The Daily Bruin

Did you know key employers are saying that candidates are generally unprepared to interview? Use the interviewing module in Optimal Resume to sharpen your skills at your fingertips on MyGFU/Career Services.

Please don’t underestimate the competition you will face looking for employment. Be prepared. On Optimal Resume, you can build a resume, coverletter, eportfolio, website, complete a skills assessment and practice interviewing. If any of these are sent to the review center, your career services professionals will give you feedback online.

Contact us with questions at ext. 2330 or at careers@georgefox.edu, or come in for a career conversation. We are invested in your best future.

Faculty, please let your students know about this great resource.

– Bonnie Jerke,
Career Services

John Stewart is officially the new manager of the Bruin Bookstore, replacing Andy Dunn, who recently moved into Karon Bell’s position.

The Safety Committee would like to thank the George Fox employee community (including student employees) for an injury-free first quarter of 2011!

Most injuries can be prevented through planning ahead, being aware of surroundings and using proper tools and protective gear. Thank you for doing these well. For information about the safety committees in Newberg and Portland, please contact Dan Schutter or John Newberry.

A retirement reception for Howard Macy (Religious Studies) is scheduled for this Tuesday, April 19, in the Hoover atrium between 4 and 5 p.m. Please come and wish Howard well as we celebrate and appreciate his contributions to our university for the past 21 years.

A reception in honor of Dwight Kimberly (Biology) is scheduled for Monday, April 25, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the EHS Atrium. Come by and wish Dwight well. He is retiring after 25 years at the university.

Good Friday and Earth Day both fall on Friday, April 22, this spring. The university campuses will be closed. How about joining a grassroots effort initiated by students to clean up the Hess Creek Canyon on the Newberg campus?

Work will start at 9 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. Bring your enthusiasm, work shoes and gloves. Water and break refreshments will be provided.

Questions? Contact Debby O’Kelley at dokelley@georgefox.edu.

New diploma frames to fit the newly sized diplomas are now available at the Bruin Bookstore. You may also purchase them at our online store: store.georgefox.edu. Just select the “Gifts & Supplies” tab.

Wear your pajamas to the Bruin Bookstore on Friday, April 15, and receive a 25 percent discount on any clothing or gift purchase in the store!

The Center for Peace and Justice welcomes the university community to a series of Woolman Peacemaking Forum events next week. We are pleased to welcome Emmanuel Katongole, associate professor of theology and world Christianity at Duke Divinity School and co-director of the Duke Center for Reconciliation, for our 26th annual forum.

The theme of the week is “Reconciling All Things,” and all Woolman events count for spiritual life credit. Following is a schedule of events:

• On Sunday, April 10, a multi-media presentation entitled 1.4 Billion Reasons will be presented from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in Hoover 105. Co-written by Jeffrey Sachs, world renowned economist, and developed as a part of the Global Poverty Project, the presentation encourages citizens to be part of the global movement to end extreme poverty.
• On Monday, April 11, Hibakusha, Our Life to Live will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in Lemmons 8. Produced by award-winning producer David Rothauser, the documentary tells the stories of Japanese, Korean and American survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Katongole will speak in chapel in Bauman Auditorium Wednesday, April 13, at 10:40 a.m. The topic of his presentation will be “From Mulabe to Newberg: Lessons Along the Way.”
• Also on Wednesday, April 13, Katongole will present the Woolman lecture, “Justice and Peace: Hopes that are the Wrong Size for this World,” at 7:30 p.m. in Hoover 105. Joining Katongole will be Micah Bournes, one of the scriptwriters for The Voice of Justice, a short film that personifies justice and injustice.
• Finally, a Peace and Justice Symposium is scheduled for Thursday, April 14, in the Quaker Heritage Room on the second floor of the Murdock Learning Resource Center. Refreshments will be served at 7:15 p.m., and the program will begin at 7:30 p.m. with presenters Colin Saxton, superintendent of the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, and Laura Goble, director of the Moreau Center for Service and Leadership.

For more information about the guests and for a full schedule of events, visit the event website. Contact Melanie Newell at 503-554-2686 if you have questions.

Attention students, family members and employees: We are offering a low-cost GRE preparatory course for those interested in improving their scores. The course will be taught by a fourth-year doctoral student in GFU’s Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology. This is also a great opportunity to learn about significant changes coming to the GRE August of 2011.

Courses are scheduled May 5, May 12 and May 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. on the Newberg campus (location TBA).

The course will include tips for success, strategies, practice questions, as well as access to a full-length test. A snack and book will also be provided. Registration has been extended through April 25. If you have questions, contact Chloe Lee-Zorn at leec07@georgefox.edu, or drop by the Career Services’ office or call 503-554-2330 to register.

FoxTALE will be unavailable from 6 to 8 a.m. (Pacific Time) on Tuesday, May 17, for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Bruin Bookstore at George Fox is now on Facebook. We invite you to become a fan. You’ll be the first to know about upcoming sales, important dates, etc. Just go to our page and “like” us.

A George Fox sociology class invites you to join a Facebook group, “Breaking the Cycle of Divorce,” dedicated to bringing awareness to the issue of divorce and offering support to those who wish to break this cycle in their lives.

Learn more by contacting Debra Woodin at dwoodin09@georgefox.edu.

Trauma Response Institute Plans Portland Center Response to Japan’s Triple Disaster
The TRI invites Portland Center students and staff to participate in two activities in response to the triple disaster that has crippled much of Japan.

The first is “Letters of Encouragement” to Japanese college students and children living in shelters. For details, see emails and flyers distributed on the Portland campus, or email tri@georgefox.edu for more information.

The second event is a fundraiser for Medical Teams International. Mark your calendars now to attend a “Disaster Preparedness Information Meeting” on Saturday, May 14 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in Room 155 in the Portland Center South building. Representatives from MTI will join us to share updates on their recovery work in Japan, as well as the latest updates on the radiation threats here in the Pacific Northwest. Instructions on how you can be more prepared to survive the aftermath of a major disaster at home and work will be the central focus of the meeting. There is no charge to attend, and all donations received will be given to MTI’s Japan response efforts. More details will be posted soon.

If you have questions about either of these events, please contact Anna Berardi, Director of the Trauma Response Institute at aberardi@georgefox.edu.

Join the Center for Peace and Justice this Tuesday night, April 5, for a documentary screening of the film Hiding, produced by LINK, an organization working with North Korean refugees. It will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Hoover 105.

The director of LINK was one of the founders of Invisible Children, an organization many in the GFU community might be more familiar with. LINK aims to spread the word about the rarely reported North Korean crisis, working with governments and NGOs worldwide to advocate for the North Korean people. They also work directly with the refugees who have fled to China and South East Asia, educating and empowering them to eventually live a free and renewed life.

Hiding tells the story of a group of North Korean refugees hiding in China today and their attempt to escape. To learn more, visit linkglobal.org. The trailer can be viewed at this link.

Questions? Contact Melanie Newell (Center for Peace and Justice) at mnewell@georgefox.edu.

All are invited to see the theatre department’s spring play, Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Performances are Thursday through Saturday, April 7-9, and Thursday through Saturday, April 14-16, at 7:30 p.m. Two 2 p.m. Sunday matinee performances, on April 10 and 17, also are scheduled. All performances take place in Wood-Mar Auditorium.

All George Fox employees receive one complimentary ticket. Students will be admitted free on both Thursdays. Your complimentary ticket is only available at the Box Office in the Bruin Bookstore. Additional tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for alumni and seniors, and $6 for students and children under 12. To purchase tickets or read a synopsis of the play, visit theatre.georgefox.edu.

The U.S. Postal Service is increasing rates on April 17, 2011. First Class letters weighing one ounce or less will remain at 44 cents each. The additional ounce will increase by 3 cents, bringing it to 20 cents for each additional ounce. Postcards increase to 29 cents each.

For additional increases, visit the U.S.P.S. website. Click on the “New Rates” in the lower right corner. You can view the different categories: Priority, Media, Parcel Post, etc.

Questions? Contact Linda Sartwell at ext. 2560 or Sherrie Frost at ext. 2556.

In order for us to be in compliance with federal regulations and reporting requirements, some recent changes in definitions and procedures have been made which impact students planning to withdraw from the university or take a leave of absence. This applies to all student populations (traditional undergraduate, graduate and adult degree programs). Please review the following:

Who is a student? Someone who is registered for any credit hours in a given term and who has completed their “Enrollment Confirmation” checklist item for that term in their MyGFU portal. (If the “Enrollment Confirmation” checklist item has not been completed by the student by the 10th day of classes, they are not officially considered a student for that term and their schedule will be dropped.)

How do I withdraw? To officially cease enrollment at George Fox University either during or at the end of a semester/enrollment period, you must notify the registrar’s office of your departure via the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form. Any other means of communication to the university is not considered official notification. The official withdrawal date is the date on which you submit the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form.

If I tell a professor or administrative assistant that I’m not returning, can that be considered notification of my withdrawal? No. You must complete the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form.

Do I use this form to drop a class? No. If you are dropping a class or two, you would complete that through your MyGFU self-service portal. You would only use the online Withdrawal/Leave of Absence form if you are vacating all coursework for the term.

More information about the Withdrawal/Leave of Absence policy is available in the Catalog and Student Handbook or by contacting an enrollment counselor in the registrar’s office.

Students: Stop avoiding the job search! Register for the First Avenue Career & Graduate School Fair. The fair runs from noon to 3 p.m. at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center on Friday, April 1.

In addition to access to 100-plus recruiters, this year’s fair includes employer and graduate school panels and a networking event. So, even if you aren’t looking for a job now, you can gather essential information and develop the networking skills to secure employment in the future.

The cost is only $5! And you can register one of three ways: Online at this link, in Career Services, or in the Bruin Den during lunch, Tuesday through Thursday.

Transportation is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact Career Services at careers@georgefox.edu to find out more.

Not sure how to make the most of career fair? Attend one of our “prep sessions” – Tuesday/Thursday (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) and Wednesday (3-5 p.m.) – to pick up tips for how to navigate the fair effectively.

Faculty, please tell your students about this week’s career fair.

The university community is invited to a panel discussion, “The Future of the 14th Amendment,” from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, in Hoover 105.

Join us as a panel of local students and political science experts discusses the implications concerning that section of the 14th Amendment that states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.” The purpose of the event is to have dialogue about proposed legislation that seeks to limit the scope of the amendment, according to Joel Perez (Dean of Transitions and Inclusion).

Participants will include Mark David Hall (Political Science); Richard W. Etulain, professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico; and Jose-Antonio Orosco, associate professor in the philosophy department and director of the peace studies program at Oregon State University.

The event, sponsored by the Center for Peace and Justice, the Office of Transitions and Inclusion and the Latino Heritage Club, is in commemoration of the life of Cesar Chavez, the American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist whose birthday was March 31. More information is available here.

Questions? Contact Perez at jperez@georgefox.edu.