The Daily Bruin

The IT department is selling used Macs, PCs and Chromebooks at the Service Desk (third floor of Stevens Center) on a first-come, first-served basis. The sale starts on Monday, Dec. 15.

Condition: Devices are factory reset to the highest compatible OS and sold “as is,” with no IT support or warranty. Best for basic web browsing and streaming.

• Accessories: Power supply included. Desktops and all-in-ones also include a keyboard and mouse.
• Payment: Debit/credit card only at time of purchase. No holds.

For more details, visit this website or contact servicedesk@georgefox.edu.

Workspace Studio

Gemini as a collaborator is great, but when will it actually do things? This answer is…now! Get a taste of agentic AI as a co-worker that can act on your behalf.

• Let Gemini highlight the most important emails from your unread backlog and send you a chat message with the details.
• Let Gemini check your documents and send you notes to prepare you for that important conversation on today’s calendar.
• Not sure how to get started? Just tell Gemini what you’d like to automate and it will build a starter flow for you. Examples are also provided.

Workspace Studio is available to everyone in the George Fox community!

AI Studio

Have you heard of “Vibe Coding?” With just a prompt, you can create your own app and include advanced AI tools!

Unlike our other Google Workspace AI tools, use of AI Studio is not automatically covered under our data protection agreement with Google, so its availability is initially limited. If you’d like to make an AI Studio app, please reach out to IT to get started! Learn more here.

Contact the IT Service Desk at servicedesk@georgefox.edu with any questions, or check the IT: AI website.

Spiritual Life welcomes you to swing by Barclay House before you head off for break to pick up a copy of the liturgy book we’ve been using in chapel this fall semester. They are free for students, faculty and staff. Feel free to pick up one for yourself and another for your family and friends!

Please be advised that the last Accounts Payable payment run before Christmas break is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 19. To ensure your supplier invoices are included in this run, please note the deadline of Monday, Dec. 15.

Payment criteria: All invoices submitted by the deadline, accompanied by a completed Purchase Order (PO), will be processed for payment if their standard payment terms fall on or before Dec. 31.

If you have any questions, please contact Accounts Payable or Patrick Culligan at pculligan@georgefox.edu.

Have questions, concerns or suggestions about BruinBuy? Please join us in the Millage Building for our BruinBuy roundtable today (Thursday) from 8:30 to 10 a.m. We are here to help, listen and collaborate with you on all of your procurement and accounts payable needs. This will be an open-dialogue format. Please come take advantage of this learning opportunity.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Patrick Culligan at pculligan@georgefox.edu or Frank Charles at fcharles@georgefox.edu.

Our last BruinBuy roundtable will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 17, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Keep an eye out for more BruinBuy roundtables in the new year!

Please note Hadlock’s hours over the holiday break:

• Saturday, Dec. 13: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Sunday, Dec. 14: Closed
• Monday through Friday, Dec. 15-19: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Weekends: Closed
• Dec. 23 through Jan. 2: Closed

Regular hours resume Jan. 10.

The finance office will be closed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 5 for Christmas break. Deposits that need to have a December 2025 date must be brought to the finance office no later than 9 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 19. If it arrives later, it will go into a deposit for January 2026.

Please note: The finance office is now located at 1515 Portland Road (a.k.a. “Sleep Center”).

Please look around your desks and file cabinets to see if there are any lingering items that need to go to the bank. If you are taking extra time off during the Christmas/New Year holiday, please send your deposits over before you leave.

If you have any questions about deposits, please use our new email (deposits@georgefox.edu) or contact Heather Groenlund at 503-554-2173.

Thank you, and have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Friendly reminder: Bookstore rentals are due tomorrow (Friday). The Bruin Bookstore will be open Saturday, Dec. 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for winter commencement.

Spring 2026 course materials are available, so shop ahead online and select “in-store pickup.” Your texts will be ready when you return in January!

Boost your financial knowledge with Nationwide’s live and on-demand webinars, designed to offer guidance on your retirement plan and financial goals.

Live Events: Register for interactive sessions on topics like approaching retirement and Social Security.

On-Demand: Watch recordings anytime for topics like personal finance and navigating market volatility.

View the full schedule and start learning today!

Providence Health Plan members: Check out “Providence Health Coaching: A Nine-Month Journey Toward Sustainable Wellness.”

What is health coaching? It’s a collaborative partnership to help you develop personalized, sustainable lifestyle habits that align with your wellness goals and vision. And with Providence, you get the opportunity to work with National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC).

The program launches Jan 5 with a pre-launch Interest Form, available now for earliest access to the program.

This comprehensive program includes:

• An initial lifestyle assessment
• Weekly communications and habit check-ins
• Biweekly coaching sessions for the first three months
• Monthly coaching sessions for the remaining six months

In total, you’ll complete 12 live sessions with a certified health coach, experimenting with small, achievable goals that support your larger wellness vision.

Unwrapping a new phone this holiday season? Make sure you update your Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) settings to avoid getting locked out of your George Fox accounts.

How to Prepare Multi-Factor Authentication for a New Phone

If you have any issues setting this up, you will need to call the Service Desk at 503-554-2569 for assistance.

Please plan accordingly, as the Service Desk will be closed for the break:

• Closed: Dec. 24 through Jan. 4
• Regular Hours Resume: Jan. 5, 2026

Thank you to all who participated in marketing communications’ annual Deck the Halls Christmas Decorating Contest. We were so moved by the Christmas spirit throughout campus! This year brought in 18 participating departments.

Congratulations to our winners! The top three placers were:

• First place: Advancement (The “Rootin’ Tootin’ Best in the West” Award)
• Second place: Finance (The “Internationally Acclaimed Christmas” Award)
• Third place: Financial Aid (The “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Financial Aid Secrets” Award)

There were several honorable mentions across campus, including the Department of Education (The “Jim Henson Would Be Proud” Award), the Department of Social Work (The “Cozy Christmas” Award), the Maker Hub (The “Santa’s Workshop” Award), and many more.

And a huge shoutout to plant services for keeping all of campus merry and bright!

Be sure to swing by the various departments to get a look at all the work that went into making their spaces so festive.

Thank you!

Amanda Howard, Marketing, and the Christmas Committee

The Office of Spiritual Life is looking for staff and faculty members to participate in the SpiL Mentoring Program this spring.

This program provides an opportunity for students to have meaningful conversations about faith and life while receiving encouragement and support from a George Fox staff or faculty member. Students in the program will be matched with a dedicated mentor, with whom they will have weekly meetings lasting approximately one hour, spanning a duration of eight weeks within the semester.

The program begins the week of Jan. 26 and ends the week of March 16.

To support you in your mentoring role, we will provide a booklet with weekly suggested spiritual formation practices for you to engage in with your mentee. Additionally, there will be a training session prior to the start of the program to ensure you feel prepared and equipped.

We are looking for staff and faculty who would like to serve as mentors. If you are interested, please fill out this application by Friday, Jan. 16. Your involvement will make a meaningful impact on our students’ lives!

If severe weather makes travel to or from campus unsafe this winter, the provost will make the decision to announce a shift to remote classes and work. In nearly all cases, classes will continue to be offered online and employees will work remotely.

In the case of a delayed in-person start, university offices will not open until an announced time in the day, most often 10 a.m. or noon. Students, faculty and staff are not required to report to campus prior to the announced start time, but are expected to attend class online or work remotely before the start time. If in-person classes are not held that day, students, faculty and staff are expected to attend class online or work remotely.

Those who cannot perform their duties at home should report to campus if they can arrive safely. If an employee cannot arrive safely or must remain home for any other reason, they may use a sick or vacation day to cover the absence. If no vacation time is available, the employee can make up hours during the same week or record the time off without pay.

The following is our process for announcing when there is a delayed in-person start or a shift to remote classes and work. The provost will make the decision by 6:30 a.m. for the Newberg campus and Portland Center for daytime classes or 2:15 p.m. for evening classes. Decisions on weekend classes and at the Redmond site will be made by the professor.

Stay notified: Here’s how to find out if a decision has been made when severe weather occurs:

• Visit the George Fox flashalert.net page. This is the first site updated. Enter your email address to create an account and receive notifications from FlashAlert Messenger.
• If you wish to receive a notification on your mobile device, download the FlashAlert smartphone app for iOS or Android. Either log in or create an account if you haven’t already.
• Listen to local radio and television stations or visit their websites (this info comes via FlashAlert).
• Call the George Fox University switchboard at 503-538-8383.

More information on this change in procedure can be found on our winter weather policy page.

Please note the accelerated payroll deadlines for December. Due to Christmas break, we will have fewer days to process the December payroll. Please have all check requests submitted and approved by the end of today (Monday, Dec. 8).

Employees with timesheets that span Nov. 16 to Dec. 15 should forecast their hours, lock and have their timesheets approved by today. Automated emails will be sent according to these accelerated deadlines.

Regular employee and student timesheets can be locked at the end of the month as usual. The student payday will be on Monday, Dec. 15, and the regular employee payday will be on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

Questions? Contact the payroll team at payroll@georgefox.edu.

The holiday season represents one of the highest-risk periods of the year for cybersecurity, and new AI-generated attacks can be expected. With the increase in online shopping and package tracking, attackers are actively disguising malicious links as shipping notifications and invoices.

Your diligence remains our first and strongest line of defense. Taking a moment to verify a sender or an unusual request can prevent a major security incident for our community.

Email Safety Do’s: Verify and Protect

• Do hover your mouse over the sender’s name/address to see the full, actual email address. Watch for subtle misspellings (e.g. acme.co instead of acme.com).
• Do inspect links before clicking. Hover your mouse over the link to see the destination URL displayed, usually in the corner of your browser. If it looks suspicious, don’t click.
• Do verify any unexpected or urgent requests for confidential data, password changes or fund transfers by using a different method of communication (e.g., call the sender on a known phone number or message them on an internal chat system).
• Do treat any email requesting your password or sensitive personal/company information with maximum suspicion.
• Do report all suspicious emails immediately by using the “Report Phishing” button in the three-dot stack menu within the email, or contact servicedesk@georgefox.edu.
• Do check the time and tone of the email. Is it demanding, overly urgent or coming at a strange hour? This is a common tactic used by scammers.

Email Safety Don’ts: Avoid Risk and Reactivity

• Don’t click on links or download attachments from senders you do not recognize or from emails that seem “off,” even if they appear to come from a known colleague.
• Don’t reply to an email asking for sensitive information like passwords, credit card numbers or internal account details.
• Don’t assume an email is legitimate just because it uses company logos or appears to come from an executive (CEO, CFO, etc.). This is known as “spoofing.”
• Don’t be pressured by threats or urgency (e.g. “Your account will be suspended in five minutes!”). Scammers use fear to make you act without thinking.
• Don’t forward suspicious emails without first checking with servicedesk@georgefox.edu. We need to be able to investigate and take action.

Thank you for your partnership in keeping our community secure. Your vigilance makes all the difference.

The Office of Spiritual Life would like to invite students and employees to join together for a day of service, learning and reflection. The event is set for MLK Day on Monday, Jan. 19, from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Fill out this form to register and view the tentative schedule! Undergraduate students who participate will be eligible for elective chapel credit.

Contact spirituallife@georgefox.edu with any follow-up questions.

On Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 5 to 9 p.m., Chipotle will be hosting a fundraiser to support our Doctor of Physical Therapy’s service trip to Uganda! There are multiple ways to get your order to support the cause:

• Tell the person at the register you are there to support the George Fox DPT trip to Uganda
• Order for pickup online using the code EXC4LTL.

If you use one of these avenues, Chipotle will donate 25% of your sale to our trip! Please tell people in the area that you know, because every order helps!

We are still in need of several volunteers to serve as ushers at Midyear Commencement on Saturday, Dec. 13. We will hold two separate ceremonies (undergraduate at 11 a.m. and graduate at 3 p.m.) in Bauman Auditorium.

Come help us greet our guests, hand out programs, direct graduates’ families and friends to their seats, and make graduation a special event for everyone!

It’s fun to be a part of our students’ graduation experience! If interested, check out our Commencement Compensation Guidelines. If you sign up for both ceremonies, lunch will be provided too!

Please sign up here to serve our grads and their families on this memorable day!

Contact Laurie Fair at aao@georgefox.edu if you have questions.

Richter Scholars proposals will be due Jan. 26, 2026. The Richter Scholars program 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 advising on a proposal, please read through the full proposal guidelines, eligibility requirements, and review criteria at georgefox.edu/academics/richter.

All applications must be submitted through our Google Form. The link to the form will be activated on the website when the spring semester begins.

For more information, contact Hannah Greene at hgreene@georgefox.edu.