The Daily Bruin

Our long awaited Coffee House is now open on the 2nd floor of the Portland Center south building.

Kam’s Coffee House will be open:

Monday-Thursday 7:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturdays-as the class schedule demands.

Their internal number for same day orders is ext. 6051.

They proudly serve Equitas coffee from Longbottom Coffee Company. They offer a full coffee menu as well as breakfast sandwiches, pastries, yogurt, vegetable snacks, tea, salads, sandwiches, and will continue to offer a “Chef du Jour” meal each evening.

They accept debit as well as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards for payment. They also offer gift cards in any denomination you’d like to purchase.

Stop by and say hi and try their great coffee and friendly service.

Come hear James Waller, an expert on the Holocaust and genocide, talk about the role of the church in responding to such events. Dr. Waller has spoken to the State Department and the CIA. He also is the author of numerous books, including Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing. 

Waller will speak from 4:40 to 5:35 p.m. and from 7 to 7:55 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, in Hoover 105. His presentation is part of the university’s Liberal Arts and Critical Issues Forum. For more information, contact Caitlin Corning (History) at ccorning@georgefox.edu.

Do you have the voice and the desire to sing the national anthem during the 2009-2010 Bruin basketball season? Auditions are scheduled for Monday, Nov. 2, in the Wheeler Gymnasium. Audition a cappella in order of arrival, beginning at 7 p.m.

Open to students, faculty, staff and friends and relatives. Please don’t bring your pets.

Please send an e-mail to Peggy Kilburg (HR) if you would like to nominate a support staff member or administrator for Employee of the Month for November. 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, Nov. 13. 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, Nov. 19, and will receive a $100 gift card to The Allison Inn & Spa, including its restaurant, Jory.

Would you please take a few minutes to submit your October 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 staff time sheets is: georgefox.edu/offices/hr/TimesheetOct09.xls

The administrator time-off reports 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.

Student supervisors, please submit your students’ October time sheets to HR right away — by Tuesday, Nov. 3. If you have any “stragglers,” we will take those as late as Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, but there should be very few. Please deliver all other time sheets to HR by Tuesday.

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, Nov. 2. We need to set up students in the system before the time sheets arrive.

Thanks very much.
HR

All faculty and staff are invited to attend the presentation “Working with International Students” from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, in Lemmons 13. Contact Joel Perez at ext. 2305 or Alex Pia at ext. 2643 for more information.

The theatre department’s fall production of The Diviners will be showing in Wood-Mar Auditorium on Nov. 5-7 and Nov. 12-14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. The production is a redemptive tale of a charismatic but backsliding preacher and his close newfound friendship with the eccentric Buddy Layman as they help each other divine for truth, faith and hope.

All university employees will receive one complementary ticket for any night. Your complimentary ticket is only available at the Box Office in the Bruin Bookstore. Additional tickets are available for purchase at theatre.georgefox.edu.

Employees who still have their name badge holders from last week’s staff conference, please return them to Laura Klaus at Box 6229.

LINK (Liberty in North Korea), a team bringing awareness to the plight in North Korea, is on a tour throughout the country. They’ll be on campus to showcase their latest documentary, Seoul Train, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in EHS 102.

The documentary is the story about North Korean refugees who have braved the underground in search of freedom. Come watch, discuss, and help support the modern-day underground railroad.

It is time once again to order university stationery. For detailed order instructions, go to the university communications website.

Elizabeth Holme (Print Services) will work with the Office of Marketing Communications in ordering general university (i.e. non-departmental stationery) letterhead and envelopes. You will continue to purchase all non-departmental stationery (including “second-sheet letterhead”) through her.

Orders are due by Wednesday, Nov. 4.

It’s not too late to apply or renew your passport. The U.S. Postal Service representative will be on campus Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to noon. The location has been changed to the Cap & Gown A section of the SUB.

Don’t forget your original or certified copy of your birth certificate, along with your driver’s license that has a current last name on it for identification purposes. Also, remember that children under 16 must have both parents present.

No debit or credit cards will be accepted. Checks are preferred, and two checks are required. The cost is $75 for the application fee, $15 for pictures and $25 for the U.S.P.S. processing fee. Children will be $15 less.

A U.S. Postal Service representative will be on the Newberg campus to accept passport applications or renewals on Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Executive Dining Room in the Student Union Building.

The ID required is a driver’s license with current last name and an original or certified copy of your birth certificate. Children under 16 years of age must have both parents present.

No debit or credit cards will be accepted. Checks are preferred, and two checks are required. The cost is $75 for the application fee, $15 for pictures, and $25 for the U.S.P.S. fee. Children will be $15 less.

David Niyonzima will speak at the next Liberal Arts and Critical Issues Forum Monday, Oct. 26, from 4:30 to 5:35 p.m. and from 7 to 7:55 p.m., in Hoover 105.

David will speak on the church in Burundi, Africa. He is a pastor and director of THARS, a program that promotes healing and rehabilitation for traumatized people (ex-combatants, victims of torture and sexual violence). He is the coauthor of Unlocking Horns: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Burundi.

The Oregon legislature has levied a 1 percent tax on health insurance premiums, effective Oct. 1, to provide access to health care coverage for low and moderate income Oregon children currently without health insurance. The tax is matched 2-to-1 by the federal government. To offset this 1 percent premium tax, Kaiser has raised its premiums to George Fox and all of its other employer groups by a corresponding 1 percent.

The university has agreed to absorb this increase for the remainder of this plan year in addition to the 80 percent contribution it already makes, so employees with Kaiser coverage will not have to pay this premium increase until any change in premium for the new plan year (March 31, 2010 payroll deduction).

Because the Pioneer Educators Health Trust plan is a self-insured multiple employer welfare trust rather than an insurance company, it was not subject to this new 1 percent premium tax.

Tilikum is looking for a very part-time computer technician to work a few hours per week over the next year to set up and maintain its computer network. Besides the standard technical qualifications, they are looking for someone with working familiarity with the university’s network system, servers, etc.  Please e-mail hr@georgefox.edu if you are interested in this position and/or would like to see the job description and make a transfer request.

This position is currently open only to internal applicants (employees and students). Unfortunately, full-time support staff employees cannot be considered because additional hours (over 40 per week) would require overtime pay, which is cost prohibitive for Tilikum’s budget. A completed transfer request, cover letter and resume should be submitted to HR by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2.

The university’s “Week of Living Light” will culminate Saturday, Oct. 24, with a gathering at 3:30 p.m. in the campus quad. Those who turn out will organize themselves into a large number “350” at exactly 3:50 p.m. A picture will be taken, and it will be sent to Times Square in New York. After the picture, participants plan to march down Highway 99W holding signs and wearing their recycled T-shirts to show their support of the cause.

The event is planned in conjunction with the 350.org campaign, an effort to alert political leaders in advance of the crafting of a new global treaty on cutting carbon emissions in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. The scientific community has designated 350 (parts per million) as the safe upper limit for CO2 in the atmosphere.

The DVD “How Great is Our GOD” that was shown at the fall staff conference will be available for sale at the Bruin Bookstore once they are back in stock from their Christian supplier’s warehouse. After the university employee 20 percent discount, the price is $10.39. Another e-nnouncement will follow upon their arrival at the bookstore.

The university will host a conference to abolish sex trafficking and prostitution in Portland, The New Abolitionists, this Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Bauman Auditorium.

Sponsored by George Fox and the Northwest Yearly Meeting, the event will feature James Pond from Transitions Global and musical guest Jeff Greer. Suggested donation is $20, $10 of which will go to a Portland-based activist agency of the donor’s choice.

Spiritual Life credit is available for students. To learn more, visit The New Abolitionists page on the university’s website.

Thursday, Oct. 22, is the official “Vegetarian Day” as a part of the university’s “A Week of Living Light.” Students who have signed up to participate in this event will have the opportunity to eat vegetarian meals in Klages Dining Hall. All students and employees are encouraged to consider how much energy and resources are involved in the raising, feeding, and transportation of livestock — and the eventual preparation of meat products — and reflect upon how this lengthy process affects our planet.

Also, Friday is “Au Naturale Day” so be sure to skip those morning showers and embrace the satisfaction of knowing that the numerous gallons of water, and the energy used to heat that water, has not gone to waste. Please also take this opportunity to reflect on how much water you use to wash dishes, flush a toilet, or to wash your hands.