The Daily Bruin

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. A reminder for completing time sheets: Do not write any hours on the dates marked holidays unless you worked any of the holidays (Dec. 24, 25, 26, and/or 31).

We will be having community lunches this spring from noon to 1 p.m. on the following dates:

Wed., Jan. 16, in Room 285

Wed., Feb. 13, in Room 155

Wed., March 12, in Room 155

Wed., April 9, in Room 155

Bon Appetit will again be serving lunch for $3 or you can also bring your own. We look forward to seeing you there.

After nine and a half years at George Fox, Belinda Pilcher (President’s Office) will be leaving to accept an office manager position at Riverspirit Wellness Center, an acupuncture and nutritional care facility in Newberg. She joined the university in 1998 as an administrative assistant in the Humanities office and has served as executive assistant to the president since June 2003. Her last day will be Friday, Jan. 4.

Please join Belinda and other colleagues from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4, in the Stevens Center lobby for a farewell reception.

– Human Resources

With Belinda Pilcher’s upcoming departure, we have an opening for Executive Assistant II to provide administrative support to President Robin Baker.
This position has been posted on our website.  You can go to:  jobs.georgefox.edu and click on the support staff jobs link to see the full position announcement.  This position will be open to internal applicants at least through January 4th.  Please contact Human Resources to request a Transfer Request form if you are interested in applying for this position.

After nine and a half years at George Fox, Belinda Pilcher (President’s Office) will be leaving to accept an office manager position at Riverspirit Wellness Center, an acupuncture and nutritional care facility in Newberg. She joined the university in 1998 as an administrative assistant in the Humanities office (later Writing/Literature and Communication Arts) and has served as executive assistant to the president since June 2003. Her service to the university is very much appreciated, and she will be missed. Her last day will be Friday, Jan. 4.

Please join Belinda and other colleagues from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4, in the Stevens Center lobby for a farewell reception.

– Human Resources

If you have any perishable items in the employee kitchen refrigerator or the refrigerators by the student lounge at the Portland Center, please clean them out by Friday, Dec. 21 at 4:30 p.m.
Any perishable food left in the refrigerators at that time will be thrown out.

Also, if your department has items in the freezers, please take the time to mark the food. Any unmarked food will be thrown out as well.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email Janis Sanford, Assistant Director/Office Manager at jsanford@georgefox.edu

Would you like to attend a super Christian conference in balmy Southern California while it rains in Oregon in February?

If so, you can attend the Student Congress On Racial Reconciliation at Biola University on Feb. 8-10 in La Mirada, Calif. The cost will be $325 per person and is worth every dime. You will have a lot of fun, have fellowship with students from other schools as well as those from George Fox, and learn a lot. Please contact Burel Ford by Jan. 11 at 503-554-2318 or bford@georgefox.edu.

George Fox’s Newberg, Portland, Boise, Redmond, and Salem sites will close for the Christmas holiday Monday, Dec. 24, through Wednesday, Dec. 26. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 27-28, are not paid holidays, so those taking them off need to use vacation time.

The university also will close for the New Year’s holiday Monday, Dec. 31, and Tuesday, Jan. 1. Undergraduate classes resume Monday, Jan. 7, while some graduate programs resume classes the first week of January. For Newberg and Portland library hours during the holiday break, visit library.georgefox.edu.

As of Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008 the cost for renting university vans will be increased to $.50 per mile.

Miller Gymnasium will be completely closed from Thursday 12/20-Wednesday 12/26 for painting.

A message from IT and the Center for Teaching and Learning

To prepare for next semester:

1. Download fall grades into an Excel spreadsheet or text file as a backup. (Go to Grades under Administration.)

2. Back up your course and reset the course to clear out students, students’ uploaded files, and forum postings. Here are instructions.

3. Discontinue the use of the activity type “Journal.” Instead, create Online Text Assignments to replace all old Journal activities. Journals have been made obsolete by Moodle and are painfully slow in the current version. We will be discontinuing their use on January 14.

4. Request new courses from the Service Desk.

The Center for Teaching and Learning is offering an introductory FoxTALE workshop on Thursday, January 3, 9am – noon, in the CAI Lab, third floor of Stevens. Open lab time is also offered January 3, 1 – 4pm, in the CAI Lab. Please RSVP to Sheila Abercrombie if you would like to attend the morning class.

Podcasts of the fall 2007 faculty teaching forums are available for viewing during the Christmas break. Below is a list of topics and presenters from the fall series. To see a description of a session or to view the podcast, go to the Center for Teaching and Learning blog.

• Putting Student Evaluations to Use (Becky Ankeny)

• Inspire! (Gloria Doherty)

• Teaching Evaluations and Outcome Assessment (Chris Koch)

• Beyond the pop quiz: Classroom assessment techniques (Caitlin Corning)

• The First Day of Class: Beginning with the End in Mind (Dwight Kimberly)

• Mid-Course Adjustments: Taking the Risk to Make Necessary Change (Dirk Barram)

• Managing the load: Teaching, Research, Service (Paul Chamberlain)

Bruin coffee cart will be closed for the Christmas break starting Friday, Dec. 14, and will re-open Monday, Dec. 7.

Last-minute Christmas gift idea … We have specially bound editions of the classic devotionals, Streams in the Desert and My Utmost for His Highest. These are bound in leather, perfect for gifting. We’ve done all the work for you … they’re already beautifully wrapped and ready to go! Only$19.97 each.

Grandma, mom, sister, friend … an appropriate gift for anyone. Come in and see them. Give a gift of inspiration that will last for years to come!

The university will host its midyear commencement ceremony in the James and Lila Miller Gymnasium on the Newberg campus Saturday, Dec. 15. The commencement will start at 2 p.m., with audience seating at 1 p.m. Tickets are not required. Seating is limited to no more than 10 guests per graduate.

Nearly 190 students will take part in the ceremony. Graduates are to assemble at the Wheeler Sports Center at 1 p.m. For more information on the ceremony, visit the commencement website.

Due to the inclement weather in the Midwest, many of the textbook shipments for the Portland Center Bookstore have been delayed. We will likely not have these books available until after the Christmas break. We appreciate your understanding and patience, as this situation is beyond our control.

The Center for Teaching and Learning is sponsoring an Introduction to FoxTALE workshop and open lab time for faculty on Thursday, Jan. 3, in the CAI Lab on the third floor of the Stevens Center. An introductory class will be held from 9 a.m. to noon, and consultants will be available during open lab time from 1 to 4 p.m. Please R.S.V.P. to Sheila Abercrombie (IT) if you would like to attend the morning class.

The front office at the Portland Center will have holiday hours the next three weeks.

On Dec. 17 -21, 27-28, Jan. 2-4, the office will be open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the exception of Wednesday, Dec. 19 and Thursday, Jan. 3, for the new student orientations, on which it will remain open until 6:30 p.m.

The front office will be closed on Dec. 24, 25, 26, 31 and Jan. 1 in celebration of Christmas and New Year.

You can donate blankets, gift cards, cleaning supplies, and/or personal hygiene items to the Vernonia flood victims.

Whitney Scott, a George Fox graduate counseling student and school counseling intern at Scappoose High School, will be collecting donations from the George Fox Portland Center community and taking them to the collection point at SHS.

Donation boxes have been placed in the North and South Buildings of the Portland Campus. If you have any questions, please contact Whitney Scott at 503-543-6376, ext. 229.

The Third Annual Wassail Party was fabulous!

Several hundred students and employees came by the tables for treats and talks. It was so much fun to watch the students enjoy a much-needed break from learning and studying. Many of them asked us to pass along their gratitude for such a wonderful event.

Personally, I was incredibly blessed to watch our community rise up together to provide the treats and hospitality this year. It honestly was a miracle to see how the goodies and snacks multiply like “Loaves and Fishes.” We had so many goodies left over that we’re still snacking on them in the employee lounge.

Thank you to each one who generously gave to support the party. Special thanks to the Portland Center Library for ordering and paying for the wassail.

On behalf of the Portland Center community, “Thank You” to the many people who hosted the event during the day:

Sandy Chambers, Joyce Staats, Brenda Graf, Janeen Dillow, Robin Ashford, Bruce Arnold, Charlie Kamilos, Jeff VandenHoek, Amber Russell, Sara Vulgan, Kathy Grant, Vicki Ring, Janet Moats, Cindy Howard, Jennifer Overstreet, Danielle Ambrose, Melva Lloyd, Jean Borgman, and Darla Samuelson, as well as Barbara Braun and Vern Choin for their help in setting up and tearing down.

Thank you goes to each of you who made, bought or shared in the bringing of the food. You made the day!