The Daily Bruin

The School of Business is hosting Derek Ridenour, channel development manager for Mentor Graphics, as its winter speaker series guest from 7 to 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22, at The Grand Hotel at Bridgeport, located off I-5 at the Durham exit in Tualatin.

Ridenour will speak on “Analyzing complex data: Bridging the gap between data and good decisions.” Following is a synopsis: “Today’s business world is increasingly complex and competitive. Every decision matters; the interconnectedness of our lives and businesses support this claim. Learn critical methods for gathering data, ethically selecting data, and displaying complex data to contribute to good decision making.”

R.S.V.P. to georgefox.edu/business/events.html. The registration fee is $20.

Please be aware that the U.S. Census will be starting soon, so please remember that census representatives always have a badge, handheld device, and canvas bag stating “Census Bureau.” For more tips, please go to census.gov and check the information under phishing and scams.

– Security Services

The Tilikum Center for Retreats and Outdoor Ministries is looking for 34 amazing individuals to serve on this year’s summer staff (June 1 to Aug. 21). A summer at Tilikum offers you an incredible opportunity and experience that will push you to grow in community, Christian living and service.

For more information, go to camptilikum.org.

Please take a few minutes to submit your December time sheet (support staff) or time-off report (administrators) to your supervisor right away. As always, please be sure it is complete (including your ID number), accurate and signed by both you and your supervisor before sending it to HR at Box 6108. (If your supervisor is not available to sign it, please send a copy to HR and keep the original until it has been signed.)

The link on the HR website for the staff time sheet is georgefox.edu/offices/hr/TimesheetDec09.xls. The administrator time-off report is at  georgefox.edu/offices/hr/Timeoffreport.doc.

A tip to help you remember to do this each month: Set a recurring appointment on your Outlook calendar for the first business day of each month with a brief notation, “Turn in time sheet.” That gives you one less thing to have to remember.

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

Please submit your nomination by Friday, Jan. 22. The President’s Executive Leadership Team will then select the Employee(s) of the Month from the nominations submitted. The winner(s) will be announced at the all-employee meeting on Thursday, Jan. 28, and will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison.

Help George Fox University honor its 15th class of inductees at the Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Klages Dining Hall. Reception is at 3 p.m. and dinner at 3:30 p.m.

The 2010 inductees are:

• Jai Cook Men’s Soccer (1991-94)
• Mark Tyler, Baseball (1996-99)
• Mark Halland, Track & Field (1973-74)
• Manfred Tschan Men’s Soccer Coach (1988-2007)
• Bob Dexter, Meritorious Service
• 1998 Volleyball Team

Dinner: $25 for adults, $12 for 12 and under

R.S.V.P.: E-mail Patty Findley or call ext. 2910

The phone system will be down while we change to a new voice provider Wednesday, Dec. 30 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The switchboard normally closes at 5 p.m. at which time outside calls receive a voicemail with instructions which will continue.

Newberg and Portland campus will be able to make internal calls to other campus numbers but incoming or outgoing EXTERNAL calls will not work during the change.

IT Service Desk

Over the past couple of years there has been a shift in customer buying behavior at our bookstores and with this comes both challenges and opportunities.

Effective Feb. 1, the Portland Center Bookstore will close its physical presence and transition to a Web-based service center at store.georgefox.edu.  This will allow the bookstore to move from a small space that offers just textbooks and a small selection of other items during limited hours to a Website available 24/7 that will allow students to purchase all their textbooks plus imprinted clothing, gifts, supplies, computer products and academically priced software.

Here’s how it will affect the following groups:

Students
Our Portland and Salem students will be able to shop online at any time and have their orders shipped to their home or delivered to either the Portland or Salem Center for pick up. For payment, we will take Visa or MasterCard or can charge a student account. A vending machine in the Portland Center will provide school supplies such as pens, pencils, batteries and paper.

Bookstore Personnel
John Stewart will move his office to the Newberg campus and transition to the position of marketing and e-commerce coordinator.  He will focus on growing the Bruin Bookstore e-commerce sales to increase revenue for the university.

Portland/Salem Faculty & Staff
John will be the contact for textbook questions and issues and will help departments with supply needs or special orders.

We are excited about the opportunity to serve our Portland/Salem students, faculty and staff in a new way.  If you have questions, please contact John Stewart at 503-554-6125 or at jstewart@georgefox.edu.

We welcome your questions and input.

Student supervisors, please submit the rest of your students’ December time sheets to HR right away — by noon on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

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. (If the student is not available to sign it this week, 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 newly hired student, please hand-deliver it right away — no later than Monday, Jan 4. We need to set up students in the system before the time sheets arrive.

Thanks very much.

HR

The university will close Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 23-25, for the Christmas holiday. It will also be closed on Friday, Jan. 1, for New Year’s Day. All offices, bookstores and libraries will be closed on those days.

Effective Jan 1, 2010, the mileage reimbursement rate will change from 55 to 50 cents per mile. This new rate is due to the IRS-announced reimbursement rate change.

There are now two reimbursement forms posted on the Financial Affairs “Common Forms” site. One is to be used to be reimbursed for miles driven in 2009; the other will now be used to be reimbursed for miles driven in 2010. Please be mindful of your travel dates to ensure that you are being reimbursed at the correct amount.

Questions? Contact Karon Bell at ext. 2162 or kbell@georgefox.edu.

The Center for Teaching and Learning is offering FoxTALE sessions for faculty during the week of Jan. 4, 2010.

FoxTALE Introduction – This session begins with logging in to FoxTALE and assumes no prior experience with FoxTALE. Learn to upload class files such as syllabi, set up discussion forums, and add assignments.

• Newberg – Wednesday, Jan. 6, 9 a.m. – noon,  Hoover 211 Computer Lab
• Portland – Thursday, Jan. 7, 9 a.m. – noon, PDS 210
• Online – Tuesday, Jan. 5, 9 – 10:30 a.m., iVocalize

FoxTALE Grade Book – This session reviews FoxTALE grade book features and describes how to set up different grading schemes.

• Newberg – Wednesday, Jan. 6, 1 – 2:30 p.m., Hoover 211 Computer Lab
• Portland – Thursday, Jan. 7, 1 – 2:30 p.m., PDS 210

FoxTALE Open Lab Time – A time for faculty to ask questions one-on-one. Come and go as you like.

• Newberg – Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2:30 – 4 p.m., Hoover 211 Computer Lab
• Portland – Thursday, Jan. 7, 2:30 – 4 p.m., PDS 210

If you plan to attend any of these sessions, please R.S.V.P. to Sheila Abercrombie and indicate which session.

FoxTALE will be unavailable from 6 to 7 a.m. (Pacific Time) Monday, Dec. 21, for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Midyear commencement is set to take place at 2 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 19, in Miller Gymnasium on the Newberg campus. Please visit the university’s commencement site to get details, including hooding ceremonies and luncheon information.

An all-employee meeting is set from 3:40 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, 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. For best results, use Mozilla Firefox for your web browser, and your computer must have QuickTime Player installed. Simply copy the link into the address bar of your browser. If you have any problems, contact the Service Desk at ext. 2569.

In addition, a chat room has been set up to allow for interaction. A video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing the following day at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

Marketing Communications is collecting orders for name tags. For those who have regular face-to-face contact with the public and need to order a name tag, you may now submit and view your name tag requests.

Provide the name of the person for whom the name tag is needed; title or department; and the budget to be charged. Examples of title or department include: Dean of Students/Student Life and Admissions Counselor/Admissions. The next order will be placed Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.

Marketing Communications has changed how we process business card orders. The new and improved method allows you to place your order at any time directly from B&B Print Source at eorder.bbprintsource.net/avnet/avlogin.asp.

The login user ID is “gfubc” and the password is “gfu123.”

Please contact Danette Newkirk (Marketing Communications) to walk you through the process the first time.

Student supervisors, please be sure to collect your student employee’s time sheets before they leave for winter break. Please submit these time sheets to Human Resources right away. If students will be working over the winter break, turn time sheets 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. Also, don’t forget to 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.

Note about 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.

Thanks,
HR

Now is a great time to request new spring course sites, archive and reset courses, and export grades for safekeeping. For new course sites, contact the IT Service Desk and include the course number and name and also whether you want content from your existing course site copied to the new site.

See the FoxTALE Quick Guides website for documentation on archiving and resetting courses to prepare for a new semester.

Join the university in saying farewell to Ron and Carolyn Stansell at a retirement reception from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, in the Duke Atrium of the Stevens Center. Ron has served as professor of religion with a missions emphasis for the past 25 years. Carolyn worked in Student Financial Services for seven years and then, together with Ron, led students in our South American Studies Program for the past five years. They will retire this spring upon returning from Bolivia.

Celebrate with us their years of dedication and valuable contributions to George Fox.