The Daily Bruin

Should you consider purchasing long-term care insurance? You will get the opportunity to better answer this question by attending an upcoming meeting or webinar hosted by LTC Solutions, a long-term care insurance company.

With the cost of health care outpacing inflation and people living longer, people are becoming increasingly concerned about their ability to fund their retirement and long-term care needs. A long-term care policy can help protect assets, minimize dependence on family members, and control how someone receives nursing or home care.

A series of informational meetings have been scheduled. Employees attending any of the group meetings in Newberg or Portland are eligible for an iPod Touch drawing hosted by the University Store. Employees from Boise, Salem and Redmond who participate by joining the webinar also will be included in the drawing.

Following is the meetings schedule:

Friday, Oct. 3, noon to 1 p.m., Cap and Gown Room (sandwich provided)
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 9-10 a.m., VAC 117 (bagels provided)
Thursday, Oct. 9, 7-8 p.m., Hoover 102 (snack provided)
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 10-11 a.m. webinar (access instructions to come)
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Portland 155 (sandwich provided)

For more information, contact LTC Solutions at 1-877-286-2852. To see a video about long-term care insurance, visit this link on the LTC Solutions site.

The campus community is invited to join Ed Gierok (Security) for an informal talk session on “Staying safe on and off campus — tips and hints from your security services department.” The session is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, in the Cap and Gown Room. There also will be a chance to win $5 coffee cards.

Stay tuned for additional topics such as ID theft, binge drinking, etc. to be presented in the following weeks.

– Security Services

Career Services is hosting an internship and volunteer fair from 9:30 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Sept. 24, in the Hoover Atrium. The event will provide students with an opportunity to find internships and gain work experience. Refreshments will be provided, and students are encouraged to bring their resumes.

Because HR/payroll will be going live with PeopleSoft on Oct. 1, the Sept. 30 payroll will have to be finalized several days early to have time to convert the data from IFAS into PeopleSoft and check it for accuracy before Oct. 1. This means the payroll data entry deadline for this payroll will be earlier than usual.

If you have any paperwork to submit for the Sept. 30 pay day, it must be in HR no later than Thursday, Sept. 18. This includes  an overload or adjunct contract, a new W-4, retirement plan payroll reduction authorization, a direct deposit form, etc. Supervisors, any Personnel Change Forms that would impact an employee’s pay should also be submitted (with all signatures) by Thursday as well.

Forms can be faxed to HR at 503-554-2186 if you are not on the Newberg campus. Newberg campus employees, please deliver documents to HR; please do not put them in campus mail. Paperwork received after Thursday will not be processed until the October payroll.

Thank you,
Human Resources

On Wednesday, Sept. 17, Residence Life and the Newberg Fire Department will host a mock residence hall room burning to promote fire safety.  Please join us on the quad at 11:30 a.m. for the big event.

The unversity now has an intramurals site. Check it out at intramurals.georgefox.edu.

The American Cross fall blood drive will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, in Wheeler Sports Center. It only takes a few minutes to sign up online at givelife.org. The sponsor code is “georgefox.” Remember, giving blood saves three lives!

Stock up on Bruin golf products from the University Store for the Bruin Athletic Association’s annual Golf Classic this Thursday, Sept. 18. Save 20 percent on Bruin club covers, divot packs, tees, towels, gloves and hats. Sale ends Thursday.

Dr. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, associate professor of religion and humanities at Reed College, will be speaking on the history of Islam in America from 4:40 to 5:30 p.m. and from 7 to 7:50 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, in Hoover 105. For more information, contact Caitlin Corning (History), co-director of the Liberal Arts Critical Issues Program, at ext. 2673 or ccorning@georgefox.edu.

Today (Monday, Sept. 15) until 5 p.m. is your last opportunity to take the four-day work week survey. The president’s executive leadership team is seeking feedback from employees so an informed decision can be made whether to offer the four-day work week during the academic year. All employees who worked this summer are encouraged to provide input — those who participated as well as those who didn’t, including supervisors. (If you did not work this summer, please do not participate in the survey.)

To provide this feedback, please take just a few minutes to complete the online, anonymous survey at this link:
surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gVvcSaN7Pa53KPd9Vb5mRA_3d_3d.

Patrick Allen (Provost) will present a Faculty Teaching Forum, “Engaged Teaching and Learning,” from 3:40 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in Hoover 104 (Hoover library). Patrick will share thoughts about how good teachers engage their students in the learning process and the benefits of doing so. Participants will be invited to enter the conversation about experiences, resources and activities that foster student learning.

Refreshments will be served. No R.S.V.P. is required. All faculty — full time, part time and adjunct — are invited to attend Faculty Teaching Forums (FTFs). Video podcasts of FTFs will be available at the “Events and Resources” link on the Center for Teaching and Learning website.

If you would like to be reimbursed for driving on Serve Day, please go to georgefox.edu/offices/fin_affairs/ExpRpt.xls, download the form to desktop, fill it out electronically, print out and return it to Jere Witherspoon (Student Life) at Box 6148.

Come enjoy refreshments from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16, as Lon Fendall (Center for Peace and Justice/Center for Global Studies) shares thoughts on his biography of Mark Hatfield, Stand Alone or Come Home: Mark Hatfield as an Evangelical and a Progressive. See why mixing “evangelical” and “progressive” is not like mixing oil and water. The presentation will take place in Hoover 250.

Pictures from the university’s 10th annual Serve Day (Sept. 10) have been posted on the Web. Simply go to the homepage (georgefox.edu) and click on one of the rotating Serve Day photos at the top of the page to see a collection of pictures from the day.

A Faculty Research Forum featuring Kerry Irish (History) is scheduled at 10:40 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, in Hoover 105 on the Newberg campus. Kerry will speak on “Dwight Eisenhower’s Cross Cultural Leadership During WWII.” A question-and-answer session will follow, and refreshments will be provided. The event is sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee.

Student employee supervisors: If you haven’t already been sending the new hire paperwork for your student employees to HR, please do so right away. This includes the offer letter for returning student employees and the offer letter and completed I-9 and W-4 forms for new students that have not worked on campus before. Please send this as each student is hired rather than waiting until you have all hires for your department.

The Oct. 10 payroll has more data entry than any other student payroll of the year because new records have to be set up for all student employees. Added to that challenge this year is the fact that this will be the first payroll run in the new PeopleSoft system. Receiving this paperwork as early as possible to avoid a backlog of data entry at the end of the month will help ensure a successful payroll and pay day on Oct. 10.

Thanks to those of you that have already been sending paperwork these last few weeks.  It is much appreciated.

– Human Resources

If you wish to see your “Wanted” poster photo, taken during Wednesday’s Serve Day, or if you simply wish to see other people’s photos, visit the Serve Day website at georgefox.edu/serveday/wanted.html.

The following parking lots will be closed Friday evening through Monday morning for seal coating (black sticky tar that takes a while to completely dry) and painting the yellow stripes. Barricades will go up Friday afternoon and all cars need to be out of the lots by Saturday morning. Call Dan Schutter (Plant Services) at 503-476-4256 if you have questions.

• Wood-Mar lot, including the entrance and drive from Meridian Street (not Hoover lot)
• Meridian Street House parking lot, including Northwest Yearly Meeting area
• Macy parking lot (east side of Macy only)
• Plant Services parking lot as far as the gate and building repair service aisle (east side of building)

Note: Don’t walk on the black tar or you will likely make a mess of your shoes and track the tar on anything you walk on.

In an effort to become better stewards of God’s creation (one of the strategic planning initiatives) by saving on gas consumption, the university offered a trial four-day work week from June 16 through Aug. 15. This trial policy had the following guidelines:

1.    All offices needed to be covered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
2.    Employees could choose to work four 10-hour days if coverage was approved by their supervisor.
3.    If approved, employees chose to take off either Monday or Friday, leaving Tuesday through Thursday to schedule departmental and cross-departmental meetings.)
4.    Overtime was only paid for hours worked over 40 in a week, not over eight in a day.
5.    The week of June 30 to July 4 was a standard, five-day week for all employees due to the holiday.
6.    It was noted that some days such as Genesis might necessitate more complete coverage for particular areas within the university.

It was understood that not every department or regional site would be able to participate and that participation would be up to the director or VP of each department or site, taking into consideration any potential service disruption to their customers.

The president’s executive leadership team is seeking feedback from employees so an informed decision can be made whether to offer the four-day work week during the academic year. All employees who worked this summer are encouraged to provide input — those who participated as well as those who didn’t, including supervisors. (If you did not work this summer, please do not participate in the survey.)

To provide this feedback, please take just a few minutes to complete the online, anonymous survey at the following link:
surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gVvcSaN7Pa53KPd9Vb5mRA_3d_3d.

Thank you,
Human Resources

We are looking for volunteers to help build lunch boxes for Selah’s 600 participants. We will put the lunches together as much as we can from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, and then place the cold packs and sandwiches in them on Saturday from 8:15 to 9 a.m. Both lunch-building sessions will meet in the Cap and Gown Room. All volunteers will recieve $10 off their Selah registration fee.

Please contact Danya Ochsner (University Relations) at 503-554-2121 or dochsner@georgefox.edu if you are interested in helping. If you have already signed up to volunteer for Amy Lorenz (University Relations) during Selah, we would prefer that you not also volunteer for the lunch building on Saturday.