The Daily Bruin

A civil engineering faculty candidate will speak at a research forum from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, in EHS 102. All are welcome to attend.

Patrick Ray will present “Between Iraq and a Hard Place – Climate Change and Water Politics in Jordan.” Here is a short synopsis of his presentation:

In terms of per-capita availability of renewable water resources, Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. Amman, the capital of Jordan, has grown rapidly in the past 50 years, and its internal water resources can no longer meet the needs of its burgeoning population. Major water works have come online in the past decade, and with rapid population growth and economic development, other, larger-still water works are under way.

Ray began studying and modeling the water resources system in Amman three years ago while on Fulbright Fellowship in Jordan. He will present his model’s results on the best courses of action for water system development in Amman in terms of the system’s cost, and its reliability, vulnerability and sustainability. He will encourage discussion of his findings about the essential and complex role of water in Middle Eastern society and politics.

Save the date! Career Services will be hosting the annual GET SMART Job Search Workshop for undergraduate and SPS students on Saturday, February 5, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event will be held in the Villa Academic Complex in room 117 in the form of an interactive workshop.  Lunch will be provided. There will also be opportunities to win prizes.  Registration is required.

Please sign up using BruinCareers via mygfu.  For further information, contact Angela Doty at adoty@georgefox.edu.

Want to have your design featured on thousands of postcards sent across the nation? How about an extra $500?

NACCAP is sponsoring a student design competition for its fall 2011 Christian College Fairs promotional materials. The winning entry will receive a $500 cash award and their work in print. *NACCAP reserves the right to use the design in whole or in part.

See www.naccap.org/news.asp?ID=138 for more information. The submission deadline is Monday, March 14.

Several special events are planned for the George Fox basketball doubleheader this Friday, Jan. 28, when the Bruins meet the Pacific Lutheran women at 6 p.m. and the PLU men at 8 p.m.

All evening will be “Pink Zone” night, originated by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association to raise breast cancer awareness and collect donations for cancer research. A portion of the proceeds from the evening will go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. Fans are encouraged to contribute to a “Pink-Out” by wearing pink to the games. The women’s basketball team will warm up in pink shirts, and pink T-shirts will be given away.

At halftime of the women’s game, the women’s golf team will be recognized for its outstanding 2009-10 campaign that carried them to their first Northwest Conference title and a first appearance in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. A banner celebrating their NWC crown will be unfurled.

At halftime of the men’s game, the school will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, with ceremonies at half-court honoring all of George Fox’s senior women athletes and athletic trainers. Robin Taylor, former Bruin basketball star and a member of the first golf team in 2006-07 who was named the Bruin Athletic Association Women’s Athlete of the Year, will speak to the athletes during halftime. A short reception for the seniors will follow the ceremonies in the upstairs lobby of the Wheeler Sports Center.

For more information, contact the department of athletics at ext. 2910.

Don’t forget to attend the theatre department’s winter play, Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley. Performances are Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 3-5, and Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 10-12, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. 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.

Please join your fellow staff members for lunch on Monday, Feb. 7, at noon in the Cap and Gown Room. There will be great food and a drawing for great gifts.

See you there!

W-2 forms will be available in campus boxes on Friday (except for those that normally receive their pay statements at their home addresses). Most of the information on these forms is easy to understand or explained in the tiny fine print on the reverse, but we thought it would be helpful to provide a little extra information:

• Items in Boxes 12a – 12d are required by IRS. The amount (if any) in Box12a labeled “C” is the taxable cost of your group term life insurance paid by the university in 2010. (This amount was also included in your pay as taxable income in 2010.) The amount (if any) in12b labeled “E” is the contribution you made to a supplemental retirement plan beyond the 3 percent that the university matches.

• Box 14 shows the amount of your contribution to the university-sponsored retirement plan and is labeled “TIAA” which is the IRS code/section assigned to our plan. This represents 3 percent of your pay from the time you began participation.

• Employees (and their tax preparers) often ask why the amount in Box 1 is different than the amount listed in Box 3 and 5. Because any contributions you made to the retirement plan(s) are not subject to income taxes, those amounts (shown in 12b and 14) are not included in Box 1. However, those contributions are still subject to Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes, so they are included in the amount shown in both Box 3 and 5. If you add the amount in Box 1 to any amounts in Boxes 12b and 14, the total will equal the amount in Box 3 and 5.

• You may find this information boring and/or confusing, but we recommend you save and keep it in a safe place, along with your W-2, so you will have both when you (or your tax preparer) files your tax return.

Finally, big kudos and many thanks to Brooke McGillivray, Melodee Powers and Karen Rathkey for their extra efforts to get these 2,400 W-2s out ahead of the legal deadline of Feb. 1.

Are you an eligible bachelor or bachelorette? If so, come pick up an application to participate in the Dating Game on February 11th! Applications will be in the SUB right outside of the ASC offices.

Applications available:

When: January 31, 2011
Where: Christian Services office in Bruin Den
Who: Anyone interested in leading or participating in Spring Serve

Contact sstoecker07@georgefox.edu if you need more information!

If you worked for George Fox any time in 2010, keep an eye out for your W-2.  It should be in your campus box by Friday.  You (or your parents) will need your W-2 to file a tax return for 2010.  Be sure to keep it in a safe place so you don’t have to spend $5 to get a replacement copy.

The admissions office is hosting an Activity Fair for students participating in Scholarship Competition, Feb. 11-12. It is scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11, in the EHS Atrium.

This is a great opportunity for clubs and activities on campus to connect with prospective students. If you would like to reserve a table for the fair, please contact Kate Shepherdson at kshepherdson07@georgefox.edu by Friday, Jan. 28.

The Justice Conference is scheduled in Bend, Ore., Feb. 11-12, and will feature 12 speakers (including Shane Claiborne and Chris Lahr) and the support of 50 organizations, including George Fox’s Center for Peace and Justice. Also featured will be hundreds of book titles, all about the biblical nature of justice (see event website at thejusticeconference.com).

World Relief is co-sponsoring this event, which will provide a great opportunity to make connections with the various people and organizations attending. It will also provide a great venue for fruitful discussions and valuable learning about justice.

Several members of our staff and faculty are already planning to attend as well as a few students. The Center for Peace and Justice is willing to provide transportation and hopefully lodging for anyone interested in attending. Right now, until the end of the month, there is a ticket special of $49. For tickets, visit this link.

Pass this information onto interested persons! It will make for an awesome weekend.

Important: We are seeking connections to a church or a venue in Bend that we could stay at Friday night. Please let Melanie Newell know if you can be of assistance.

Contact Melanie (mnewell@georgefox.edu or ext. 2686) if you wish to learn more or are interested in attending.

Face Painters Needed For Bruin Madness! The Bruin Madness Indoor Tailgate Party & KidZone is on Saturday, Feb. 5, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. We are looking for volunteers to face paint at the event.

If this sounds like something you want to do, e-mail Anna Philipsen at aphilipsen@georgefox.edu.

The Academic Resource Center is offering the opportunity to be in a writing group this semester for all those interested. An ARC consultant will organize and facilitate weekly meetings with a consistent group of writers who wish to share their writing and receive feedback from others. Students may bring assigned or independent work.

Groups will be meeting Monday through Thursday. If you are interested, please contact Jay Miller (millerj06@georgefox.edu) as soon as possible.

Marketing Communications will host a staff/faculty portrait session from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in our Le Shana Hall studio. These high-quality studio portraits will be used on the university website and will be available for professional promotional use.

Please call or e-mail Danette Newkirk (ext. 2125) to let us know what time you are planning to come. You can still come without prior notice, but your university photo ID will be required for entrance at the southwest side (the side facing Coffin Residence Hall) of the building.

Don’t forget Wednesday afternoon’s all-employee meeting, scheduled from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Bauman Auditorium (please note the location change).

For those at the university’s regional sites, the meeting will be available for viewing at this site. A chat room has also been set up, and a video recording of the meeting will be available for viewing in the days following the meeting at itunesu.georgefox.edu.

Please join the International Justice Mission for the third and final evening of the group’s “Closing the Gap: Addressing the Mentality Behind Sex Trafficking” event. We will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in Bauman Auditorium and feature the abolitionist nonprofit band Jubilee. Admission is free.

The Crescent’s first issue of the semester comes out Wednesday. Read about Blue Like Jazz becoming a film, CMCO going into new dimensions, and the MLK Service Day.

If you enjoy music by artists such as Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson and Norah Jones, then you will love Holly Ann Rossmiller. Come hear the very talented Holly perform in concert this Thursday, Jan. 27, in the Foxhole at 7 p.m. She will be playing songs from her new album Ravens.

To listen to holly’s music, visit this link.

We are beginning the process of returning unsold textbooks to publishers. Please encourage your students to buy them now at the Textbook Annex.

After next week, we will have limited stock on hand. Also, a friendly reminder that students may no longer receive a refund for books purchased. If you are considering canceling a book, keep in mind the money students have already spent and will not be able to get back.

Thanks for your continued support.