Effective Jan. 1, Oregon’s minimum wage increased 5.7 percent, from $7.95 to $8.40 per hour. Student employees will receive the new pay rate for any hours worked in 2009. Since the Jan. 10 student pay day is for hours students worked in December 2008, those hours will be paid at $7.95 per hour. Feb. 10 will be the first pay day students will see their pay reflect $8.40 per hour.
The Portland Center Bookstore will have extended hours from Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 through Friday, Jan. 16, 2009.
The hours will be as follows:
Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed daily from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Regular store hours will resume on Monday, January 19, 2009.
Monday & Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed daily from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
An update on textbooks: Due to the severe weather across the country in the last several weeks, several of the university’s textbook shipments have been delayed. We are receiving shipments daily, and as the books arrive they will be available for students to purchase. Our goal is to have all textbooks here before classes begin Monday. Please encourage your students to keep checking our online store (store.georgefox.edu) for textbook availability. Thanks for your help.
– University Store staff
Print monies for students at the Portland Center should be updated by Monday, January 12th. Your print account will be set to $15 if you are a registered student for spring semester at the Portland Center.
Questions after the 12th should be directed to Bruce Arnold (barnold@georgefox.edu).
If you have not already done so, please submit your December time sheet (support staff) or time-off report (administrators) this week. Please be sure it is complete, 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.Now that we are using PeopleSoft, we cannot easily access your record by employee name to do data entry. For this reason, it would be helpful if you added your ID number and cost center number to your time sheet or time-off report. This will save us having to look up this information before doing data entry. By next month, we will try to revise these forms to ask for this information.
A word about the holidays: Do not write any hours on the dates marked holidays unless you worked any of the holidays — Dec. 24, 25, 26.
A word about the campus closures: If you were scheduled to work the days the campuses were closed, record the hours you would have worked (or worked if you came in). It is fine to also note “snow day” or “campus closure” on those dates, too. (We were closed all day on Dec. 15, 22 and 23; closed two hours early on Dec. 17; and opened two hours late on Dec. 18.)
If you were scheduled for vacation or sick day(s) during any of the campus closures, you should record the time off as vacation or sick days. If you were not able to get to campus on any of the days we were open, you should use vacation for the time you missed.For more information about campus closure policy, visit the university’s website.Â
The university’s FoxTALE upgrade to Version 1.9 is complete. To read about the upgrade and the version’s new features, visit the IT website. The biggest change is a new grade book scheme. If you would like to view Fall 2008 grades in the old format, go to foxtaleold.georgefox.edu. The old format will be available until Jan. 31.
For information on updating grade books with weighted categories in the new 1.9 version, see the document on the conversion procedure on the FoxTALE upgrade web page.
Three information sessions about the new features have been scheduled. You can sign up for one of the following:
Newberg: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 9 a.m. to noon, Hoover 211 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Portland Center: Friday, Jan. 9, 1-4 p.m., PDS 210 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Webinar: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 1:30-3 p.m. (Pacific Time). E-mail gdoherty@georgefox.edu to reserve a seat.
If you have not used FoxTALE, you can sign up for one of two FoxTALE training sessions:
Newberg: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 9 a.m. to noon, Hoover 211 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Portland Center: Thursday, Jan. 8, 1-4 p.m., PDS 210 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Questions? Contact the IT Service Desk.
The Portland Center Bookstore’s book buyback has been extended through Wednesday, Dec. 31. Bookstore hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. The store is closed Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 24-26, and Thursday and Friday, Jan. 1-2.
The Bruin Den and Villa Cafe will be closed from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. We will reopen the Bruin Den Jan. 5-9 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both the Bruin Den and Villa Cafe will resume regular hours on Jan. 12, as well as our evening meal service at the Portland Center. We would like extend our thanks for a wonderful 2008 and wishing everyone a blessed and safe Christmas holiday.
The Bookstore has extended its buy-back period through Tuesday, Dec. 23.
We will be having our semi-annual textbook buyback on December 16 – 23 from 9a.m. until 4 p.m. The first 150 people to sell books at buyback will receive a reusable/recyclable shopping bag! Don’t miss this opportunity for some Christmas cash!
For more information about buyback, log on to: georgefox.edu/offices/store_pdx/buyback.html
Please join the university community in saying farewell to Al Zimmerman (Planned Giving) at a reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, in the Duke Atrium in the Stevens Center. Refreshments will be served. The event was rescheduled for Dec. 22 because of last Monday’s inclement weather.
Al is leaving the university to serve as executive director of the Portland-based Northwest Christian Community Foundation, a conduit for generating gifts in support of a wide range of Christian ministries. Al has worked at George Fox for three years.
Student supervisors, please submit your students’Â December timesheets to HR as soon as you get them. Please do not wait until the end of December if your student employee is finished working for the month. (Students will see an e-nnouncement today reminding them to sign and submit them to you before they leave for the holidays.)
Please be sure the student‘s name is legible on each one and also include each student’s ID number and the cost center number. Also, don’t forget to sign the time sheet, and be sure the student did as well. If the student left without signing it, please send it without the signature, and HR will hold the check until the time sheet is signed. Reminder: If a student delivers his or her own time sheet to HR, it must be in a sealed envelope — a Federal Work Study regulation.
Some of you may have students working over the break. If so, please deliver their time sheets to HR as soon as they have finished their last shift. Time sheets must be received no later than Monday, Jan. 5, in order for the student to be paid on the Jan. 9 pay day, but we need as many as possible before then.
Thanks very much,
HRÂ
When there is an emergency campus closure, usually due to inclement weather as was the case earlier this week (and may occur again before winter is over), the university’s policy indicates the following in the Employee Handbook, Section 7.1 Emergency Closure:
In addition, employees who happen to be on vacation or using sick leave the day of a closure should record those days/hours as vacation or sick leave the same as they would had the campus been open.
A significant number of our international students will be staying on campus during Christmas break, Dec. 20 through Jan. 11. We are looking for people who would like to invite some international students into their home for a meal or activity during this time.
As always, one of our goals is to help international students learn more about American families and to develop relationships. Christmas break is a great time for this to happen. If you are interested in sharing a meal, activity, or Christmas tradition with an international student, please contact Alex Pia (International Student Services) at ext. 2643 or apia@georgefox.edu or Dianna McIntyre (International Student Services) at ext. 2649 or dmcintyre@georgefox.edu.
Tickets are still available for the university’s Christmas concert, “O Holy Night,” scheduled Friday through Sunday, Dec. 12-14. The concert features more than 175 musicians from five ensembles in the main-stage performance, and preconcert music featuring six of the university’s chamber ensembles.
Three presentations are scheduled:
Two on-campus performances in Bauman Auditorium
Friday, Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m. (preconcert music begins at 6:30 p.m.)
Saturday, Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m. (preconcert music begins at 6:30 p.m.)
Off-campus performance at Village Baptist Church in Beaverton
Sunday, Dec. 14, 2:30 p.m. (preconcert music begins at 2 p.m.)
Additional information about the concert program or the performing arts department is available by contacting Debbie Hawblitzel (Performing Arts) at ext. 2620.
Ticket information
All faculty, staff and students receive one free ticket that can be picked up at the box office in the University Store. Additional tickets may be purchased in person at the box office or by calling the office at ext. 3844. Tickets also are available at music.georgefox.edu. Tickets are $10 for adults; $8 for seniors and George Fox alumni; and $6 for students and children. The concert features reserve seating, so if you have a favorite seat, make sure you save it now.
This is to remind you that you and your family are invited to the Baker family’s annual Christmas open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at the Edwards House at 402 S. College St., in Newberg.
We look forward to you joining us for light appetizers and holiday sweets as we celebrate the Christmas season together!
Due to the PeopleSoft implementation, Security Services needs to be sure vehicle registration database information is as accurate as possible. Please log on to Bruindata, click on the vehicle registration link (under the “My Data” tab), and check to see that your vehicle information is correct. If you need to update/add more information about your vehicles, click the box that says “replace this vehicle” and enter the requested information.
When finished, click submit and we will see it on our side and change the information for you. If your white staff hangtag has broken, please bring it to the security office, and we will replace it gratis. If you have lost your white hangtag, please bring $5 cash to the security office, and we will issue you a replacement permit.
Adjuncts: If you will be on contract any part of 2009, you will need an updated parking permit. Please update your info on Bruindata, and either mail (Box 6095) or bring your soon-to-expire permit to the security office, and we will update it to a new one for 2009.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in keeping our records as current as possible.
IT reports that FoxTALE will be upgraded to version 1.9 from 6 a.m. Monday, Dec. 29, until 6 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30. FoxTALE will be unavailable during this time. (All times are Pacific Standard Time).
As the university’s locksmith, it is imperative that I keep accurate records of which keys have been issued and to whom they’ve been issued. I have had difficulty maintaining my key records because of people passing on their keys to other people either when they leave George Fox or when they move to another department. In many cases, people have passed on their keys to someone else apart from my knowledge or simply left them somewhere in their former workplace.
All keys are issued from Plant Services, and when people no longer need them they are to be returned to Plant Services. They are not to be passed on. There have been cases in which master keys have gotten lost and never accounted for. This constitutes a major breach of security. If keys were to get into the wrong hands, there is no telling what the consequences of this could be.
If you have moved from one department to another during your tenure at George Fox and still have keys from your old department, please return them to Plant Services. I am asking for your cooperation in this so that we can maintain campuses that are safe for our students and employees.
Thank you,
Alan Thurston (Plant Services)
Employees are invited to attend an all-community meeting from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, in Hoover 105. The meeting will provide employees an opportunity to receive campus updates. Your participation is strongly encouraged.
For those at the university’s four 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.
Please join the university community in saying farewell to Al Zimmerman (Planned Giving) at a reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, in the John and Marilyn Duke Atrium in the Stevens Center. Refreshments will be served.
Al is leaving the university to serve as executive director of the Portland-based Northwest Christian Community Foundation, a conduit for generating gifts in support of a wide range of Christian ministries. Al has worked at George Fox for three years.
