The Daily Bruin

Please note the following:

• The new medical and dental premiums went into effect on the March 31 payroll. If you made changes to your medical or dental plans, those changes should be reflected in the amounts of your deductions on your March 31 pay statement.
• The flexible spending account deduction on March 31 was the last of the old plan year, so if you made changes or stopped participation, you won’t see new (or no) amounts until the April 30 pay statement.
• Starting April 1, your flex debit card, if you have one, was reloaded with new plan year money if you renewed. Keep your card unless it expired, in which case your new card will arrive in a week or so in a plain white envelope.
• If you still have flexible spending account funds left over from the 2010-11 plan year, those are no longer accessible by debit card – only by reimbursement.
• The deadline for spending old plan year flex funds is June 15, 2011.
• And finally, if you enrolled for the voluntary life insurance, those deductions will start on April 30.

If you have questions, contact Lisa Burton (HR) at lburton@georgefox.edu.

Join the Center for Peace and Justice this Tuesday night, April 5, for a documentary screening of the film Hiding, produced by LINK, an organization working with North Korean refugees. It will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Hoover 105.

The director of LINK was one of the founders of Invisible Children, an organization many in the GFU community might be more familiar with. LINK aims to spread the word about the rarely reported North Korean crisis, working with governments and NGOs worldwide to advocate for the North Korean people. They also work directly with the refugees who have fled to China and South East Asia, educating and empowering them to eventually live a free and renewed life.

Hiding tells the story of a group of North Korean refugees hiding in China today and their attempt to escape. To learn more, visit linkglobal.org. The trailer can be viewed at this link.

Questions? Contact Melanie Newell (Center for Peace and Justice) at mnewell@georgefox.edu.

George Fox will host a Spring Chamber concert featuring several of the university’s ensembles, including the Clarinet Quartet, French Horn Ensemble, Keyboard Ensemble, Low Brass Ensemble and Handbell Ringers (with special guest Todd Johnson playing the didgeridoo). Come show your support for our students at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in Bauman Auditorium. Admission is free.

Among the selections to be performed are Dvorak’s Bagatelle Op. 47, No. 1, Debussy’s Menuet and Rachmaninoff’s Valse (Keyboard Ensemble); Rougeron’s Petit Quatuor (Clarinet Quartet); Haydn’s Achieved is the Glorious Work (Low Brass Ensemble); and original compositions by Johnson (Handbell Ringers).

Tickets are not required for admittance. Contact Debbie Hawblitzel at ext. 2620 for more information.

All are invited to see the theatre department’s spring play, Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Performances are Thursday through Saturday, April 7-9, and Thursday through Saturday, April 14-16, at 7:30 p.m. Two 2 p.m. Sunday matinee performances, on April 10 and 17, also are scheduled. All performances take place in Wood-Mar Auditorium.

All George Fox employees receive one complimentary ticket. Students will be admitted free on both Thursdays. Your complimentary ticket is only available at the Box Office in the Bruin Bookstore. Additional tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for alumni and seniors, and $6 for students and children under 12. To purchase tickets or read a synopsis of the play, visit theatre.georgefox.edu.

The U.S. Postal Service is increasing rates on April 17, 2011. First Class letters weighing one ounce or less will remain at 44 cents each. The additional ounce will increase by 3 cents, bringing it to 20 cents for each additional ounce. Postcards increase to 29 cents each.

For additional increases, visit the U.S.P.S. website. Click on the “New Rates” in the lower right corner. You can view the different categories: Priority, Media, Parcel Post, etc.

Questions? Contact Linda Sartwell at ext. 2560 or Sherrie Frost at ext. 2556.

All female employees and female spouses of employees are invited to enjoy dinner and a movie together on Tuesday, April 5, at 5:30 p.m., in EHS 102. We will watch Under the Same Moon, with discussion to follow. The dinner and movie are free, but feel free to bring a dessert to share.

Come and connect with other women in the GFU community. Contact Lori Allen if you have any questions: allen.redpants@gmail.com or 503-487-6648.

In order for us to be in compliance with federal regulations and reporting requirements, some recent changes in definitions and procedures have been made which impact students planning to withdraw from the university or take a leave of absence. This applies to all student populations (traditional undergraduate, graduate and adult degree programs). Please review the following:

Who is a student? Someone who is registered for any credit hours in a given term and who has completed their “Enrollment Confirmation” checklist item for that term in their MyGFU portal. (If the “Enrollment Confirmation” checklist item has not been completed by the student by the 10th day of classes, they are not officially considered a student for that term and their schedule will be dropped.)

How does a student withdraw? To officially cease enrollment at George Fox University either during or at the end of a semester/enrollment period, the student must notify the registrar’s office of their departure via the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form. Any other means of communication to the university is not considered official notification. The official withdrawal date is the date on which the student submits the Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form.

If a student tells a professor or administrative assistant that they aren’t returning, can that be considered notification of their withdrawal? No. If a student discusses their intent to withdraw from the university with you, please refer them to the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form.

Do students use this form to drop a class? No. If a student is dropping a class or two, they would complete that through their MyGFU self-service portal. They would only use the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form if they are vacating all coursework for the term.

We will no longer accept the old paper withdrawal forms, so please recycle any copies you may have on file (including pdf copies on your computer).

More information about the Withdrawal/Leave of Absence policy is available in the Catalog and Student Handbook or by contacting an enrollment counselor in the registrar’s office.

The university community is invited to Karon Bell’s retirement party, scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in the Stevens Center lobby.

Karon has been with the university since May of 1985. Drop by to wish her well. There will be a basket for those who wish to give her a card.

Student Supervisors:

There were some problems that cropped up during the March 15 payroll, so I thought I would send out this note with a few reminders. Please use this reminder checklist now as you prepare to send your March time sheets to HR:

• 3 p.m. on third business day of the month is the deadline for time sheets (looking ahead: April 5 at 3 p.m.)
• Late time sheets: Please include a note explaining why it’s late
• Time sheets must be:

1. Totaled by you
2. Checked for a.m./p.m. errors (correct them)
3. Signed by you
4. Checked for dates: Are the dates listed for the correct month?
5. Legible with student name and ID number
6. Checked for six-hour shifts — note meal period in start-stop times or initial and OK by you (this should be an exception, not the rule)

To ensure that we get the time sheets on time, please hand-deliver them to HR. You can ask a student employee to deliver the time sheets to us as long as you first put them in a sealed envelope (keeps us in legal compliance). The only exception to this rule is the Portland Center – please scan or fax your time sheets first, then drop the originals in the mail.

Thank you for working with me to ensure a timely and accurate payroll for our students.

– Melodee Powers, HR

The university community is invited to a panel discussion, “The Future of the 14th Amendment,” from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, in Hoover 105.

Join us as a panel of local students and political science experts discusses the implications concerning that section of the 14th Amendment that states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.” The purpose of the event is to have dialogue about proposed legislation that seeks to limit the scope of the amendment, according to Joel Perez (Dean of Transitions and Inclusion).

Participants will include Mark David Hall (Political Science); Richard W. Etulain, professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico; and Jose-Antonio Orosco, associate professor in the philosophy department and director of the peace studies program at Oregon State University.

The event, sponsored by the Center for Peace and Justice, the Office of Transitions and Inclusion and the Latino Heritage Club, is in commemoration of the life of Cesar Chavez, the American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist whose birthday was March 31. More information is available here.

Questions? Contact Perez at jperez@georgefox.edu.

Having a good hair day? Come to Marketing Communication’s Le Shana Hall portrait studio for this month’s portrait session from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5. These high-quality studio portraits will be used on the university website and will be available for professional promotional use.

Please call or e-mail Danette Newkirk (ext. 2125) to let us know what time you are planning to come. You can still come without prior notice, but your university photo ID will be required for entrance at the southwest side (the side facing Coffin Residence Hall) of the building.

Thank you to all who participated in the LibQUAL+® Lite Library Survey. The library faculty and staff will be reviewing the data as well as your written comments and appreciate your willingness to share your opinions with us.

Congratulations to the winners whose names were randomly drawn from all who took the survey and entered their e-mail address.

All female employees and female spouses of employees are invited to enjoy dinner and a movie together on Tuesday, April 5, at 5:30 p.m., in EHS 102. We will watch Under the Same Moon, with discussion to follow. The dinner and movie are free, but feel free to bring a dessert to share.

Come and connect with other women in the GFU community. Contact Lori Allen if you have any questions: allen.redpants@gmail.com or 503-487-6648.

A programmer analyst position is currently open only to internal applicants (employees). Please e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to ask for a copy of the job description.

To apply, please submit a completed transfer request, cover letter and resume to Human Resources no later than Thursday, March 31, at 5 p.m. The link to the transfer request form can be found at this link.

All Newberg, Portland and Salem offices and libraries will be closed this Friday, March 25, for the spring break holiday. The Boise Center will be open this Friday and will instead take its spring holiday the following Friday, April 1.

Don’t forget this Monday’s all-employee meeting, scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Bauman Auditorium (please note the location change). The meeting was originally scheduled for March 31 but has been moved up three days.

The agenda will include an update from President Robin Baker, who will provide details on the recent board meeting. For those at the university’s regional sites, the meeting will be available for viewing at stream.georgefox.edu/live/commmtg.sdp. A chat room has also been set up, and a video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing in the days following the meeting at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

This is a reminder that the Bruin Bookstore and its online store will be closed on Wednesday, March 23, to finalize its year-end inventory. So that inventory can be accurately processed, phone calls, voice mails and e-mails will not be answered. There also won’t be any money available to make change.

The bookstore will reopen on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Store hours for the remainder of spring break week will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and closed on Saturday. We appreciate your cooperation and support!

All employees are invited to join alumni, students and prospective students to watch the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, April 12. It is the team’s final home game and the annual Fan Appreciation Night, so you don’t want to miss it!

Alumni Relations still has tickets available. You can purchase them by clicking here (promotion code: GEORGEFOX). Tickets are $20 each, and Tuesday, March 22, is the final day to get your tickets.

Questions? Contact Anna Philipsen at aphilipsen@georgefox.edu.

Has anyone seen my black/animal print zip bag? It somehow jumped out of my purse in the Stevens parking lot. How do I know? My husband actually saw it on the ground next to a green car on Friday, but he didn’t pick it up thanks to a misunderstanding of the description.

If you have it, please call me at 503-554-2264. I miss my little zip bag!

Thanks,
Beth Molzahn