The Daily Bruin

TIAA individual consulting appointments are coming up at both the Newberg and Portland campuses!

No matter where you are in life – just getting started or planning for retirement – a session with Braden Danielson can help you create a unique plan for your goals. And, it’s at no additional cost as a part of your retirement plan. You’ll get answers to these questions and more:

• Am I invested in the right mix of investments to help meet my goals?
• Am I saving enough to create the retirement income I need?
• How do I take income from my retirement account once I stop working?
• How do I plan for short-term goals such as saving for a house or education expenses?
• How do I manage debt, save money and balance various financial priorities at the same time?

To schedule your one-hour appointment, click on this link. The on-site appointment slots fill quickly, so don’t delay! Take advantage of this excellent resource!

Session Dates and Locations
Feb. 20, March 1 & 2, 2018 – Newberg Campus
Feb. 27, 2018 – Portland Center

You can also visit Advice and Guidance to access online tools and resources that can help you stay on track and save even more for retirement.

If you would like to make a change to your retirement account contribution amount or have questions about your George Fox University benefits, please contact Darby Thiessen at 503-554-2188 or dthiessen@georgefox.edu.

The music of Star Wars, Bach and Scott Joplin will fill the university’s Bauman Auditorium when a Monster Piano Concert takes the stage for the 12th annual Bösendorfer Concert Series at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15.

The evening will feature 16 performers playing eight pianos, on many occasions simultaneously. Among those performing will be local organist Dan Miller, the piano duet team of Eduard Gavril and Sorin Frisan, the university’s String Ensemble and Keyboard Ensemble, George Fox alumni, and members of George Fox music professor Kenn Willson’s recruiting studio.

The program will feature pieces by John Williams, from the Star Wars films; Joplin’s ragtime classic The Entertainer; a Bach Concerto; the music of Dave Brubeck; Beethoven’s Für Elise, with a jazz arrangement for four pianos; and Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, featuring four pianos.

All employees and students are entitled to one free ticket. All tickets are reserved seating and are available at this link or at the University Box Office by calling 503-554-3844. To get your free ticket online, click “Okay” after making your seat selection, select “GFU Employee” or “GFU Student” in the drop-down menu on the ticket selection screen, and proceed to checkout.

Additional tickets are $12 for general admission, $8 for seniors and alumni, and $6 for students and children under 12.

More information about the evening and the concert series is available at this link.

This week is the last opportunity to view the art exhibit “I am afraid” in the Portland Center library. The exhibit by Jennifer Lichtenberg is based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me, where Coates addresses what it means to inhabit an African American body in today’s America.

The display ends Wednesday, Feb. 7, and will then be displayed in the university’s library in Newberg for the rest of Black History Month.

Contact Jennifer (jlichtenberg@georgefox.edu) with any questions.

Make plans to attend a special presentation, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Inner Life and Global Vision,” featuring Clayborne Carson, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, in Room 101 of the Canyon Commons dining hall.

Carson is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor of History and the Ronnie Lott Founding Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. He has devoted most of his professional life to the study of King and the movements King inspired. Carson’s scholarly publications have focused on African-American protest movements and political thought of the period after World War II.

In 1985, the late Coretta Scott King invited Carson to edit and publish the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Under Carson’s direction, the King Papers Project has produced seven volumes of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Carson’s visit is being arranged through the Organization of American Historians. It is being cohosted by the Center for Peace and Justice and the Department of History, Sociology and Politics.

Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call or email Laurie Fair at lfair@georgefox.edu or 503-554-2140.

This week is the last opportunity to view the art exhibit “I am afraid” in the Portland Center library. The exhibit by Jennifer Lichtenberg is based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me, where Coates addresses what it means to inhabit an African American body in today’s America.

The display ends Wednesday, Feb. 7, and will then be displayed in the university’s library in Newberg for the rest of Black History Month.

Contact Jennifer (jlichtenberg@georgefox.edu) with any questions.

We’re excited to introduce our upcoming event hosted by the George Fox College of Business and the Business Leadership Society!

Join us for …

Designing at Speed
Featuring Ryan Russell, Director of Human-Centered Design at Amazon

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m.
Portland Center’s Room 155

Admission is free, but please register. Coffee and dessert will be served.

Ryan is currently the director of human-centered design at Amazon. He is responsible for design and branding across Amazon Operations, including Prime Now, Amazon Flex, Hub by Amazon, Amazon Locker, Transportation, Global Fulfillment and more. His group has studios in Seattle; Sunnyvale, California; Minneapolis, Austin, Texas; and Portland. He loves creating something from nothing and bringing talented people together around a shared vision.

To register, visit this link. Contact Allie Duncan at aduncan@georgefox.edu.

Professor Jennie Harrop’s book, The Simple Math of Writing Well: Writing for the 21st Century, is now available as a free download in the library’s Digital Commons. It also appears in the Open Textbook Library, a peer-reviewed collection of free textbooks used by hundreds of universities.

The university’s Open Textbook Initiative was launched in the 2016-17 academic year to provide incentives for faculty to explore open textbooks. George Fox faculty saved students more than $118,000 by replacing needlessly expensive textbooks with open ones. Savings from last semester are already more than last year’s total.

Textbook publishers are hiking prices at unprecedented rates, so many faculty authors are now bypassing them altogether and publishing their textbooks straight to the web. Two more George Fox faculty are currently writing open textbooks, which will not only save their students money but also extend the impact of George Fox scholarship around the world.

Want to learn more? Contact Robin Ashford at rashford@georgefox.edu.

Join the Staff Development Committee for the Wellness Challenge (through Feb. 16)! Submit this form with your activities for points by Saturday each week!

Check the Wellness Challenge each Monday for new activities to enhance your wellness. Monthly winners will receive a free staff lunch, and participants will be entered into a drawing for George Fox water bottles and a Fitbit Alta!

Questions? Contact Adina McConaughey (amcconaughey@georgefox.edu).

In recognition of Black History Month, the university is hosting a special presentation, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Inner Life and Global Vision,” featuring Clayborne Carson, one of the nation’s most renowned scholars of King. The free lecture runs from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, in Room 101 of the Canyon Commons dining hall.

Carson is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor of History and the Ronnie Lott Founding Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. He has devoted most of his professional life to the study of King and the movements King inspired. Carson’s scholarly publications have focused on African-American protest movements and political thought of the period after World War II.

In 1985, the late Coretta Scott King invited Carson to edit and publish the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Under Carson’s direction, the King Papers Project has produced seven volumes of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Carson’s visit is being arranged through the Organization of American Historians. It is being cohosted by the Center for Peace and Justice and the Department of History, Sociology and Politics.

Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call or email Laurie Fair at lfair@georgefox.edu or 503-554-2140.

To manage existing maintenance needs and project requests, Plant Services is implementing a formal project review and approval process beginning Thursday, Feb. 1.

The Plant Services Operating Budget is for maintaining facilities and equipment to their designed state. Any additions or improvements that alter existing space or asset are considered projects and are not funded by the maintenance department.

A Project Review Committee (PRC) has been formed that will review submitted projects to establish adherence to the university’s mission, priority and funding. All projects must be approved by the appropriate dean or department head before being considered by the PRC.

The PRC will meet monthly between September and March, or more frequently as needed. Anything submitted after March 1 will not be considered until the following school year to be budgeted during the capital planning process.

A project request is to be submitted to the dean or department head using the “Project Request Form,” located on the Plant Services webpage under “Quick Links.” This form must be fully completed and include the signatures of the appropriate academic dean or department head, and building monitor. Once the signatures are collected, the Project Request Form is then routed to Plant Services and the PRC.

If the PRC approves the project and funds are available, the requestor will be informed, and the request will be submitted to the Plant Services director for management and scheduling.

The full policy and a summary of maintenance versus project requests is available here.

Please contact Dan vanderWater (dvanderwater@georgefox.edu) with any questions about the project approval process.

George Fox will host the Oregon Symphony for its 31st appearance in Bauman Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. The concert is a gift from George Fox honorary board member Ken Austin, cofounder of A-dec, with his late wife Joan Austin.

A limited number of tickets have been provided for George Fox half-time and full-time employees. Tickets are limited to two per employee on a first-come, first-served basis starting tomorrow (Thursday) in the Event Services Office, 1109 E. Hancock. Reservations may be taken for Portland Center employees only.

On Wednesday, Feb. 7, remaining tickets (limited to two per person) will be available to those who sign up on the waitlist. If you find you are not able to attend, please return your tickets for another employee’s use.

Questions? Please contact Michelle Dawson at mdawson@georgefox.edu or ext. 2029.

To manage existing maintenance needs and project requests, Plant Services is implementing a formal project review and approval process beginning Thursday, Feb. 1.

The Plant Services Operating Budget is for maintaining facilities and equipment to their designed state. Any additions or improvements that alter existing space or asset are considered projects and are not funded by the maintenance department.

A Project Review Committee (PRC) has been formed that will review submitted projects to establish adherence to the university’s mission, priority and funding. All projects must be approved by the appropriate dean or department head before being considered by the PRC.

The PRC will meet monthly between September and March, or more frequently as needed. Anything submitted after March 1 will not be considered until the following school year to be budgeted during the capital planning process.

A project request is to be submitted to the dean or department head using the “Project Request Form,” located on the Plant Services webpage under “Quick Links.” This form must be fully completed and include the signatures of the appropriate academic dean or department head, and building monitor. Once the signatures are collected, the Project Request Form is then routed to Plant Services and the PRC.

If the PRC approves the project and funds are available, the requestor will be informed, and the request will be submitted to the Plant Services director for management and scheduling.

The full policy and a summary of maintenance versus project requests is available here.

Please contact Dan vanderWater (dvanderwater@georgefox.edu) with any questions about the project approval process.

George Fox University’s Web Design II class is putting together redesign proposals for iGFU, and we need your help!

Fill out this quick survey on common uses of iGFU.georgefox.edu and MyGFU.georgefox.edu. Even if you have never or rarely use these sites, your input is valuable.

The survey takes less than 15 minutes. One lucky contributor will receive an Amazon gift card worth $25 for participating.

Here is the link: iGFU and MyGFU Survey

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions.
– Brandon Waybright (bwaybright@georgefox.edu)

Disclaimer:
These surveys are student generated and are not to be associated with any official research conducted by faculty and staff at George Fox University. Any views or opinions presented in these surveys are solely those of the students and do not represent those of George Fox University. The distribution of these surveys is a service provided to George Fox University students as they prepare their research required by the curriculum. Students are required to have department approval. Any questions about these surveys should be directed to the students associated with the survey in question.

George Fox will host the Oregon Symphony for its 31st appearance in Bauman Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. The concert is a gift from George Fox honorary board member Ken Austin, cofounder of A-dec, with his late wife Joan Austin.

A limited number of tickets have been provided for George Fox half-time and full-time employees. Tickets are limited to two per employee on a first-come, first-served basis starting Thursday, Feb. 1, in the Event Services Office, 1109 E. Hancock. Reservations may be taken for Portland Center employees only.

On Wednesday, Feb. 7, remaining tickets (limited to two per person) will be available to those who sign up on the waitlist. If you find you are not able to attend, please return your tickets for another employee’s use.

Questions? Please contact Michelle Dawson at mdawson@georgefox.edu or ext. 2029.

George Fox will host the Oregon Symphony for its 31st appearance in Bauman Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. The concert is a gift from George Fox honorary board member Ken Austin, cofounder of A-dec, with his late wife Joan Austin.

A limited number of tickets have been provided for George Fox half-time and full-time employees. Tickets are limited to two per employee on a first-come, first-served basis starting Thursday, Feb. 1, in the Event Services Office, 1109 E. Hancock. Reservations may be taken for Portland Center employees only.

On Wednesday, Feb. 7, remaining tickets (limited to two per person) will be available to those who sign up on the waitlist. If you find you are not able to attend, please return your tickets for another employee’s use.

Questions? Please contact Michelle Dawson at mdawson@georgefox.edu or ext. 2029.

To manage existing maintenance needs and project requests, Plant Services is implementing a formal project review and approval process beginning Thursday, Feb. 1.

The Plant Services Operating Budget is for maintaining facilities and equipment to their designed state. Any additions or improvements that alter existing space or asset are considered projects and are not funded by the maintenance department.

A Project Review Committee (PRC) has been formed that will review submitted projects to establish adherence to the university’s mission, priority and funding. All projects must be approved by the appropriate dean or department head before being considered by the PRC.

The PRC will meet monthly between September and March, or more frequently as needed. Anything submitted after March 1 will not be considered until the following school year to be budgeted during the capital planning process.

A project request is to be submitted to the dean or department head using the “Project Request Form,” located on the Plant Services webpage under “Quick Links.” This form must be fully completed and include the signatures of the appropriate academic dean or department head, and building monitor. Once the signatures are collected, the Project Request Form is then routed to Plant Services and the PRC.

If the PRC approves the project and funds are available, the requestor will be informed, and the request will be submitted to the Plant Services director for management and scheduling.

The full policy and a summary of maintenance versus project requests is available here.

Please contact Dan vanderWater (dvanderwater@georgefox.edu) with any questions about the project approval process.

Interested in learning more about technology and how it applies to the educational experience? You are invited to a free conference hosted by the Oregon Technology in Education Network (OTEN) on Saturday, Feb. 24, at Pacific University’s Forest Grove campus. George Fox is a founding member of the OTEN consortium.

The gathering will feature peer-reviewed presentations from university faculty and other educators from across Oregon and the Northwest. We would like to encourage faculty and staff who have been innovating with their teaching to register for the free half-day conference (8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.).

For more information, please take a look at the conference website here.

During the 2016-17 academic year, the Graduate School of Counseling staff and faculty committed ourselves to a book group, reading through and processing the work of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. Our own Jennifer Lichtenberg was so deeply moved and inspired, she created an art series that you must come see for yourself, as no explanation here can do it justice.

Join us in the Portland Center Library today (Monday) at noon for a reception of Jennifer’s amazing work. As part of the reception, Jennifer will give an artist’s talk where she will discuss her process and answer questions.

We hope to see you there!
The GSC

If you consented to receive your 1098T Tax Benefits for Education Tax forms online, the 2017 tax form is available now for those who qualify. If you still wish to consent, you may do so and your form will be immediately available, again, assuming you qualify. If you do not want this service, your tax form will be printed and mailed on or before Jan. 31.

For 2017, George Fox University is again reporting “CHARGES” in Box 2, not payments, Box 1. Next January, for 2018, we will change to report payments.

Contact Jenny Getsinger (jgetsing@georgefox.edu) if you have any questions.

Medical and Dental Changes
Your team has been preparing for open enrollment for health insurance. Our primary focus has been reviewing our options for a cost-effective solution with the best coverage for our employees for medical and dental.

George Fox will continue to offer both Kaiser and the Regence health plans. There will be some changes, including both deductibles and premiums. We are continuing to fine tune the details with our vendors as we prepare for open enrollment in February for the plan year beginning April 1, 2018. We appreciate those of you who participated in the benefit survey, as this information has been very helpful as we look at our options.

We will be making final decisions in late January and including a Benefit Fair during this year’s open enrollment. Mark your calendar to join us Wednesday, Feb. 21, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Canyon Commons.

Elective Employee Deferral Limits for 2018
Effective April 1, 2018, the Allegiance Flexible Spending Accounts limits will be:

• Health Flexible Spending Account: $2,650
• Dependent Care FSA: $5,000 (no change)

Effective Jan. 1, 2018, you can increase your TIAA Supplemental Annuity Account contribution at any time by completing the TIAA election form, up to the maximum annual limit:

• Annual contribution limit: $18,500
• Annual catch-up contribution: $6,000 (no change)
• Annual additional amount for 15-plus years at George Fox: $3,000 (no change)

Tax Withholding Table Updates
The IRS has issued new 2018 federal income tax withholding tables. Notice 1036 provides information about the changes and can be found at this link. If you’d like to change your tax withholding, visit the George Fox payroll website for the W-4 form.

Please contact Darby Thiessen at dthiessen@georgefox.edu or 503-554-2188 for assistance with these or any of your George Fox University benefits.