Oregon Symphony Ushers are needed for the 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 21 performance in Bauman Auditorium. Â Responsibilities include helping greet guests, taking tickets, and assisting with special seating needs. Â If you are interested in volunteering to usher for the concert, please contact Evangeline Pattison, 503-554-2121 or epattison@georgefox.edu.
George Fox University will host the Oregon Symphony in its 24th appearance in Newberg on Friday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. and employees (halftime and above) can receive up to two free tickets.
Tickets are available on a first-come first-serve basis starting Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 9 a.m. at the first floor Information Center in Stevens Center. Â Phone reservations will only be taken for employees at the Portland and Salem centers.
On Tuesday, Jan. 18, beginning at 9 a.m., any remaining tickets (again, a limit of 2 per employee) will be available – also on a first-come first-serve basis – to those who sign up on a wait list.  If you find that you are not able to attend the concert, please return your tickets for another employee to use.
The concert is a gift from George Fox board member Ken Austin and his wife, Joan, founders of A-dec, to the Newberg community. The Austins have provided the university with a limited number of tickets for its employees. Â These tickets are separate from those to be issued by the Newberg Area Chamber of Commerce to the general public.
Contact Amy Lorenz (alorenz@georgefox.edu) if you have questions.
Place your order online for the 2010-11 Bruin Directory. Bruin Directories are a service to the George Fox University community based on a volunteer staff within ASC.  We apologize for the tardiness this year due to unforeseen circumstances throughout the publication process. Each Bruin Directory is $4 and will be charged to the department account number mentioned in the order form.  The directories will be distributed through Mail Services.  Deadline for placing orders is Jan. 21. Thank you for your patience. Contact Krissy Findley if you have questions.
It is time to think about nominating a colleague for the first Employee of the Month award for 2011. If you know of someone whose recent contributions make him or her worthy of this honor, please take a few minutes to send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg that includes a specific summary of the person’s contributions (past 30 days or so) and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.
The deadline for nominations is Thursday, Jan. 20. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will select the recipient from the nominations submitted. This award and a $100 gift card to The Allison will be presented at our community meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 26.
Join IT for general FoxTALE sessions and sessions on the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration.
Want an introduction to FoxTALE? Consider these sessions:
The start of the spring 2011 term brings the full implementation of the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration. Following are sessions that cover the integration.
Read session descriptions and sign up on this R.S.V.P. form. See all of the faculty and staff development sessions IT hosts at Schedule of Events.
MyGFU will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance beginning Wednesday, Dec. 29. at 5:30 p.m. through Sunday afternoon, Jan. 2, 2011.
Student supervisors, please submit the rest of your students’ December time sheets to HR right away — by noon on Tuesday, Jan. 4.
Please be sure the student’s name, ID number and cost center number is legible on each one. Please total them, sign them, and be sure the students did as well. (If the student is not available to sign it, please send it without the signature, and HR will contact the student.) Please do not send students to HR to sign their time sheets.
Federal Work Study regulations require that students delivering their own time sheets must have them in a sealed envelope.
If you happen to still have any paperwork to submit on a student hired in December, please hand-deliver it right away — no later than Monday, Jan 3. We need to set up students in the system before the time sheets arrive.
Thanks very much.
HR
HR has free tickets to the Build, Remodel and Landscape Show in Portland, scheduled Friday through Sunday, Jan. 7-9, at the Oregon Convention Center.
The event will feature hundreds of exhibits about – you guessed it – building, remodeling and landscaping. If you would like to attend this show, you can request two tickets by e-mailing HR@georgefox.edu. Order yours while supplies last.
The Office of University Relations still has red Christmas poinsettias for sale. The last day to buy them is Wednesday, Dec. 22, so stop by the Pennington House and check out the 6-inch potted plants. “Deals will be made.”
Contact Evangeline Pattison (ext. 2121 or epattison@georgefox.edu) to schedule a pick-up or to reserve.
On Friday, Dec. 17, the $5,250 tax break for tuition assistance from employers was extended for another two years. Section 127 of the U. S. tax code allows George Fox employees to exclude from income up to this amount each year in tuition remission they receive for graduate courses. (This exclusion does not apply to graduate tuition remission for spouses.) This exclusion would have expired on Dec. 31, 2010, had Congress not acted to extend it.
Please note: All undergraduate tuition remission to employees, spouses and dependents is excluded from income under Section 117 of the tax code, which applies to employees of educational institutions.
The bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama late last week that extended what is commonly referred to as the Bush tax cuts contains a provision that will affect employees’ net pay for one year only.
The payroll (Social Security) tax is being reduced by 2 percentage points to 4.2 percent for 2011. This payroll tax is currently 6.2 percent of employee earnings and appears on our GFU pay statements in the “Taxes” section as “Fed OASDI/EE.†The amount of an employee’s earnings used to pay medical insurance premiums, dental insurance premiums and to contribute to flexible spending accounts is not subject to this tax, so an employee’s salary should be reduced by those deductions to determine what this amount is each month. You will first see the result of this payroll tax reduction on your Jan. 31 pay statement. The Fed MED/EE (Medicare tax), which appears on the row above, will continue to be 1.45 percent.
As you make any long-term financial plans, it is important to be aware that beginning in January 2012 this Social Security tax will again be 6.2 percent.
This legislation did not reduce the employer’s matching amount of this tax, so the university will continue to contribute a 6.2 percent Social Security tax on your earnings.
George Fox University is investing in Yamhill County by partnering with the Mid-Willamette Valley United Way in a workplace campaign from now through Dec. 31, 2010.
Within the next few days you will receive a letter from President Baker regarding your opportunity for involvement in a Community Care Fund that will directly benefit local nonprofit organizations. Every donor has the opportunity to designate their dollars for an impact area, or for a specific organization.
Please take a moment to read through the brochure and donation form accompanying the letter. Send your gifts or requests for payroll deduction to the Department of Human Resources at Box 6108 by Dec. 31, 2010.
Please direct all questions to Sheri Philips, executive director of university relations, at ext 2114 or sphilips@georgefox.edu.
During the holiday break (Dec. 20-31), there will be limited courier service to the Portland and Salem campuses.
Portland: Wednesdays only – Dec. 22 and 29
Salem: No courier service – Dec. 20-31
Normal service will return on Jan 3, 2011.
Red Christmas poinsettias are on sale this week in the Office of University Relations. The plants are 6-inch potted and cost $5 each or two for $8.
Contact Evangeline Pattison (ext. 2121 or epattison@georgefox.edu) to schedule a pick-up or to reserve.
Encounters with Beethoven, Kenn Willson’s (Performing Arts) live recording CD project, is completed and now available for purchase on his website. Visit this link to buy it or learn more.
Congratulations to Bailey Nelson, Lauren Dodge and James Pena for receiving the most spiritual life credits this semester. Bailey had 48, Lauren 43 and James 41. Good work!
– Spiritual Life
Each year our Christmas and New Year’s Day holiday schedule varies a little bit, so to be sure we are all on the same page (and off on the same days), following are days/dates of this year’s holidays:
Best wishes for a wonderful celebration of our Savior’s birth and for some times of rest and relaxation as well.
– Human Resources
Join IT for general FoxTALE sessions and sessions on the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration.
Want an introduction to FoxTALE? Consider these sessions:
The start of the spring 2011 term brings the full implementation of the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration. Following are sessions that cover the integration.
Read session descriptions and sign up on this R.S.V.P. form. See all of the faculty and staff development sessions IT hosts at Schedule of Events.
The Bruin Bookstore will be closed Monday morning, Dec. 20, to update of the store’s computer system. The bookstore will reopen as soon as the update is complete.
The bookstore’s hours during the Christmas break will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The store will be closed both Fridays, on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve days.
Don’t forget the all-employee meeting scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16, 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. 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.
