The Daily Bruin

PrayerNet strengthens the university community through intercessory prayer. If you have a prayer need, please know that there are people on campus who would like to pray for you. You can send your prayer requests through the Staff Development Committee website. Submit your requests anonymously or let us know who you are.

Also, a prayer request box is located in the chapel on the Newberg campus; one will be available in the Portland Center chapel shortly. Prayer is effective and powerful!

Faculty at the Portland Center can join the faculty business meeting on Friday, Sept. 26, via video conferencing. The meeting is scheduled in PDS 281 from 10:40 to 11:30 a.m.

You can contact hybrid learning programs for more information at gdoherty@georgefox.edu.

Don’t forget about the Staff Development Committee’s non-food pantry drive on behalf of Love INC. The local community has a high demand for necessities not covered by food stamps. Please help meet those needs. Look for Love INC donation barrels on the Newberg campus in the SUB (outside the University Store), Stevens Center lobby, Hoover Atrium, Mail Services and the VAC. The Portland Center also has a barrel available for donations. The donation drive ends Oct. 22.

Needed items include toilet paper (this is the highest need), laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher soap, bar soap, body wash, shampoo and conditioner, razors, shaving cream, feminine products, Saran Wrap, Zip bags, garbage bags, paper towels, deodorant, lotion, toothpaste, toothbrushes and dental floss.

Don’t forget to register for Selah, the university’s women’s conference scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 27, in Bauman Auditorium. Online registration will be available through Thursday, Sept. 25. For more information, visit selah.georgefox.edu or call Amy Lorenz (University Relations) at ext. 2134. We hope to see you there!

– University Relations

Should you consider purchasing long-term care insurance? You will get the opportunity to better answer this question by attending an upcoming meeting or webinar hosted by LTC Solutions, a long-term care insurance company.

With the cost of health care outpacing inflation and people living longer, people are becoming increasingly concerned about their ability to fund their retirement and long-term care needs. A long-term care policy can help protect assets, minimize dependence on family members, and control how someone receives nursing or home care.

A series of informational meetings have been scheduled. Employees attending any of the group meetings in Newberg or Portland are eligible for an iPod Touch drawing hosted by the University Store. Employees from Boise, Salem and Redmond who participate by joining the webinar also will be included in the drawing.

Following is the meetings schedule:

Friday, Oct. 3, noon to 1 p.m., Cap and Gown Room (sandwich provided)
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 9-10 a.m., VAC 117 (bagels provided)
Thursday, Oct. 9, 7-8 p.m., Hoover 102 (snack provided)
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 10-11 a.m. webinar (access instructions to come)
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Portland 155 (sandwich provided)

For more information, contact LTC Solutions at 1-877-286-2852. To see a video about long-term care insurance, visit this link on the LTC Solutions site.

Because HR/payroll will be going live with PeopleSoft on Oct. 1, the Sept. 30 payroll will have to be finalized several days early to have time to convert the data from IFAS into PeopleSoft and check it for accuracy before Oct. 1. This means the payroll data entry deadline for this payroll will be earlier than usual.

If you have any paperwork to submit for the Sept. 30 pay day, it must be in HR no later than Thursday, Sept. 18. This includes  an overload or adjunct contract, a new W-4, retirement plan payroll reduction authorization, a direct deposit form, etc. Supervisors, any Personnel Change Forms that would impact an employee’s pay should also be submitted (with all signatures) by Thursday as well.

Forms can be faxed to HR at 503-554-2186 if you are not on the Newberg campus. Newberg campus employees, please deliver documents to HR; please do not put them in campus mail. Paperwork received after Thursday will not be processed until the October payroll.

Thank you,
Human Resources

Dr. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, associate professor of religion and humanities at Reed College, will be speaking on the history of Islam in America from 4:40 to 5:30 p.m. and from 7 to 7:50 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, in Hoover 105. For more information, contact Caitlin Corning (History), co-director of the Liberal Arts Critical Issues Program, at ext. 2673 or ccorning@georgefox.edu.

Today (Monday, Sept. 15) until 5 p.m. is your last opportunity to take the four-day work week survey. The president’s executive leadership team is seeking feedback from employees so an informed decision can be made whether to offer the four-day work week during the academic year. All employees who worked this summer are encouraged to provide input — those who participated as well as those who didn’t, including supervisors. (If you did not work this summer, please do not participate in the survey.)

To provide this feedback, please take just a few minutes to complete the online, anonymous survey at this link:
surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gVvcSaN7Pa53KPd9Vb5mRA_3d_3d.

Patrick Allen (Provost) will present a Faculty Teaching Forum, “Engaged Teaching and Learning,” from 3:40 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in Hoover 104 (Hoover library). Patrick will share thoughts about how good teachers engage their students in the learning process and the benefits of doing so. Participants will be invited to enter the conversation about experiences, resources and activities that foster student learning.

Refreshments will be served. No R.S.V.P. is required. All faculty — full time, part time and adjunct — are invited to attend Faculty Teaching Forums (FTFs). Video podcasts of FTFs will be available at the “Events and Resources” link on the Center for Teaching and Learning website.

Come enjoy refreshments from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16, as Lon Fendall (Center for Peace and Justice/Center for Global Studies) shares thoughts on his biography of Mark Hatfield, Stand Alone or Come Home: Mark Hatfield as an Evangelical and a Progressive. See why mixing “evangelical” and “progressive” is not like mixing oil and water. The presentation will take place in Hoover 250.

Pictures from the university’s 10th annual Serve Day (Sept. 10) have been posted on the Web. Simply go to the homepage (georgefox.edu) and click on one of the rotating Serve Day photos at the top of the page to see a collection of pictures from the day.

A Faculty Research Forum featuring Kerry Irish (History) is scheduled at 10:40 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, in Hoover 105 on the Newberg campus. Kerry will speak on “Dwight Eisenhower’s Cross Cultural Leadership During WWII.” A question-and-answer session will follow, and refreshments will be provided. The event is sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee.

Student employee supervisors: If you haven’t already been sending the new hire paperwork for your student employees to HR, please do so right away. This includes the offer letter for returning student employees and the offer letter and completed I-9 and W-4 forms for new students that have not worked on campus before. Please send this as each student is hired rather than waiting until you have all hires for your department.

The Oct. 10 payroll has more data entry than any other student payroll of the year because new records have to be set up for all student employees. Added to that challenge this year is the fact that this will be the first payroll run in the new PeopleSoft system. Receiving this paperwork as early as possible to avoid a backlog of data entry at the end of the month will help ensure a successful payroll and pay day on Oct. 10.

Thanks to those of you that have already been sending paperwork these last few weeks.  It is much appreciated.

– Human Resources

Our consultant from TIAA-CREF, Shane Roghaar will be available for individual retirement plan reviews. He will be in Room 296 on Tuesday, Sept. 16 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You will need to make an appointment before the 16th.

Please sign up online–see more information on the HR Benefits Web Page: georgefox.edu/offices/hr/benefits.html

In an effort to become better stewards of God’s creation (one of the strategic planning initiatives) by saving on gas consumption, the university offered a trial four-day work week from June 16 through Aug. 15. This trial policy had the following guidelines:

1.    All offices needed to be covered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
2.    Employees could choose to work four 10-hour days if coverage was approved by their supervisor.
3.    If approved, employees chose to take off either Monday or Friday, leaving Tuesday through Thursday to schedule departmental and cross-departmental meetings.)
4.    Overtime was only paid for hours worked over 40 in a week, not over eight in a day.
5.    The week of June 30 to July 4 was a standard, five-day week for all employees due to the holiday.
6.    It was noted that some days such as Genesis might necessitate more complete coverage for particular areas within the university.

It was understood that not every department or regional site would be able to participate and that participation would be up to the director or VP of each department or site, taking into consideration any potential service disruption to their customers.

The president’s executive leadership team is seeking feedback from employees so an informed decision can be made whether to offer the four-day work week during the academic year. All employees who worked this summer are encouraged to provide input — those who participated as well as those who didn’t, including supervisors. (If you did not work this summer, please do not participate in the survey.)

To provide this feedback, please take just a few minutes to complete the online, anonymous survey at the following link:
surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gVvcSaN7Pa53KPd9Vb5mRA_3d_3d.

Thank you,
Human Resources

We are looking for volunteers to help build lunch boxes for Selah’s 600 participants. We will put the lunches together as much as we can from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, and then place the cold packs and sandwiches in them on Saturday from 8:15 to 9 a.m. Both lunch-building sessions will meet in the Cap and Gown Room. All volunteers will recieve $10 off their Selah registration fee.

Please contact Danya Ochsner (University Relations) at 503-554-2121 or dochsner@georgefox.edu if you are interested in helping. If you have already signed up to volunteer for Amy Lorenz (University Relations) during Selah, we would prefer that you not also volunteer for the lunch building on Saturday.

“Where do I Fit? Finding Your Piece of the Puzzle” is the theme of this year’s Staff Development Conference, scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at Family Life Church in Newberg. This will be a fun-filled day of learning and serving together. All staff members are expected to attend. Watch your campus mailbox for more information.

Up to three temporary administrative assistants are needed to work through January 2009 in enrollment services departments on the Newberg campus as the staff continues working hard on the PeopleSoft implementation. Each position will work an average of 20 hours per week. If you know of someone who might be a good fit for these jobs, please have the person(s) contact HR by e-mail (hr@georgefox.edu) or phone (554-2185).

The university is looking for a full-time, temporary custodian to work at the Portland Center through September, possibly longer. The work schedule for this position is 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. If you know of someone who might be interested in this job, please have the person(s) contact HR by e-mail (hr@georgefox.edu) or phone (554-2185).

The university will celebrate its 10th annual Serve Day on Wednesday, Sept. 10. More than 1,500 students and employees will fan out into local communities to assist a record 72 sites with everything from painting, weeding and cleaning projects to visiting the elderly.

All students and employees will meet on the Newberg campus quad at 8:20 a.m. and depart for work sites in Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Multnomah counties at 9 a.m. The groups will return to campus by 4 p.m., at which time the day will conclude with a volunteer fair and campus-wide celebration that will feature a country fair theme. All George Fox participants also are invited for a complimentary dinner served by the Bon Appetit.

Among the carnival activities planned are a mechanical bull ride, a three-legged race, face painting, a bean-bag toss, a basketball throw, balloon animals, and more. The event will include about 20 nonprofit volunteer booths, 20 church booths and 20 student activity booths.

The schedule for the day is as follows:
7:30-8:20 a.m. – Continental breakfast for everyone on campus
8:20 a.m. – Kick-off celebration on the Centennial Clock Tower Lawn and welcome by former President Dave Brandt
9 a.m. – Groups meet at numbered stakes on lawn and depart for service site
Lunch – With your group at the service site (employees either bring your own lunch or fill out order form online)
4 p.m. (approximate) – Participants return to campus and volunteer, church and activities fair begins
4:30-7 p.m. – Serve Day celebration dinner and fun

The theme for this year’s event is “Celebrate!” and is based on Philippians 4:4-5: “Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them.”

For more information on the day, visit serveday.georgefox.edu.