,000 leased titles from e-brary, a company that has partnered with 350 publishers to provide access to published books in electronic format.
For additional information about ebrary and other available e-books, please go to the library’s ebook site.
The Wireless access key has been changed for the Boise, Portland and Salem campuses. The new key can be found on the front page of mygfu.georgefox.edu or by asking at the front desk at the affected campuses.
Those at the Portland Campus are strongly encouraged to connect to the “foxwifi” network rather than the “foxguest” network. Foxwifi is more secure and will soon offer extra features (such as printing from your laptop computer). For help connecting to foxwifi please visit the IT office in the Information Commons.
Please take a few minutes to submit your December time sheet (support staff) or time-off report (administrators) to your supervisor right away. As always, please be sure it is complete (including your ID number), accurate and signed by both you and your supervisor before sending it to HR at Box 6108. (If your supervisor is not available to sign it, please send a copy to HR and keep the original until it has been signed.)
The link on the HR website for the staff time sheet is georgefox.edu/offices/hr/TimesheetDec09.xls. The administrator time-off report is at georgefox.edu/offices/hr/Timeoffreport.doc.
A tip to help you remember to do this each month: Set a recurring appointment on your Outlook calendar for the first business day of each month with a brief notation, “Turn in time sheet.” That gives you one less thing to have to remember.
Please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg in HR if you would like to nominate a support staff member or administrator for Employee of the Month for January. Your e-mail should include the person’s name, job title, a concise but specific summary of this person’s recent contributions (past 30 days or so) to the university, its students, and/or its employees (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, Jan. 22. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select the Employee(s) of the Month from the nominations submitted. The winner(s) will be announced at the all-employee meeting on Thursday, Jan. 28, and will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.
Over the past couple of years there has been a shift in customer buying behavior at our bookstores and with this comes both challenges and opportunities.
Effective Feb. 1, the Portland Center Bookstore will close its physical presence and transition to a Web-based service center at store.georgefox.edu. Â This will allow the bookstore to move from a small space that offers just textbooks and a small selection of other items during limited hours to a Website available 24/7 that will allow students to purchase all their textbooks plus imprinted clothing, gifts, supplies, computer products and academically priced software.
Here’s how it will affect the following groups:
Students
Our Portland and Salem students will be able to shop online at any time and have their orders shipped to their home or delivered to either the Portland or Salem Center for pick up. For payment, we will take Visa or MasterCard or can charge a student account. A vending machine in the Portland Center will provide school supplies such as pens, pencils, batteries and paper.
Bookstore Personnel
John Stewart will move his office to the Newberg campus and transition to the position of marketing and e-commerce coordinator. Â He will focus on growing the Bruin Bookstore e-commerce sales to increase revenue for the university.
Portland/Salem Faculty & Staff
John will be the contact for textbook questions and issues and will help departments with supply needs or special orders.
We are excited about the opportunity to serve our Portland/Salem students, faculty and staff in a new way. If you have questions, please contact John Stewart at 503-554-6125 or at jstewart@georgefox.edu.
We welcome your questions and input.
The university will close Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 23-25, for the Christmas holiday. It will also be closed on Friday, Jan. 1, for New Year’s Day. All offices, bookstores and libraries will be closed on those days.
Effective Jan 1, 2010, the mileage reimbursement rate will change from 55 to 50 cents per mile. This new rate is due to the IRS-announced reimbursement rate change.
There are now two reimbursement forms posted on the Financial Affairs “Common Forms†site. One is to be used to be reimbursed for miles driven in 2009; the other will now be used to be reimbursed for miles driven in 2010. Please be mindful of your travel dates to ensure that you are being reimbursed at the correct amount.
Questions? Contact Karon Bell at ext. 2162 or kbell@georgefox.edu.
The Center for Teaching and Learning is offering FoxTALE sessions for faculty during the week of Jan. 4, 2010.
FoxTALE Introduction – This session begins with logging in to FoxTALE and assumes no prior experience with FoxTALE. Learn to upload class files such as syllabi, set up discussion forums, and add assignments.
FoxTALE Grade Book – This session reviews FoxTALE grade book features and describes how to set up different grading schemes.
FoxTALE Open Lab Time – A time for faculty to ask questions one-on-one. Come and go as you like.
If you plan to attend any of these sessions, please R.S.V.P. to Sheila Abercrombie and indicate which session.
FoxTALE will be unavailable from 6 to 7 a.m. (Pacific Time) Monday, Dec. 21, for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.
An all-employee meeting is set from 3:40 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, 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.
Marketing Communications is collecting orders for name tags. For those who have regular face-to-face contact with the public and need to order a name tag, you may now submit and view your name tag requests.
Provide the name of the person for whom the name tag is needed; title or department; and the budget to be charged. Examples of title or department include: Dean of Students/Student Life and Admissions Counselor/Admissions. The next order will be placed Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.
Marketing Communications has changed how we process business card orders. The new and improved method allows you to place your order at any time directly from B&B Print Source at eorder.bbprintsource.net/avnet/avlogin.asp.
The login user ID is “gfubc” and the password is “gfu123.”
Please contact Danette Newkirk (Marketing Communications) to walk you through the process the first time.
