The Daily Bruin

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

Want an introduction to FoxTALE? Consider these sessions:

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

MyGFU will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance beginning Wednesday, Dec. 29. at 5:30 p.m. through Sunday afternoon, Jan. 2, 2011.

The online “No Hassle Buyback” has been re-activated on our website.  Simply go to www.store.georgefox.edu click on the “Textbooks” tab, then select “Sell Books”.  Enter your ISBN numbers and the system will give you a buy price for each book.  Just follow the online instructions.  When completed, the system will produce a receipt and a pre-paid label for shipping your books.  You should receive payment with 5 business days.  If you need help, please refer to the contact information at the No Hassle Buyback.

Student supervisors, please submit the rest of your students’ December time sheets to HR right away — by noon on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

Please be sure the student’s name, ID number and cost center number is legible on each one. Please 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.

If you happen to still have any paperwork to submit on a student hired in December, please hand-deliver it right away — no later than Monday, Jan 3. We need to set up students in the system before the time sheets arrive.

Thanks very much.

HR

HR has free tickets to the Build, Remodel and Landscape Show in Portland, scheduled Friday through Sunday, Jan. 7-9, at the Oregon Convention Center.

The event will feature hundreds of exhibits about – you guessed it – building, remodeling and landscaping. If you would like to attend this show, you can request two tickets by e-mailing HR@georgefox.edu. Order yours while supplies last.

The Office of University Relations still has red Christmas poinsettias for sale. The last day to buy them is Wednesday, Dec. 22, so stop by the Pennington House and check out the 6-inch potted plants. “Deals will be made.”

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

On Friday, Dec. 17, the $5,250 tax break for tuition assistance from employers was extended for another two years. Section 127 of the U. S. tax code allows George Fox employees to exclude from income up to this amount each year in tuition remission they receive for graduate courses. (This exclusion does not apply to graduate tuition remission for spouses.) This exclusion would have expired on Dec. 31, 2010, had Congress not acted to extend it.

Please note: All undergraduate tuition remission to employees, spouses and dependents is excluded from income under Section 117 of the tax code, which applies to employees of educational institutions.

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.