The Daily Bruin

Don’t forget to attend the theatre department’s winter play, Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley. Performances are Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 3-5, and Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 10-12, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. in Wood-Mar Auditorium.

All George Fox employees receive one complimentary ticket. Students will be admitted free on both Thursdays. Your complimentary ticket is only available at the Box Office in the Bruin Bookstore. Additional tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for alumni and seniors, and $6 for students and children under 12. To purchase tickets or read a synopsis of the play, visit theatre.georgefox.edu.

Please join your fellow staff members for lunch on Monday, Feb. 7, at noon in the Cap and Gown Room. There will be great food and a drawing for great gifts.

See you there!

W-2 forms will be available in campus boxes on Friday (except for those that normally receive their pay statements at their home addresses). Most of the information on these forms is easy to understand or explained in the tiny 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 IRS. The amount (if any) in Box12a labeled “C” is the taxable cost of your group term life insurance paid by the university in 2010. (This amount was also included in your pay as taxable income in 2010.) The amount (if any) in12b 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 W-2, 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 Karen Rathkey for their extra efforts to get these 2,400 W-2s out ahead of the legal deadline of Feb. 1.

The admissions office is hosting an Activity Fair for students participating in Scholarship Competition, Feb. 11-12. It is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11, in the EHS Atrium.

This is a great opportunity for clubs and activities on campus to connect with prospective students. If you would like to reserve a table for the fair, please contact Kate Shepherdson at kshepherdson07@georgefox.edu by Friday, Jan. 28.

The Justice Conference is scheduled in Bend, Ore., Feb. 11-12, and will feature 12 speakers (including Shane Claiborne and Chris Lahr) and the support of 50 organizations, including George Fox’s Center for Peace and Justice. Also featured will be hundreds of book titles, all about the biblical nature of justice (see event website at thejusticeconference.com).

World Relief is co-sponsoring this event, which will provide a great opportunity to make connections with the various people and organizations attending. It will also provide a great venue for fruitful discussions and valuable learning about justice.

Several members of our staff and faculty are already planning to attend as well as a few students. The Center for Peace and Justice is willing to provide transportation and hopefully lodging for anyone interested in attending. Right now, until the end of the month, there is a ticket special of $49. For tickets, visit this link.

Pass this information onto interested persons! It will make for an awesome weekend.

Important: We are seeking connections to a church or a venue in Bend that we could stay at Friday night. Please let Melanie Newell know if you can be of assistance.

Contact Melanie (mnewell@georgefox.edu or ext. 2686) if you wish to learn more or are interested in attending.

Marketing Communications will host a staff/faculty portrait session from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in our Le Shana Hall studio. These high-quality studio portraits will be used on the university website and will be available for professional promotional use.

Please call or e-mail Danette Newkirk (ext. 2125) to let us know what time you are planning to come. You can still come without prior notice, but your university photo ID will be required for entrance at the southwest side (the side facing Coffin Residence Hall) of the building.

Don’t forget Wednesday afternoon’s all-employee meeting, scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Bauman Auditorium (please note the location change).

For those at the university’s regional sites, the meeting will be available for viewing at this site. A chat room has also been set up, and a video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing in the days following the meeting at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

Please join the International Justice Mission for the third and final evening of the group’s “Closing the Gap: Addressing the Mentality Behind Sex Trafficking” event. We will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in Bauman Auditorium and feature the abolitionist nonprofit band Jubilee. Admission is free.

The Crescent’s first issue of the semester comes out Wednesday. Read about Blue Like Jazz becoming a film, CMCO going into new dimensions, and the MLK Service Day.

If you enjoy music by artists such as Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson and Norah Jones, then you will love Holly Ann Rossmiller. Come hear the very talented Holly perform in concert this Thursday, Jan. 27, in the Foxhole at 7 p.m. She will be playing songs from her new album Ravens.

To listen to holly’s music, visit this link.

We are beginning the process of returning unsold textbooks to publishers. Please encourage your students to buy them now at the Textbook Annex.

After next week, we will have limited stock on hand. Also, a friendly reminder that students may no longer receive a refund for books purchased. If you are considering canceling a book, keep in mind the money students have already spent and will not be able to get back.

Thanks for your continued support.

The International Justice Mission group on campus will continue with its “Closing the Gap” series of gatherings at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Hoover 105, as a panel of guest speakers will discuss the mentality behind sex trafficking. If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to drop by and listen and discuss with our panel speakers.

Questions? Contact Stephen Kenyon at skenyon09@georgefox.edu.

Andrea MacLeod, director of outreach and service, will speak at a George Fox Auxiliary luncheon at noon Friday, Feb. 4, in the Cap and Gown Room. Reservations are required and tickets are $7.50 per person.

To make reservations, contact Margene Haworth at 503-538-0604. Reservations should be made by Tuesday, Feb. 1. Joining MacLeod at the event will be students who traveled to Swaziland last year as part of the university’s May Serve outreach program.

The Department of Biology and Chemistry is hosting Elizabeth DuPriest, PhD, an assistant professor of biology and a research scientist at Warner Pacific College. She will share her research in a lecture, titled “Developmental Programming of Adipose Structure and Function,” from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, in EHS 102. All are welcome to attend.

This Valentine’s Day weekend, Feb. 11-13, the Office of Spiritual Life is sponsoring a relationship retreat. If you are married, engaged or seriously dating, you are invited to join us for a time of community, learning and relaxation in Pacific City! Cary and Tracy Balzer, from the Center of Relationship Enrichment in Arkansas, will be teaching about the importance of cultivating healthy communication.

Each attendee will be taking a pre and post test and will be required to attend a spring follow-up session. It’s $30 per couple, including lodging and food (check payable to GFU).

To sign up, fill out this form and drop off a check or cash at the spiritual life office (on the corner of Meridian Street and Sheridan Street). This is due by Wednesday, Feb. 2.

Space is limited to 15 couples, so sign up soon!

We are looking for innovative workshop ideas (on both interpersonal and intellectual subjects) that could be presented to new students during orientation. If you have an idea, please e-mail Stephanie St. Cyr at sstcyr@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Whether you want students to improve their writing, brainstorm for an upcoming assignment, or meet regularly for academic coaching, ARC consultants are available to support students in their academic pursuits.

The ARC is open Monday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from noon to 4 p.m. on Fridays. To schedule an appointment, students can e-mail the_arc@georgefox.edu, call 503-554-2327, or stop by the ARC in the Special Collections Room on the second floor of the library.

The university’s International Justice Mission group will host an event, “Closing the Gap: Addressing the Mentality Behind Sex Trafficking,” at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24, in Lemmons 8. Speakers will discuss the industry of sex trafficking.

The following night, at 7 p.m. in Hoover 105, we will address the mentality of trafficking. And on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. in Bauman Auditorium, the abolitionist nonprofit band Jubilee will perform for free.

Questions? Contact Stephen Kenyon at skenyon09@georgefox.edu.

Do your students need assistance in writing better research papers? Please encourage them to attend an Academic Resource Center workshop, “Steps to Writing a Successful Research Paper,” scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Lemmons 8.

Gary Tandy (English) and Jane Scott (Public Services Librarian) will speak about what steps to take and guide attendees to campus and Internet resources that can help make students better researchers.

Students will be asked to sign in so their attendance can be verified for any professors who are giving credit for participation. Videos and materials from selected ARC workshops are available on the ARC website (arc.georgefox.edu).

Contact Rick Muthiah at rmuthiah@georgefox.edu or ext. 2314 for more information.