The Daily Bruin

It’s time to order university stationery. For order instructions, go to the marketing communications website. Continue to purchase all non-departmental stationery (including “second-sheet letterhead”) through the university’s print services.

Orders are due by Monday, Feb. 9.

FoxTALE will be unavailable from 6 to 8 a.m. (Pacific Time) on Monday, Feb. 9, for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

During this maintenance update Fall 2014 course sites will be hidden to students. If you want to make any of those course sites available to students after this update, select “Edit settings” in the Course Administration block. Located in the General section, look for the Visible setting and change “Hide” back to “Show.” Scroll to bottom and “Save changes.”

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

You have until this Thursday, Feb. 5, to submit your 2015-16 tuition remission requests. This is a firm deadline.

To access instructions and forms, please go to this page. The tuition remission section is located at the top of the page.

Please be sure to read the instructions before you begin completing a Tuition Remission Request Form – you will be glad you did (and so will we!).

Questions? Contact Darby Thiessen at dthiessen@georgefox.edu.

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.

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

• Director, University Mail and Print Services
• Area Coordinator, Residence Life
• Director of Strategic Business Administration, College of Business
• Executive Assistant to the Dean, College of Business
• Software Engineer, Department of Analytics
• Budget Manager, Department of Financial Affairs

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 beginning of the new year is a great time to look at your financial picture and think about your retirement savings goals for 2015. To assist employees in this process, a TIAA-CREF consultant will be at the Portland Center on Thursday, Feb. 12.

Click this link to schedule your appointment.

Mileage reimbursement has increased in 2015. As of Jan. 1, 2015, the IRS standard mileage rate increased to 57.5 cents per mile, up from 56 cents in 2014. There are two new forms located on the Financial Affairs Common Forms webpage. For reimbursements not yet turned in for 2014 which include mileage reimbursement, please use the 2014 form. For any reimbursements occurring after Jan. 1, 2015, please use the 2015 form.

Regarding forms that have already been turned in showing travel dates occurring after Jan. 1, 2015, this increased rate has been calculated for you and your total has been adjusted.

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

Ron Shaw is retiring after 16 and a half years of service to the university. An open house in his honor will take place today (Thursday) from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Stevens Center’s Duke Atrium. There will be refreshments and a time to share memories.

Join us for free food and information regarding the OWPC (Oregon Writing Project Collaborative)! We’re hosting kickoff brunch for all College of Education faculty members and any other interested individuals. Come learn more about OWPC’s mission and programs and do some writing with us. A full breakfast/brunch will be served, so come hungry.

Date: Friday, Jan. 30
Time: 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Location: VAC 117

Questions? Contact Susanna Steeg at ssteeg@georgefox.edu.

Andy Crouch, executive editor of Christianity Today, will present a free lecture titled “True Power in a World of False Images” on Monday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Hoover 105. The university community is invited to attend.

Crouch is the author of Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, published in October 2013. His book Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling won Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and was named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership. Crouch serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and Equitas Group, a philanthropic organization focused on ending child exploitation in Haiti and Southeast Asia.

He is also a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission’s IJM Institute. His writing has appeared in Time, The Wall Street Journal and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an MDiv (summa cum laude) from Boston University School of Theology.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Liberal Arts and Critical Issues program and the William Penn Honors Program. Please contact Paul Otto (potto@georgefox.edu) or Jane Sweet (jsweet@georgefox.edu) if you have questions.

Our software vendor for 25Live will again be making some service upgrades tonight (Tuesday), starting at 5 p.m. You may experience intermittent issues with 25Live between 5 and 7 p.m.

After the upgrades are complete, we encourage you to clear your browser cookies and cache. Any difficulty with your 25Live login following these upgrades should be resolved by that step (or using a different browser).

If you have any questions, please contact the IT Service Desk.

Ron Shaw is retiring after 16 and a half years of service to the university. An open house in his honor will take place this Thursday, Jan. 29, from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Stevens Center’s Duke Atrium. There will be refreshments and a time to share memories.

The Portland Center courier will be changing schedules starting today, Monday, Jan 26. The courier will go to and from the Portland Center on Mondays and Thursdays each week.

If you have any questions, please contact Sherrie Frost at ext. 2556.

Join us for free food and information regarding the OWPC (Oregon Writing Project Collaborative)! We’re hosting kickoff brunch for all College of Education faculty members and any other interested individuals. Come learn more about OWPC’s mission and programs and do some writing with us. A full breakfast/brunch will be served, so come hungry.

Date: Friday, Jan. 30
Time: 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Location: VAC 117

Questions? Contact Susanna Steeg at ssteeg@georgefox.edu.

Please join us for a farewell celebration in honor of Sarah King today (Friday) from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Stevens Center’s Duke Atrium.

Sarah, who currently works on our data analytics team, will be transferring to Nike to join the company’s emerging markets team. Please join us as we say farewell to Sarah and thank her for her seven years of service to the university!

The beginning of the new year is a great time to look at your financial picture and think about your retirement savings goals for 2015. To assist employees in this process, a TIAA-CREF consultant will be on the Newberg campus Monday, Feb. 9, and Wednesday, Feb. 11, and at the Portland Center on Thursday, Feb. 12.

You need only to click on this link to schedule your appointment. These appointment slots fill quickly, so don’t delay if you plan to take advantage of this resource.

Online tools are also available. If you’re not sure of your retirement progress, you can check out Retirement Advisor. This is an online tool that in four steps will help you answer:

• Am I on track to meet my retirement goals?
• How much should I be saving now?
• Is my money invested appropriately?

Using this tool, you can set a financial or goal date for your retirement; enter your information and pick your strategy. The Retirement Advisor will give you the personalized advice you need to take action right away so you’re on track to pursue the retirement you envision.

Visit Advice and Guidance to see all of the tools that can help you stay on track and save even more for retirement.

Just two weeks after a similar event in early January, we now have tickets available to the 2015 Renovation and Landscaping Show coming up Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 6-8, at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum.

Employees can pick up two tickets each ($8 value) from Barbi Doran at the Information Services Desk in Stevens Center today (Friday) and again the week of Feb. 2 (she will be on vacation Jan. 26-30). Portland employees can request tickets by emailing Barbi.

Join us for free food and information regarding the OWPC (Oregon Writing Project Collaborative)! We’re hosting kickoff brunch for all College of Education faculty members and any other interested individuals. Come learn more about OWPC’s mission and programs and do some writing with us. A full breakfast/brunch will be served, so come hungry.

Date: Friday, Jan. 30
Time: 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Location: VAC 117

Questions? Contact Susanna Steeg at ssteeg@georgefox.edu.

There is still time to register for the free College of Business-sponsored seminar, “Branding and the Bottom Line,” scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Portland Center. Simply click this link to RSVP.

The event will feature  Rob Westervelt, executive vice president of enrollment and marketing at George Fox, who will share insights into understanding how brands are developed and destroyed. By the end of the presentation, attendees will be equipped with the knowledge to improve their company’s bottom line.