The Daily Bruin

The George Fox Civility Project invites you to hear from a Palestinian Christian who’s working on a significant civility project.

The two-part series with Jonathan Kuttab begins on Thursday, Feb. 4, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom, speaking on the topic “Civility, Justice, and a Bill of Rights: A Vision of Israel/Palestine as One State.” Please register for the event here. SpiL credit is available for students.
 
Kuttab has an ambitious vision. For the first part of the series, he will discuss what politics in Israel and Palestine must look like in the long term for two traumatized groups to live safely, justly, and peaceably side by side in a small country.

On Wednesday, March 31, he will focus on civility-boosting transformations needed now for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate a one-state solution.
 
According to George Fox Civility Project director Ron Mock, “Kuttab’s transformative project could teach us critically needed lessons about civility, justice, and political peacemaking. George Fox needs to be right in the middle of all that learning.”
  
If you would like to be connected to the Civility Project, please email Ron (civility@georgefox.edu) or visit the Civility Project website.

We all have important stories to share about isolation and belonging. Often, these stories involve overcoming hardship and adversity in order to reach a place of security.

Starting on Wednesday, Feb. 3, the Sources of Strength team will be releasing a series of interviews with George Fox students, professors, and alumni regarding their experiences with this idea of belonging in their own lives.

What obstacles did they face and how did they surmount them? If they were to do it again, how might they approach belonging differently – and how can anyone hope to find belonging amidst a global pandemic?

Join us every Wednesday to hear about your community’s strengths and become encouraged and challenged to discover your own. Listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, or Spotify!

Questions? Contact Ben Drury (bdrury17@georgefox.edu).

The Wineskin is now accepting submissions! The theme for this semester is “FORMATION,” so send us your best poems, stories, essays, and artwork in that stream of thought; we welcome thematic interpretation.

The editors are open to a wide range of styles and subject matter, but we are particularly looking for work that pushes boundaries and surprises us with its artistic approach and perspective of the world.

All are welcome to submit, including faculty and staff and those who are not members of the George Fox community!

Submission Guidelines:

• Poetry and prose manuscripts must be submitted as a Word document, in Times New Roman, 12-point font. Please title your pieces and remove your name from the document.
• Limit all prose to 1,000 words and send no more than five poems per submission.
• For artwork: Files should be named as the title of your piece followed by your name. Please remove all watermarks from your work.

All work should be submitted through our website. Submissions close on Monday, March 1, at 5 p.m.

Questions? Contact Libby Kerns (lkerns17@georgefox.edu).

Have you been feeling trapped inside recently? Then consider coming to our weekly run club meeting. This is a great chance to run together, meet new people, and connect with friends. Starting today (Friday), we will meet in front of Hadlock every Friday at 3:30 p.m.

We will run together at any pace! The goal for us is to have fun and encourage each other. If a decent number of people show, we could potentially have multiple pace groups.

To keep everyone safe, we will be running six feet apart and following COVID-19 guidelines. We hope to see you there!

Questions? Contact Keoni Lynam (klynam17@georgefox.edu).

George Fox University’s annual Campus Safety and Fire Report is now available. This report is required by federal law and contains policy statements and crime statistics for the school in 2020.

The policy statements address the school’s policies, procedures and programs concerning safety and security (for example, policies for responding to emergency situations and sexual offenses).

Three years’ worth of statistics are included for certain types of crimes that were reported to have occurred on campus, in off-campus buildings, or property owned or controlled by the school and on public property within or immediately adjacent to the campus.

Contact Elrike Shaw (eshaw@georgefox.edu) in the Campus Public Safety office with any questions.

The Hadlock Student Center is reopening for students in a limited capacity. Only six people are currently permitted to use the building at any given time under current restrictions from the Oregon Health Authority.

Due to this restriction, we are not able to allow staff and faculty to use the facility at this time.

Questions? Contact AJ Heil (aheil@georgefox.edu).

Hello George Fox employees,

As you know, university leadership has been examining our expenses in an effort to continue to address affordability for our students. One area of inconsistency we’ve identified includes how we have provided stipends and honoraria to university employees.

While most occurrences are nominal, we’ve found the university is spending more than $700,000 out of our general fund annually on stipends and honoraria for university employees. Much of this is for valuable work beyond the employee’s job description, but some of this expense goes to compensate employees for work that is already within their scope of duties. We’ve found that different departments use different criteria to award these funds.

In an effort to provide consistent guidelines for this type of spending and ensure the university as a whole is stewarding its resources well, the Executive Leadership Team has developed and implemented a new Special Stipend Compensation Policy. If you are involved in requesting stipends, please review the policy carefully.

The policy continues to allow stipends for employees performing university duties substantially outside the scope of the employee’s position. A stipend for an employee must be approved through George Fox Timekeeping prior to the employee engaging in the additional work.

If you are accepting additional assignments, please ensure you have received an offer through George Fox Timekeeping prior to beginning the work. Approval is required for payment, and work may not begin before approvals are received. This new policy also establishes guidelines for what types of activities will not be compensated that may have been compensated by some departments in the past.

Thank you for reviewing this policy and for all you do to serve our students. Working together, we are ensuring George Fox students receive an excellent and affordable education. It is our hope that as we become more efficient in serving students, we will be able to increase our overall employee compensation and benefits.

Please speak with your direct supervisor if you have any questions or concerns about this policy.

Thank you,
HR

Have a December or January birthday? We would like to wish you a very happy birthday!

Please stop by the first floor of Stevens today (Thursday) to pick up your birthday treat. 

Portland employees may pick up their treat at the front desk on the first floor of the Portland Center. Please see Peg Hutton (phutton@georgefox.edu).

Questions? Contact Laurie Fair (lfair@georgefox.edu).

Please join the College of Physical Therapy on Zoom for our seventh annual research symposium on Thursday, Feb. 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Physical therapy doctoral faculty and third-year students will showcase various rehabilitation research topics. 

Questions? Please contact Linda Dallof at ldallof@georgefox.edu or 503-554-2451.

Richter Scholars Program Proposals are due Monday, March 1.

The Richter Scholars program at George Fox distributes funds to support student research activities that are devised, initiated, and carried out by individual student researchers, with mentorship, guidance and expertise provided by a faculty mentor.

The purpose of these funds is to support educational research opportunities that encourage the practices of independent thought leading to independent achievement and personal responsibility.

For the purpose of this program, research is defined as a knowledge-generating activity that is designed to provide new information on a topic, tool, or process, and that proceeds according to established and accepted research methods

Before preparing a proposal, please read through the full proposal guidelines, eligibility requirements, and review criteria by clicking here.

Faculty mentors:

• Please note that several important proposal elements and eligibility requirements have been recently updated. Please thoroughly read through all posted documentation as you work with your student mentee to prepare a proposal.

Questions? Contact Vetta Berokoff (vberokof@georgefox.edu).

Have you been feeling trapped inside recently? Then consider coming to our weekly run club meeting. This is a great chance to run together, meet new people, and connect with friends. We meet in front of Hadlock every Friday at 3:30 p.m.

We will run together at any pace! The goal for us is to have fun and encourage each other. If a decent number of people show, we could potentially have multiple pace groups.

To keep everyone safe, we will be running six feet apart and following COVID guidelines. We hope to see you there! This is for both employees and students.

Questions? Contact Keoni Lynam (klynam17@georgefox.edu).

As a key strategy for soul care of undergraduates during the pandemic, the Office of Spiritual and Intercultural Life is looking for multiple Life Group leaders for our Spring Life Groups series taking place the week of Feb. 22 through April 9.

Life Groups provide a space for students to gather for weekly prayer, Bible study, and fellowship. Groups typically meet for an hour to 90 minutes.

This spring, all of our groups will be meeting either by Zoom or hybrid.

• Hybrid groups will meet primarily via Zoom, but may occasionally meet outdoors as the weather, state and university regulations, and participants’ comfort permit.

Throughout the pandemic, Life Groups that run through the Office of Spiritual and Intercultural Life will also be eligible for SpiL credit in order to encourage students to engage in high-quality spiritual formation experiences that are participatory and offer ongoing community.

We welcome our employees, alumni, family members of George Fox employees and students, as well as members of our wonderful local churches to consider leading a group. Groups may also be co-led with an upperclassman student if the leader desires.

For more information and to sign up, click here or contact the Office of Spiritual Life (spirituallife@georgefox.edu).

Join us for a creative adult learning experience Thursday, Feb. 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. over Zoom. This event will be facilitated by healthcare professionals who personally represent Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. 

Learn how to apply diversity, equity, and inclusion concepts, such as decenter whiteness/decolonize interprofessional primary care. Listen and process the experiences and perspectives of professionals from BIPOC communities. Explore what success looks like to facilitate better primary care for BIPOC communities.

This event is for healthcare professionals and learners. Register here.

Questions? Contact Tammy O’Doherty (todohert@georgefox.edu).

If severe winter weather makes travel to or from campus unsafe, George Fox will shift affected classes to online instruction. Classes will not be canceled for snow or ice in spring 2021. Because of COVID-19, faculty already have a reduced amount of class time to provide instruction, and losing additional days is not a feasible option. All classes this semester were created with the option to shift to remote learning for at least short periods of time.

If road conditions are unsafe, employees will be expected to work remotely if they have work that can be accomplished from home. If remote work is not possible, employees should contact their supervisor.

Following is our process for announcing when classes will shift to an online format. The provost will make the decision to shift classes online for the Newberg campus, Portland Center and Salem site for daytime classes by 6:30 a.m., or 2:15 p.m. for evening classes. This applies to all days of the week, including Saturday. Decisions at the Redmond site will be made by the professor.

Major considerations are road conditions, ice, utility service disruption, and how long the severe weather or emergency is likely to last. To find out if a decision has been made when severe weather occurs:

1. Check for an email to your George Fox email from Office of the Provost or Office of the CFO
2. Visit the George Fox flashalert.net page. This is the first site updated.
3. Sign up for FlashAlert Messenger. You can download their smartphone app for a mobile alert.
4. Listen to local radio and television stations. Each campus will be identified separately. (This info comes via Flashalert).
5. Call the George Fox University switchboard at 503-538-8383.

More information on campus closure policies can be found at georgefox.edu/closure.

IT is missing its yellow and red hand trucks. They are frequently used to move equipment and pick up boxes from the mailroom.

If you have a yellow or red hand truck in your department that’s labeled IT, Help Desk, or Service Desk, the IT department would appreciate it being returned. 

Please email servicedesk@georgefox.edu if they need to be picked up. Thank you.

Have a December or January birthday? We would like to wish you a very happy birthday!

Those in Newberg are invited to stop by the first floor of Stevens on Thursday, Jan. 28, to pick up your birthday treat. 

Portland employees may pick up their treat at the front desk on the first floor of the Portland Center. Please see Peg Hutton (phutton@georgefox.edu).

Questions? Contact Laurie Fair (lfair@georgefox.edu).

The Academic Resource Center (ARC) and Disability and Accessibility Services (formerly DSO) have come together under one roof! The entire Learning Support Services (LSS) team is now located on the first floor of the Murdock Library. If you’ve been to the ARC, you know where we are.

To celebrate, we’re hosting a prize drawing for all employees as part of our rolling open house. The LSS open house will be held through Friday, Jan. 29. Stop by to enter to win a thermal mug, get acquainted with the space, and say hi! We look forward to seeing you.

Please contact any of the Learning Support Services team if we can be of service to you or your students:

• Rick Muthiah, Director of Learning Support Services – rmuthiah@georgefox.edu
• Andrea Byerley, Disability and Accessibility Services (DAS) Coordinator – abyerley@georgefox.edu
• Julia James, Academic Resource Center (ARC) Coordinator – jjames@georgefox.edu

The Friends Association for Higher Education’s Quaker Leadings in Higher Education series will present a Zoom conversation this afternoon (Tuesday) from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on “Care in Times of Conflict: Cultivating Vulnerability and Resilience.”

Sign up here to register.

Questions? Contact Paul Anderson (panderso@georgefox.edu).

The Ping Pong Club is starting again! Everyone, employees included, regardless of skill level, is welcome to come and play or learn to play.

Please fill out this poll and sign up for the email list if you are interested in coming so that we can determine our weekly meeting time. Our first meeting will be a welcome event where we will explain prizes and other fun secret items.

Please email Nathan Redman-Brown at nredmanbrown20@georgefox.edu with any and all questions.

What is white supremacy? What are its roots in the church? How do we, as Christ followers, fight against it?

Join us on Zoom at 7 p.m. tonight (Monday) for a Mathetes session titled “White Supremacy in the White American Church.” We will hear from Dr. Randy Woodley, Andrea Emerson, Michael Simmons, Rory Brown, and Jeanette Barton on how to honor God by fighting white supremacy! Spiritual life credit is available for undergraduate students.

RSVP here  and email Hannah Lee at hlee17@georgefox.edu if you have any questions.