The Daily Bruin

We are still in need of many willing servants to serve as ushers at the December commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 17. Hand out programs, direct graduates’ family and friends to their seats, and help make graduation a special event for all involved. All employees who participate as ushers will be paid $25 through payroll.

• See that special student graduate
• Be a part of an exciting event
• Volunteer in a much-needed area of service

Please let Lynn Scott (lscott@georgefox.edu) know A.S.A.P. if this is something you would like to be a part of. Thank you for considering being involved in this memorable event.

Tonight (Monday) Kristina Kays (Psychology) and Michael MacLeod (Political Science) will offer strategies from their fields about promoting real change in regards to countering compassion fatigue and consumer apathy as we interact with the majority world.

Join us from 7 to 8 p.m. in Hoover 105. The presentation, entitled “So You Want to Change the World,” is the latest installment of the university’s Liberal Arts and Critical Issues program.

All are welcome. For more information, contact Caitlin Corning at ext. 2673 or ccorning@georgefox.edu.

On Monday, Nov. 21, the 180 seniors in the Liberal Arts and Critical Issues program will present their research projects from noon to 4 p.m. in EHS and Hoover. For this event, we need approximately 23 judges to help evaluate their projects.

Faculty, staff and administrators are all welcome. Each judge will look at five projects and fill out an evaluation form. This should take no more than an hour. We offer a small gift and our appreciation for your help. Judges can come any time between noon and 4 p.m.

If you are interested in helping out, please contact Caitlin Corning at ext. 2673 or ccorning@georgefox.edu.

As calendar year-end approaches, we encourage support staff and administrators to check their vacation balances. Employees are allowed to carry up to one year of vacation accrual into the new calendar year.

To determine your accrual rates and how much you may need to use by Dec. 31, HR has prepared a chart and instructions for both support staff and administrators to be used along with the information on your Oct. 31 pay statement. Links to both can be found on the HR site.

They also provide useful information about the balances on your monthly pay statements. If you have any questions after you have reviewed your vacation balance, please contact HR for assistance.

Mail Services is an unofficial drop site for all Oregon ballots. Arrangements have been made with the Yamhill County Elections Office for us to offer this service. We accept any Oregon ballot (any county), and there is no postage necessary.

The deadline for this drop-off site is 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8. All out-of-state ballots must be mailed with postage.

Thanks!
– University Mail Services

The Staff Development Committee would like to thank all staff for attending the Fall Staff Conference. We enjoyed hearing from speakers Bill Buhrow, Anna Berardi and Ed Gierok. We would also like to thank NAPA Auto Parts, Ruth Bryant, LMT and Doran Automotive for graciously donating prizes for our prize drawing.

Please go to this page to see photos from the great day which was had by all!

We still have Entertainment® 2012 Books available. These make great gifts at the discounted employee price of $20. Enjoy $30 in bonus savings cards with each edition.

Choose your book – either Portland or Greater Oregon– and purchase it at the Information Desk in the Stevens Center (or contact Barbi Doran to send one to you).

A Muslim perspective on the role of faith in identity formation will be the topic of a George Fox Evangelical Seminary seminar next Friday, Nov. 11, at the  Portland Center. The session runs from 9 a.m. to noon in Room 155.

Maria Ebrahimji, executive editorial producer for CNN and the director of CNN’s booking department, will share her perspective as a Muslim woman working for a major news agency in the United States. Joining her are three Muslim women who live in Oregon: Fatemeh Fakhraie, Muna Idow and Manar Alattar. Together, they will present three sessions: “Personal Faith Journeys” (9 a.m.), “Perceptions of People of Faith” (10 a.m.) and “Faith and Conversion” (11 a.m.).

The event, titled “Who Am I? Who Are You? A Muslim Perspective on the Role of Faith in Identity Formation,” is the latest installment of the seminary’s Ministry in Contemporary Culture Seminar series and seeks to find shared experiences between the Christian and Muslim faiths. The cost is $20 for alumni, students and staff. An optional lunch will be made available for $10 per person.

To learn more about the event or to register, visit seminars.georgefox.edu.

All women employees – faculty, administrators and staff – are welcome to a brown-bag lunch with special guest Peggy Fowler from noon to 1:15 p.m. (PST) Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Cap and Gown Room on the Newberg campus. For those at other university sites, the event will be live-streamed at this site (http://stream.georgefox.edu/live/commmtg.sdp).

Fowler retired from Portland General Electric as CEO and president on March 1, 2009. She remains on the board of directors and is on the finance committee. Peggy has 35 years of experience in the utility business and, in that time, has managed almost every major area of the company. She earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and mathematics from George Fox.

Peggy resides in Tigard with her husband, Bob. Together, they have raised two sons. She enjoys outdoor activities, including golf and skiing, and currently serves on several boards, including the President’s Advisory Council at George Fox.

Please don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a significant woman leader as she shares her leadership journey with the women of George Fox.

The Women’s Leadership Development committee invites all women employees to join us for this event as we continue exploring leadership development. For those who attend in person, please bring your own lunch.

If you would like to nominate a colleague for November Employee of the Month, please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg by 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 7. As always, please provide a summary of this person’s contributions and/or outstanding performance in the past 30 days or so.

The winner will be announced and presented with a $100 gift card to The Allison at our community meeting on Thursday, Dec. 1.

Just a reminder … the deadline for ordering faculty rental regalia for midyear graduation was Oct. 15. Rental regalia must be ordered a minimum of eight weeks prior to the event. Please make a note of this on your calendar.

All faculty regalia rental requests are to be made with this form. A link to this form is at the bottom of the main bookstore website: gfubookstore.com.

This week is your last chance to see the university’s fall show, Steel Magnolias, in Wood-Mar Auditorium. Performances run Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and conclude with a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Thursday’s show is free to students, while employees get one complimentary ticket each for any of the performances. The box office, located at the Information Center on the first floor of the Stevens Center, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Additional tickets can be purchased in Stevens or online at theatre.georgefox.edu.

Please note: Saturday’s performance is sold out and Friday’s show is nearly sold out. There are still plenty of great seats available for Thursday or Sunday.

Stop by, call 503-554-3844 or e-mail boxoffice@georgefox.edu with any questions. A synopsis of the play is available at theatre.georgefox.edu.

It’s time once again for the faculty/staff campaign! Gifts from faculty/staff members make it possible for students to receive tremendous opportunities for spiritual formation, vocational development, and character growth.

On Tuesday, Nov. 1, please watch your in-box for a personal e-mail highlighting videos and students’ testimonies of how these types of opportunities at George Fox deepen their relationship with God and prepare them to connect Christ and culture.

Thank you so much for the difference you make in students’ lives.

If you have any questions, please contact Mandria Montplaisir at mmontplaisir@georgefox.edu.

The next all-employee meeting, originally scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10, has been canceled and rescheduled for Thursday, Dec. 1, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Hoover 105.

In addition, the Thursday, Dec. 15, meeting has been canceled. Please make a note of these scheduling changes.

Between Monday, Oct. 31, and Saturday, Nov. 12, the first-floor lobby of the Portland Center will be our collection site for non-perishable food items to support Take Action Inc. All students, employees and friends are encouraged to participate.

Take Action works with students from six elementary schools in Portland to ensure that underprivileged children have food to eat when they go home on the weekend. This need was observed because many of the kids would load up on their Friday lunch, even trying to stuff their pockets of extra food to take home. Many of the kids at these schools wouldn’t eat again until the school provided breakfast on Monday morning.

The school staff began connecting with folks outside their area to gather food for these kids to take home to feed themselves and sometimes their families over the weekend.

This is where we can help. Below is a sample list of items that you can donate.

• Small jars of peanut butter and jelly
• Canned meats (beef, chicken, tuna)
• Non-perishable milk drinks
• Macaroni and cheese cups
• Canned meals (ravioli, stew, soups, etc)
• Instant oatmeal
• Fruit cups
• Canned vegetables
• Nuts and other healthy snacks

Take Action will also accept monetary donations if you’d like to help in that way.

Over the past couple of years, many faculty and staff have asked me how to get their estate planning affairs in order. It’s been a joy to connect with so many people on this most important endeavor.

I thought it might be helpful to provide everyone a list of resources that can help you in this often complicated area of your life. If you click the links below, they will provide you with downloadable forms that contain several helpful pieces of information.

• Estate Planning Resource Guide
• Estate Inventory Form
• My Going Home Plan
• Distribution of Tangible Personal Property

As followers of Christ we have an obligation to be sure our affairs are in order — thinking deeply about the people and places that mean the most to us. In order to have a complete estate plan, everyone needs to consider developing the following things:

• A will or living trust
• Durable power of attorney (for finance)
• Advanced healthcare directive
• Disposition of tangible property sheet(s)
• Expression of last wishes

Again, to help get you started, click on the links above. I’m here to assist as well, so please let me know if/how I can serve you best!

Working Together,

K. Gene Christian, Estate and Gift Planning Services
George Fox University
503-936-5350/Direct Line

Faculty: If you have not yet done so, please submit your textbook requests for spring 2012 as soon as possible. The due date was Oct. 1, and we need them to obtain as many used books as possible to save students money. Please this online form to submit your order.

Thanks to all who have already placed their orders!

Bruin Directories can now be ordered online. The directories are a service to the George Fox community, created by a staff within ASC. We have worked very hard to get the book out to the community in a timely fashion, and we are pleased to say that the books are near completion.

Each Bruin Directory is $5 and the total will be charged to the provided department account number. The directories will be distributed through Mail Services. The deadline for placing orders is Friday, Nov. 4. Please place your orders online at this link.

Thank you for placing your department orders! If you have any questions, contact Carly Halverson at chalverson09@georgefox.edu.

Join IT in November and December for 30-minute webinars on FoxTALE, FoxFiles and Google Docs. View the schedule and sign up at this link. Information on how to join each webinar will be delivered via e-mail 24 hours prior to the webinar.

Student supervisors: Payday for student employees is Tuesday, Nov. 15. For us to meet this deadline we need your students’ October time sheets by Thursday, Nov. 3, by 5 p.m. If you are on the Newberg campus, please hand-deliver the time sheets. If you send them with a student, make sure they are in a sealed envelope. Any time sheets received after this deadline may not get paid on the 15th.

Please be sure the student’s name, ID number and cost center number is legible on each one. Also, don’t forget to sign them and be sure the students did as well. Please do not send students to HR to sign their time sheets.

Thanks so much for helping us get our students paid in a timely manner!

– HR