The Daily Bruin

If you have not already done so, please submit your December time sheet (support staff) or time-off report (administrators) this week. Please be sure it is complete, 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.Now that we are using PeopleSoft, we cannot easily access your record by employee name to do data entry. For this reason, it would be helpful if you added your ID number and cost center number to your time sheet or time-off report. This will save us having to look up this information before doing data entry. By next month, we will try to revise these forms to ask for this information.

A word about the holidays: Do not write any hours on the dates marked holidays unless you worked any of the holidays — Dec. 24, 25, 26.

A word about the campus closures: If you were scheduled to work the days the campuses were closed, record the hours you would have worked (or worked if you came in). It is fine to also note “snow day” or “campus closure” on those dates, too. (We were closed all day on Dec. 15, 22 and 23; closed two hours early on Dec. 17; and opened two hours late on Dec. 18.)

If you were scheduled for vacation or sick day(s) during any of the campus closures, you should record the time off as vacation or sick days. If you were not able to get to campus on any of the days we were open, you should use vacation for the time you missed.For more information about campus closure policy, visit the university’s website. 

The university’s FoxTALE upgrade to Version 1.9 is complete. To read about the upgrade and the version’s new features, visit the IT website. The biggest change is a new grade book scheme. If you would like to view Fall 2008 grades in the old format, go to foxtaleold.georgefox.edu. The old format will be available until Jan. 31.

For information on updating grade books with weighted categories in the new 1.9 version, see the document on the conversion procedure on the FoxTALE upgrade web page.

Three information sessions about the new features have been scheduled. You can sign up for one of the following:

Newberg: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 9 a.m. to noon, Hoover 211 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Portland Center: Friday, Jan. 9, 1-4 p.m., PDS 210 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Webinar: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 1:30-3 p.m. (Pacific Time). E-mail gdoherty@georgefox.edu to reserve a seat.

If you have not used FoxTALE, you can sign up for one of two FoxTALE training sessions:

Newberg: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 9 a.m. to noon, Hoover 211 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Portland Center: Thursday, Jan. 8, 1-4 p.m., PDS 210 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)

Questions? Contact the IT Service Desk.

Start the new year right by attending the staff lunch scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5, in the Cap and Gown Room. Enjoy food, fellowship, and fun! The cost is $3.

The Bruin Den and Villa Cafe will be closed from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. We will reopen the Bruin Den Jan. 5-9 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both the Bruin Den and Villa Cafe will resume regular hours on Jan. 12, as well as our evening meal service at the Portland Center. We would like extend our thanks for a wonderful 2008 and wishing everyone a blessed and safe Christmas holiday.

The University Store’s book buyback has been extended to Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 22-23. Bookstore hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weather permitting. The store is closed the rest of the week for Christmas.

Please join the university community in saying farewell to Al Zimmerman (Planned Giving) at a reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, in the Duke Atrium in the Stevens Center. Refreshments will be served. The event was rescheduled for Dec. 22 because of last Monday’s inclement weather.

Al is leaving the university to serve as executive director of the Portland-based Northwest Christian Community Foundation, a conduit for generating gifts in support of a wide range of Christian ministries. Al has worked at George Fox for three years.

Student supervisors, please submit your students’ December timesheets to HR as soon as you get them. Please do not wait until the end of December if your student employee is finished working for the month. (Students will see an e-nnouncement today reminding them to sign and submit them to you before they leave for the holidays.)

Please be sure the student‘s name is legible on each one and also include each student’s ID number and the cost center number. Also, don’t forget to sign the time sheet, and be sure the student did as well. If the student left without signing it, please send it without the signature, and HR will hold the check until the time sheet is signed. Reminder: If a student delivers his or her own time sheet to HR, it must be in a sealed envelope — a Federal Work Study regulation.

Some of you may have students working over the break. If so, please deliver their time sheets to HR as soon as they have finished their last shift. Time sheets must be received no later than Monday, Jan. 5, in order for the student to be paid on the Jan. 9 pay day, but we need as many as possible before then.

Thanks very much,
HR 

Bedford Holmes’ (Tilikum) farewell event, scheduled from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, will now be in the Duke Atrium in the Stevens Center. Please note the location change. The event will be held weather permitting.

Friday, Dec. 19: Closed at 5 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 20-28: Closed
Monday-Wednesday, Dec. 29-31: Open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday-Sunday, Jan. 1-4: Closed
Monday-Friday, Jan. 5-9: Open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 10-11: Closed
Monday, Jan. 12: Open at 6 a.m. 

When there is an emergency campus closure, usually due to inclement weather as was the case earlier this week (and may occur again before winter is over), the university’s policy indicates the following in the Employee Handbook, Section 7.1 Emergency Closure:

• If the university is closed, employees are paid as if they worked.
• If the university has a late opening and/or early closure, employees who work are paid for a full work day.
• If employees cannot make it in, their absence is covered by the use of vacation or is unpaid if vacation is not available.
• Employees who are required to work to assist with facilities and safety issues as a result of the weather (primarily Plant Services employees) will be given time off within the following 30 days equal to the time they worked during the closure.

In addition, employees who happen to be on vacation or using sick leave the day of a closure should record those days/hours as vacation or sick leave the same as they would had the campus been open.

The Department of Performing Arts is selling poinsettias. Red or white are available for $5 each or three for $10. Call ext. 2620 to purchase.

The University Store’s book buyback is Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 17-19, near the store’s main entrance in the SUB. Hours for buyback are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. See what your books are worth by going to store.georgefox.edu. Select “Main Store” and then “Sell Textbooks” at the top of the screen.

Bon Appetit will serve its annual Christmas banquet from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, in the Klages Dining Room. The featured menu item will be roast baron of beef along with holiday treats including egg nog, pumpkin pie, apple-cranberry crisp, and   chocolate chip cheesecake.

Weather permitting, a large group of Dickens carolers will entertain and stroll throughout the dining room. The dinner is free to all students on meal plans, and only $10 per person to the rest of the campus community. Please come in and join us! Questions? Call ext. 2500.

A significant number of our international students will be staying on campus during Christmas break, Dec. 20 through Jan. 11. We are looking for people who would like to invite some international students into their home for a meal or activity during this time.

As always, one of our goals is to help international students learn more about American families and to develop relationships. Christmas break is a great time for this to happen. If you are interested in sharing a meal, activity, or Christmas tradition with an international student, please contact Alex Pia (International Student Services) at ext. 2643 or apia@georgefox.edu or Dianna McIntyre (International  Student Services) at ext. 2649 or dmcintyre@georgefox.edu.

Those wishing to learn more about Chinese culture and language may enroll in a spring semester course titled Chinese Language and Culture. It is three credits and meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12:40 to 1:30 p.m. A visiting professor from Wuhan University of Technology, Professor Wang Haiyeen, will teach the class. She teaches English and is working on her doctorate in American literature.

It’s time again for the library’s annual wassail party! Please take a break on “Dead Day” and join us.

The Murdock Learning Resource Center is hosting the wassail party for students and employees from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, in the multi-purpose room in the library. Christmas goodies, wassail and coffee will be served.

For those not familiar, wassail is a warm spiced-cider drink.

Bon Appetit will change its hours of service on Monday, Dec. 15, due to “Dead Day.” Klages will not open for breakfast until 8 a.m., so feel free to sleep in. The Bruin Den will be open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the Villa Cafe will be open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Tickets are still available for the university’s Christmas concert, “O Holy Night,” scheduled Friday through Sunday, Dec. 12-14. The concert features more than 175 musicians from five ensembles in the main-stage performance, and preconcert music featuring six of the university’s chamber ensembles.

Three presentations are scheduled:

Two on-campus performances in Bauman Auditorium
Friday, Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m. (preconcert music begins at 6:30 p.m.)
Saturday, Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m. (preconcert music begins at 6:30 p.m.)

Off-campus performance at Village Baptist Church in Beaverton
Sunday, Dec. 14, 2:30 p.m. (preconcert music begins at 2 p.m.)

Additional information about the concert program or the performing arts department is available by contacting Debbie Hawblitzel (Performing Arts) at ext. 2620.

Ticket information
All faculty, staff and students receive one free ticket that can be picked up at the box office in the University Store. Additional tickets may be purchased in person at the box office or by calling the office at ext. 3844. Tickets also are available at music.georgefox.edu. Tickets are $10 for adults; $8 for seniors and George Fox alumni; and $6 for students and children. The concert features reserve seating, so if you have a favorite seat, make sure you save it now.

You are invited to the English Language Institute’s production of A Christmas Carol at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, in Lemmons 8. Enjoy singing carols and a classic story to get you in the Christmas spirit. Admission is free.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to come to the History Club (Phi Alpha Theta) Christmas party at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, in Hoover 105. We will be watching Joyeux Noel, a movie about the Christmas truce during WWI, and eating pizza and goodies. All are welcome. Come and enjoy the fellowship and free food!