The Daily Bruin

The bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama late last week that extended what is commonly referred to as the Bush tax cuts contains a provision that will affect employees’ net pay for one year only.

The payroll (Social Security) tax is being reduced by 2 percentage points to 4.2 percent for 2011. This payroll tax is currently 6.2 percent of employee earnings and appears on our GFU pay statements in the “Taxes” section as “Fed OASDI/EE.” The amount of an employee’s earnings used to pay medical insurance premiums, dental insurance premiums and to contribute to flexible spending accounts is not subject to this tax, so an employee’s salary should be reduced by those deductions to determine what this amount is each month. You will first see the result of this payroll tax reduction on your Jan. 31 pay statement. The Fed MED/EE (Medicare tax), which appears on the row above, will continue to be 1.45 percent.

As you make any long-term financial plans, it is important to be aware that beginning in January 2012 this Social Security tax will again be 6.2 percent.

This legislation did not reduce the employer’s matching amount of this tax, so the university will continue to contribute a 6.2 percent Social Security tax on your earnings.

During the holiday break (Dec. 20-31), there will be limited courier service to the Portland and Salem campuses.

Portland: Wednesdays only – Dec. 22 and 29

Salem: No courier service – Dec. 20-31

Normal service will return on Jan 3, 2011.

Red Christmas poinsettias are on sale this week in the Office of University Relations. The plants are 6-inch potted and cost $5 each or two for $8.

Contact Evangeline Pattison (ext. 2121 or epattison@georgefox.edu) to schedule a pick-up or to reserve.

Encounters with Beethoven, Kenn Willson’s (Performing Arts) live recording CD project, is completed and now available for purchase on his website. Visit this link to buy it or learn more.

Each year our Christmas and New Year’s Day holiday schedule varies a little bit, so to be sure we are all on the same page (and off on the same days), following are days/dates of this year’s holidays:

• Thursday, Dec. 23
• Friday, Dec. 24
• Monday, Dec. 27
• Friday, Dec. 31

Best wishes for a wonderful celebration of our Savior’s birth and for some times of rest and relaxation as well.

– Human Resources

Join IT for general FoxTALE sessions and sessions on the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration.

Want an introduction to FoxTALE? Consider these sessions:

• FoxTALE Introduction, Newberg: HVR 211, Jan. 5, 9 a.m. – noon
• FoxTALE Grade Book Workshop, Portland: PDS 210, Jan. 4, 10 a.m. – noon
• FoxTALE Grade Book Workshop, Newberg: HVR 211, Jan. 7, 9-11 a.m.

The start of the spring 2011 term brings the full implementation of the FoxTALE-MyGFU integration. Following are sessions that cover the integration.

• FoxTALE-MyGFU Integration, Portland: PDS 210, Jan. 4, 3:30-5 p.m.
• FoxTALE-MyGFU Integration, Online Webinar, Jan. 5, 1:30-2 p.m.
• FoxTALE-MyGFU Integration, Newberg: HVR 210, 211, Jan. 7, 1:30-3 p.m.

Read session descriptions and sign up on this R.S.V.P. form. See all of the faculty and staff development sessions IT hosts at Schedule of Events.

The Bruin Bookstore will be closed Monday morning, Dec. 20, to update of the store’s computer system. The bookstore will reopen as soon as the update is complete.

The bookstore’s hours during the Christmas break will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The store will be closed both Fridays, on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve days.

Don’t forget the all-employee meeting scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16, in Hoover 105.

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.

Just a reminder that the university community is invited to a farewell reception in honor of Reid Kisling (Registrar) from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, in the Stevens Center’s Duke Atrium. Reid has accepted the position of senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Newberg and will be leaving the university Dec. 31 after five years of service.

More than 200 students will receive undergraduate and graduate diplomas at the university’s midyear commencement ceremony this Saturday, Dec. 18, in the Wheeler Sports Center. Seating begins at 1 p.m., and the ceremony will start at 2 p.m.

Tickets are not required; however, seating is limited to 10 guests per graduate. At 1:45 p.m., a live broadcast of the ceremony will be available to watch at this link.

David Le Shana, president emeritus of George Fox, will deliver the commencement address. Le Shana also has served as director of public relations, college pastor, evangelist and chaplain at Taylor University.

More specifics on the ceremony are available at commencement.georgefox.edu.

Student supervisors, please be sure to collect your student employees’ time sheets before they leave for winter break. Please submit these time sheets to Human Resources right away. If they will be working over the winter break, turn them in when they are done for the month. While we would like the time sheets as early as possible, ALL December time sheets must be turned in to Human Resources by Tuesday, Jan. 4, by noon.

Please be sure the student’s name, ID number and cost center number is legible on each one. Total them. Sign them and be sure the students did as well. (If the student is not available to sign it, please send it without the signature, and HR will contact the student.) Please do not send students to HR to sign their time sheets.

Federal Work Study regulations require that students delivering their own time sheets must have them in a sealed envelope.

New Students? If you have hired students for December, please hand-deliver their paperwork right away. We need to set up students in the system before the time sheets arrive.

If you have hired students to start in January, please submit their paperwork as soon as possible.

Thanks very much.

– HR

Early Wednesday morning IT will be upgrading network services for the Portland campus.  This will affect printing and shared drives.  It will not affect your personal computer, your network (“H”) drive, or your Internet connection.  IT staff will be in the building all day to help reconnect you to printing and shared drives.

More information will be shared at the Portland Center Community Lunch today.

If you are able, please turn off your computer when you leave for the day on Tuesday. This will assist both you and IT with the upgrade.

Please email or call Bruce Arnold with questions.

Stock up on Bruin items for the new year and come to the Bruin Bookstore’s Christmas sale! Save up to 20 percent on all imprinted items (except diploma frames). Sale ends Dec. 23.

The December Community Lunch will be held in Room 155 on Tuesday, Dec. 14 from noon to 1 p.m.

There will be door prizes!!!!

Kam & Kam Catering will be serving their famous chicken fajitas & all the fixings for just $3.

We will be honoring Barb Braun for her service to us before, seeing a video of the GRAD Night event, and hearing a couple Portland Center updates.

TODAY, Dec. 13, the staff and faculty of the Portland Center will be hosting the 6th Annual Wassail Party in the main lobby on the first floor from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Stop by anytime, even a few times if you like.

Wassail is a warm spiced cider drink and we’ll have loads of treats, maybe even a few healthy ones.

There will be intermittent caroling, continuous conversation, and always some Christmas fun!

Hey-ho! Got books laying around the house that you’ve read but no longer need?

Bring them to the library and put them in the blue bin by the copy machines! They will be donated, sold to fund the non-profit or recycled. See the link below for more details.

http://www.books4giving.com/

The Fitness Center will be closed from 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 17, until Monday, Jan. 10. Ask Santa for a one-month membership to a health club to jump start your New Year’s resolution! The track is available also.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

An all-employee meeting is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16, in Hoover 105.

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.

Poinsettias will be sold for $5 after this weekend’s Christmas Concert. You may pay and reserve your poinsettias at any of the performances, but they will not be available for pick-up until after Sunday’s performance.

If you cannot make it on Sunday, they will be available for pick-up on Monday in the music office.

Please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg (HR) by Monday, Dec. 13, if you would like to nominate a support staff member or administrator for December Employee of the Month. Your e-mail should include the person’s name, job title, a concise but specific summary of this person’s contribution(s) to the university, its students, and/or its employees in the past 30 days or so, and any other information that you believe makes this person deserving of this award.

The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select someone for this honor from the nominations submitted. The winner will be announced at the community meeting next Thursday, Dec. 16, and will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.