The Daily Bruin

The university’s accounting department is offering free tax preparation and e-filing assistance this spring. Dates for help sessions are two upcoming Saturdays: March 14 and April 11.

The Tax-Aide program is designed to help taxpayers prepare their returns. The service is especially geared toward senior citizens, students, individuals with lower incomes, and those who have limited English proficiency. Anyone, however, is eligible for assistance. The only exception is for those whose return is deemed too complicated.

Help will be available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. both dates. Both sessions will meet in Room 211 in the Hoover Academic Building. A sign-up sheet will be available 30 minutes before each session.

For more information, including details on what to bring, visit this page.

Is there someone you believe is deserving of this recognition? If so, please nominate this person via email to Peggy Kilburg by Thursday, March 12, with a summary of his or her recent contributions and any other information that makes this person deserving of this award.

The recipient will be honored with a citation and a $100 Visa card at our community meeting on Thursday, March 19 – a week early this month due to spring break.

Congratulations again to Tanya Rooney (December) and Lecia Retter (February) on their recent Employee of the Month recognition.

Join us as Melissa Lim and Robin Ashford share specifics regaring how to use Twitter for professional development, teaching and learning. The event is scheduled this Saturday, March, 7, from 10 a.m. to noon in Room 155 at the Portland Center. RSVP by visiting our MeetUp site or by emailing Jessi Huffman at tri@georgefox.edu. Cost is a $3 donation at the door.

EdTechWomen events are open to all persons wanting to increase their awareness and skills in the use of technology in their professional and personal lives, with a special emphasis on expanding women’s access to and use of technology in business and educational settings.

For more information on ETW-Portland, contact one of the chapter coordinators:

• Linda Samek (lsamek@georgefox.edu)
• Robin Ashford (rashford@georgefox.edu)
• Debby Espinor (despinor@georgefox.edu)
• Anna Berardi (aberardi@georgefox.edu)

Please remember to use the current 2015 Expense Reimbursement Request form for any mileage reimbursement requests for the current calendar year. This form can be found at this link.

Items and information commonly missed/excluded when submitting Expense Reimbursement Requests to financial affairs:

1. Number each receipt consecutively and put that number in the “Item #” column, one line per receipt.
2. Give an explanation of line-items, particularly noting the business purpose of each expenditure. This is critical and is an IRS requirement for an “Accountable Reimbursement Plan,” as noted in the IRS rules which this comes under. Use more than one line per transaction, if needed. A “business purpose” is a short note on the form that says what the cost is and why it is related to what we do at George Fox. An example is, “Food purchased for department volunteers.” What not to say is, “Food.” This would not be acceptable and would be rejected if ever audited by the IRS. If you are traveling, be sure to include the destination in the description column (e.g. “Fundraising conference – Denver, Colo.”)
3. For reimbursement of personal auto usage, list the actual miles traveled in the “Miles” column. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate the total in the next column.
4. Any meals being reimbursed must, by IRS rules, include the names of those at the meal, their connection to George Fox, and the business purpose for the meal. The exception to this is when meals are incurred while traveling on university business. To be as careful as possible, you should carefully note that this is the case.
5. The person being reimbursed must print, sign and date the form in the appropriate place near the bottom of the form.
6. The person who approves spending for the one being reimbursed must approve this report by printing, signing and dating in the appropriate place at the bottom of the form. If the amount being reimbursed is over the amount that the budget manager can approve, the ERR must go to the next level for approval, according to George Fox approval policies.
7. If you need to be reimbursed from more than one fund, department or program, use separate ERR forms for each cost center. Approvals would also have to come from the budget managers where appropriate.

Questions? Contact Matt Hammar at mhammar@georgefox.edu.

Check out the latest blog piece from President Robin Baker, entitled “Addressing the Question of Growth.” In it, Robin provides a brief history of the university’s growth through the years, expounds on the rationale behind our marketing initiatives, and speaks to trends in higher education.

You can read the piece at this link.

Seven staff and administrator positions are currently open. Listed in order of recency, they are:

• HR – Payroll Specialist
• Accounting Specialist, Finance
• Nursing Coordinator
• Associate Registrar
• Undergraduate Admissions Counselor
• Visit Coordinator, Undergraduate Admissions
• Director of Intercultural Life

The link to each of these position announcements can be found at jobs.georgefox.edu. If you know of someone you believe might provide a good fit for any of these jobs, please refer the person to the website for information about the job and instructions about applying.

Join Paul Anderson, professor of biblical and Quaker studies, as he hosts another “Turning of the Page” session today (Friday) from 4 to 4:30 p.m. in the MLRC. Paul will be examining another section of The Heritage Edition of The Saint John’s Bible, a full-size fine art reproduction of the original.

Also, next Thursday, March 5, Bill Cahoy, dean of the Saint John’s Theological Seminary, will be on campus to present a talk on the Bible titled “Theology, Art and Imagination.” The free session meets from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Hoover 105.

To learn more about the “Spring into Illumination: Seeing the Word Through The Saint John’s Bible” events, visit this page. More information is also available by contacting Anderson at panderso@georgefox.edu.

Don’t forget to attend an all-employee meeting scheduled for this afternoon (Thursday) from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Hoover 105. A live stream of the meeting will be shown in Portland Center’s Room 160.

Calling all ladies of tech! This is the final call to sign up for today’s (Thursday’s) REAL Women of Tech event at OMSI in Portland. The IDEA Center will provide transportation for you to attend the Technology Association of Oregon-sponsored event, scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. The panel will discuss success stories of women in the tech world, followed by a screening of the film Big Dream.

To attend you must register at this link and with the IDEA Center. Questions? Contact Deb Mumm-Hill at dmummhill@georgefox.edu.

What do Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha’ism teach us about human rights? Join us for a panel discussion on the role of human rights within diverse faith traditions, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, in the Cap and Gown Room on the Newberg campus. There is no charge to attend.

Hosted by Sarita Gallagher (Christian studies), the panel includes George Fox professor Paul Anderson (biblical and Quaker studies); Rabbi Joseph Wolf of Huvurah Shalom; Arif Humayun, founder of Circle of Peace and member of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy; and Fridoon Rahimi, retired pediatrician and member of the Baha’i faith.

The meeting, the fourth annual Circle of Peace Seminar, is co-sponsored by George Fox University and Circle of Peace. For more information, contact Paula Hampton in the College of Christian Studies at 503-554-2650.

Calling all ladies of tech! Don’t forget to sign up for Thursday’s REAL Women of Tech event at OMSI in Portland. The IDEA Center will provide transportation for you to attend the Technology Association of Oregon-sponsored event, scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. The panel will discuss success stories of women in the tech world, followed by a screening of the film Big Dream.

To attend you must register at this link and with the IDEA Center. Questions? Contact Deb Mumm-Hill at dmummhill@georgefox.edu.

Our Liberal Arts and Critical Issues group is doing a general survey on school shootings in America. The responses to this survey will help us during the research process.

School Violence Survey

Thank you for participating.
Rebekah Riggins (rriggins11@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.

Make plans to attend an all-employee meeting scheduled for this Thursday, Feb. 26, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Hoover 105. A live stream of the meeting will be shown in Portland Center’s Room 160.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, our 25Live system will be upgraded to Version 24. The system will be down from 5 to 7:30 a.m.

This upgrade will greatly increase the speed of entering requests and doing searches. The other thing you will notice is a completely new layout in the Event Wizard.

Training sessions will be provided for those users new to 25Live and separate sessions for those who just want to explore what’s new. We encourage anyone who uses 25Live on a regular basis to come to one of these sessions. Not only will we show you what’s new, but we’ll provide tips and tricks to using 25Live.

Sessions will be held on Feb. 26 and 27. To sign up for training, please complete our Registration Form by Wednesday, Feb. 25. You must be logged into your George Fox Google account to access the form.

Do you want to receive announcements, including updates, upgrades and tips on using 25Live? Then join the 25Live User group.

Questions? Email the IT Service Desk at servicedesk@georgefox.edu.

Calling all ladies of tech! The IDEA Center will provide transportation for you to attend The REAL Women of Tech event hosted by the Technology Association of Oregon. It is scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. this Thursday, Feb. 26, at OMSI in Portland. The panel will discuss success stories of women in the tech world, followed by a screening of the film Big Dream.

To attend you must register at this link and with the IDEA Center. Questions? Contact Deb Mumm-Hill at dmummhill@georgefox.edu.

Join us tonight (Tuesday) for a showing of the movie Son of God and panel discussion in Hoover 105.

The movie will be shown from 6 to 8:20 p.m. Afterwards, we’ll host a panel discussion (8:30-9:30 p.m.), as well as time for questions/engagement with the panelists. Panelists will include Melanie Springer Mock, Sarah Gibson, Paul Anderson, Josh Sweeden and Jesse Richards.

This event, hosted by the BIBL 102B, 102C, 260A and 260B classes, qualifies for elective chapel credit. We’ll also have snacks.

Questions? Contact Mary Schmitt at mschmitt@georgefox.edu.

Eight staff and administrator positions are currently open. Listed in order of recency, they are:

• HR – Payroll Specialist
• Accounting Specialist, Finance
• Nursing Coordinator
• Associate Registrar
• Undergraduate Admissions Counselor
• Visit Coordinator, Undergraduate Admissions
• Director of Intercultural Life
• Software Engineer

The link to each of these position announcements can be found at jobs.georgefox.edu. If you know of someone you believe might provide a good fit for any of these jobs, please refer the person to the website for information about the job and instructions about applying.

The university’s 2015 Woolman Peacemaking Forum is set for tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 24).

The theme of this year’s forum, “Past, Present & Future: Promoting Peace and Justice at George Fox University and Beyond,” will include a number of free events throughout the day. Our guest speaker will be Jason Fileta, director of Micah Challenge USA.

Schedule of Events:

• 10:50-11:40 a.m. – Woolman Peacemaking Forum: Main morning session at chapel, “Something about Mary,” delivered by Fileta (Bauman Auditorium)
• Noon – 1 p.m. – Faculty and Staff Lunch: Faculty and staff are invited to share lunch with guest Fileta, who will talk about his new book Live Justly, a guide to help people live justly in six key areas of life. Cost is only $3 (Cap and Gown Room).
• 3-5 p.m. – “Connections Expo,” a networking event co-sponsored by the IDEA Center, is an opportunity for all majors seeking a vocation in peace and justice to attend. Meet academic programs and external organizations offering projects and internship opportunities in the areas of work related to peace and justice (Cap and Gown Room).
• 5-6 p.m. – Woolman Reception: Campus community is invited to join this reception and meet others in our community interested in peace and justice at George Fox (EHS atrium).
• 6:15-7:30 p.m. – Woolman Peacemaking Forum: Main evening lecture featuring Fileta on “Living Justly.” Chapel credit available (EHS 102).

Questions? Contact Jennifer Kepler at jkepler@georgefox.edu or visit this page.

Join us this Tuesday, Feb. 24, for a showing of the movie Son of God, followed by a panel discussion, in Hoover 105.

The movie will be shown from 6 to 8:20 p.m. Afterwards, we’ll host a panel discussion (8:30-9:30 p.m.), as well as time for questions/engagement with the panelists. Panelists will include Melanie Springer Mock, Sarah Gibson, Paul Anderson, Josh Sweeden and Jesse Richards.

This event, hosted by the BIBL 102B, 102C, 260A and 260B classes, qualifies for elective chapel credit. We’ll also have snacks.

Questions? Contact Mary Schmitt at mschmitt@georgefox.edu.