The Daily Bruin

Mail Services has resumed its regular operating hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Questions? Contact Richard Silver at rsilver@georgefox.edu.

It is critical for each of us to keep our students and fellow employees safe in our online meetings as we continue with the academic terms. Zoom has recently released this blog post with helpful information about keeping your Zoom meetings secure while providing the best experience for those you interact with.

Please contact the service desk (servicedesk@georgefox.edu) with any questions about managing meetings in Zoom.

The Office for Spiritual Life invites the university community to “Pray 4 Today,” a prayer initiative that begins today (Monday).

The idea is simple: We are looking for four people to sign up to pray per day for the remainder of the spring semester. How you pray, where you pray, and for what or whom you pray are up to you – but will you consider joining us?

If you are interested, please sign up here. Questions? Contact our office at spirituallife@georgefox.edu. Thanks!

All Newberg, Portland, Salem and Redmond offices are closed today (Friday) for the spring break holiday.

In light of recent events, George Fox will not hold commencement ceremonies on campus on Saturday, May 2 (traditional undergraduates) or the following week (ADP/grad programs).

The university is working on plans to allow graduates to celebrate their achievements, but any decisions will be dictated by how the COVID-19 pandemic evolves in the coming weeks.

For more details, visit the university’s coronavirus response page.

As of today (Wednesday), Mail Services will be open three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and noon. The service window will be open to hand packages to customers between the hours of 10 a.m. and noon.

The adjacent room for sending packages out will be open as needed. Have all outgoing packages brought to Mail Services by no later than 11 a.m. These changes take effect immediately and will resume until we revert to our regular schedule on a date to be determined.

Please contact Richard Silver (rsilver@georgefox.edu) with any questions.

If you are working on campus and find yourself with downtime, consult with your supervisor and department about cleaning out and organizing your departmental storage with the goal of reducing or eliminating the need for storage space.

When going through departmental storage, please consider the following:

• Is your storage space organized?
• How long has an item been in storage and how often is it utilized?
• Is it obsolete, outdated or expired?
• Should your files or item go to another department such as Archives, Plant Services, or IT?
• Are your files needed for accreditation or regulatory purposes?
• Does it need more secure storage (for example, items covered under FERPA)?
• Can your files be digitized?

Once normal operations resume, Plant Services will conduct a physical audit of all storage space on campus. Questions? Contact Dan van der Water at dvanderwater@georgefox.edu.

Our financial aid office is here to serve students throughout the current COVID-19 situation. While we are not available in person, we are ready to meet needs in a variety of ways:

• Schedule a phone appointment here (or video by request)
• Email or call our office or your financial aid counselor directly. If your counselor is unavailable, leave a message and we will return your call.
• Submit documents online, by email (finaid@georgefox.edu), fax or mail
• We are available to answer questions related to family financial changes and the 2020-21 academic year
• The Department of Education also has a helpful FAQ for students, parents and borrowers.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions. We are here to help!

What are your worries? Where is your hope? Professor Nijay Gupta reflects on Matthew 6 in the Portland Seminary’s newest “Hope in the Midst of Crisis” devotional series episode. You can watch it here.

Be encouraged and be well.

Oregon’s governor yesterday issued a statewide order for citizens to stay home except when traveling for essential work, buying food and similar critical supplies, or returning to their own homes. 

As part of the “Stay Home, Save Lives” campaign, the governor issued the following guidelines …

Do:

• Stay home as much as possible (kids, too)
• Stay at least six feet away from others
• Go out only for essentials (groceries, medical care)
• Exercise outside (hiking, biking) only if you can be six feet apart from others
• Have video and phone chats
• Drop food off to neighbors who can’t go out

Don’t:

• Gather in groups
• Get together with friends (no drinks or dinners)
• Have play dates for kids
• Make unnecessary trips

In anticipation of a temporary reduction in campus services and staff working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finance and purchasing are asking for your help to cut or defer all spending that is not critical to the operation of the university. 

To assist with this goal, all purchases over $1,000 must have an authorized purchase order. Please limit all office supply orders to only include items that are critical to operate.

We are currently reviewing changes to credit card limits and availability, and we will communicate with affected departments/employees once those changes are finalized no later than Wednesday, March 25, 2020. 

For help, please contact:

Matt Hammar, mhammar@georgefox.edu or extension 2006 for purchase order help and information.

Kathi Becker, kbecker@georgefox.edu or extension 2166 for Visa and Concur help and information.

In his latest blog post, President Robin Baker chronicles the events of the past two weeks, reflecting on the rapid developments in society as we coped with the spread of the coronavirus.

You can read the piece here. Toward the end, Robin offers a word of encouragement in a short video.

Good news: APA is offering free access to the 7th edition manual and other resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can access it here.

If you need online writing assistance, the Portland Writing Center is open for all graduate and degree completion students: wc.georgefox.edu. Contact Jennie Harrop (jharrop@georgefox.edu) with any questions.

Take a two-minute break each day this week to listen to the contributions of five of our faculty during George Fox University’s takeover week of the Academic Minute podcast (available at academicminute.org). Each will discuss an aspect of their teaching or scholarship.

Sharing will be (in the order they will appear, Monday through Friday) Tricia Hornback (College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), Nate Peach (College of Business), Debby Thomas (College of Business), Lorretta Krautscheid (College of Behavioral and Health Sciences) and Nathan Slegers (College of Engineering).

Questions? Contact Laura Hartley at lhartley@georgefox.edu.

The Bruin Store will be closed this week (March 23-27). Please contact Paige Jacobs at pjacobs@georgefox.edu with any questions.

Amidst the tumult of the coronavirus, the Portland Seminary faculty has created a video devotional series, “Hope in the Midst of Crisis,” we hope will comfort you.

First up is the seminary dean, Roger Nam, who reflects on the comforting role of God’s sovereignty in the Exodus plague narratives. You can listen here.

Throughout the year, the Office of Spiritual Life has been studying the Gospel of John in Vespers. To continue our study, our office is offering daily readings from John on our social media platforms @gfuspil on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Questions? Contact Stephanie Lopez at slopez@georgefox.edu.

A website designed for George Fox veterans has gone live on the student life site. It provides the latest information for veterans’ education benefits, community events, and links to local, state and federal organizations.

If you have any questions, please contact the faculty advisor for the Veterans United Association, Wendy Flint, at wflint@georgefox.edu.

The Mail Services courier will be reducing delivery between campuses to one day only: Friday. All items going to the Portland Center must be dropped off at Mail Services by 10:15 a.m on Friday. We will not be offering a delivery tomorrow, however.

Next week, as Friday, March 27, is a spring holiday, the service will be offered on Thursday, March 26, and on Fridays thereafter until further notice.

Please contact Richard Silver (rsilver@georgefox.edu) if you have any questions.

An employee accidentally ordered decaf instead of regular Dark Magic Extra Bold K-cups. They can’t be returned, so are any offices in the Bruin community interested in purchasing or trading for regular coffee? They cost $13.57 for a box of 24 (x4).

Contact Vicki Tschan at vtschan@georgefox.edu if you are interested in purchasing or trading.