E-Colleague

Dee Small (Seminary) was named the university’s Support Staff Person of the Year, while Sheila Abercrombie (IT) was chosen Administrator of the Year. The awards were announced at the university’s end-of-semester awards ceremony on May 4.

Rodger Bufford and Nancy Thurston (Graduate Psychology) joined George Fox PsyD students in presenting posters at the Western Psychological Association’s annual meeting in Portland April 25-26. Both professors presented “Are shame and depression related? Understanding their dynamics” and “Evaluating the relationship between empathy and shame.” Rodger also presented “Supervision and the APA ethical code: Remediating an oversight.” He also participated in the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation’s site visitor training workshop in Portland.

In addition, Rodger and Mary Peterson (Graduate Psychology) presented “The role of spiritual/religious practices in moderating stress among adolescent residential treatment staff” at the annual meeting of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies in Orlando, Fla., April 2-4.

Paul Otto (History) presented a brown-bag talk, “It is the manner amongst us Indians: Wampum and the Origins of Frontier Diplomacy,” at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., April 28.

Ed Higgins (Writing/Literature) published two poems, “on bad days” and “open window,” in the May 2009 edition of Danse Macabre, a Nevada Arts Council-winning online literary journal.

Dave Covington (Graduate Admissions/Boise Center) received the Dean’s Award for graduating at the top of his class at Corban College, where he earned an MBA on May 2.

Randy Pitts (Plant Services) and his wife Rebecca welcomed their second child, Samuel, on May 2. The baby weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and was born at St. Vincent’s Hospital. He joins big brother Elijah.

The city of Newberg announced Monday it will conduct a water main project to update the water system on Villa Road between Highway 99W and Fulton Street. The project will begin on Thursday, May 14, with a tentative completion of June 30.

The street is not scheduled to be closed during normal business hours at any time during the project; however, traffic control measures will be in place, so expect short delays. Street closures will be planned after normal business hours to avoid disruption to local businesses and medical offices. There will be planned water interruptions to this area, and 48-hour notice will be given to those affected.

The city encourages everyone to drive with extra caution in this area. If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact the city’s Public Works Maintenance Department at 503-537-1234.

As announced in an e-mail from Robin Baker on Friday, the university has adopted a four-day work week policy. The full policy follows and can soon be found in the Employee Handbook as Section 2.4.3.

The university provides the option of a four-day work week to employees. This schedule provides flexibility to employees to better meet personal and family needs, and it provides good stewardship of God’s creation by reducing gas consumption. The following guidelines apply to the four-day work week policy:

• The four-day work week must be approved by the employee’s supervisor, taking into consideration the nature of the person’s duties, potential service disruption, the employee’s performance and any other relevant considerations. If a supervisor determines that a four-day work week arrangement or telecommuting is not working out satisfactorily, he or she may require an employee to resume working a standard work week.
• All offices must be covered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Employees may take off either Monday or Friday, coordinating schedules with others in the department who are also working four days.
• Meetings should be scheduled on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
• Overtime is only paid for hours worked over 40 in a week, not over eight in a day.
• Weeks that contain paid holidays will be standard work weeks for all employees.
• Employees may be required to work a standard work week to provide adequate coverage when coworker(s) are on vacation or ill, or to cover special events that will necessitate more complete coverage for particular areas within the university.
• Each director or vice president will determine whether the four-day work week is appropriate for a particular office or site, taking into consideration possible service disruption to customers and other factors.
• Summer student employees are required to work the standard work week.

Telecommuting as an alternative to a four-day work week
Some employees may choose to work four days on site and telecommute the fifth day via computer and telephone with their supervisors’ approval. The same guidelines that apply to the four-day work week will apply to telecommuting.

The university is seeking a full-time admissions counselor to do recruiting for the School of Education’s counseling program. This position is currently open only to internal (employees) applicants. Please e-mail hr@georgefox.edu to obtain a copy of the job description and transfer request if you are interested in this opening. To apply, you will need to submit the completed transfer request, cover letter and resume to Human Resources no later than Monday, May 18.

Starting Monday, May 11, Bon Appetit will embark upon a long-awaited remodel of Klages Dining Room and our servery. Changes in the dining room will include new carpeting, lighting, ceiling tiles, paint and wall coverings.

In the serving area, we are in essence gutting the entire space and expanding its size by more than 25 percent. New features will include a woodstone pizza oven that will bake homemade pizzas from scratch, exhibition cooking stations, an expanded deli bar, new lighting and many other new features.

During the remodel most of our conferences will be served in either the west end of Klages or in the Cap and Gown Room. The project is slated to be completed around Aug. 1, so please excuse us ahead of time for any noise, dust or any other issues that may pop up from time to time.

The Bruin Den will not be impacted, so we look forward to seeing everyone there for smoothies, barbecues and our new ice cream station.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

– Bon Appetit

There was a formatting error on the May staff time sheet posted on the HR website last week, making it impossible to enter hours in the May 8 space. A corrected time sheet has been posted to replace the old one, so if you’ve already downloaded it before today, please download the new, improved version, copy your hours onto it and toss the first one.

Thanks so much. We apologize for the error and any inconvenience.

– Human Resources

A berth in the NCAA Division III Baseball National Championship Tournament will be on the line when George Fox takes on Pacific Lutheran in a one-game playoff at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at George Fox’s Morse Field. The contest will determine the Northwest Conference’s automatic bid to the tournament.

George Fox (32-9) and Pacific Lutheran (31-8) tied for the regular-season NWC title with identical 27-5 conference records. They also split their season series, necessitating a one-game playoff. The game’s winner is assured of postseason play, while the loser will have to hope for an at-large bid to the postseason. For more details, read the release about the upcoming game.

The evening hours for the Fitness Center have been changed from 4-7 p.m. to 5-8 p.m.

Postage rates increase on Monday, May 11. Stamps will increase from 42 cents to 44 cents each. Purchase the “Forever Stamps” now at 42 cents each; they will be worth 44 cents each on Monday. Forever Stamps can only be purchased in books of 20.

University Mail Services has Forever Stamp books available for $8.40 (20 stamps). Remember that on Monday, that same book will cost $8.80.

If you need information regarding other classes of mail and the amount of increase, contact Sherrie Frost (Mail Services) at ext. 2556 or e-mail sfrost@georgefox.edu.

The Phase II program will open at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 7, for viewing of the left-behind items gathered from departing students. Items have been sorted and made available to student summer help and staff at the Wright House, located at 515 Villa Road (next to the Villa Academic Complex). We greatly appreciate your help in keeping items neatly sorted.

Thank you,
Plant Services

University Relations is selling the yellow mums and majestic palms that were used for graduation last weekend. Mums are $3 each and palms are $10 apiece. Cash and check only, and exact change is needed. Plants are sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and no holds will be placed. Check out the selection at the Pennington House.

Questions? Contact the Office of University Relations at ext. 2134.

The university and the city of Newberg will co-sponsor a free housing fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16, in Miller Gymnasium in the Wheeler Sports Center. The event will allow you to speak one-on-one with professionals about the housing market and what it takes to get into a home.

Among those present will be:

• Credit counselors
• Property managers
• Mortgage brokers
• Real estate brokers
• Nonprofit organizations
• Savings and financial managers

Door prizes, activities for children and free refreshments are included. For more information, contact David Beam (503-537-1213) or Ian Mcleod (503-476-7975).

Do you know someone who is a great speaker or performer on the topics of diversity? Multicultural Services is seeking guests to speak/perform for the university community next academic year (or future years).

Preference for:

• Christian multicultural worldview
• Ethnically diverse musical genres (spoken word, hip-hop, Native American dancing)
• George Fox students, employees or alumni
• Local speakers/performers
• Talents with websites or recordings

Other diversity groups will be considered. If you have ideas to share, contact Shelley Yonemura (Multicultural Services) at syonemur@georgefox.edu or at 503-554-2318.

Free tickets are available for a Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast scheduled at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 9, in Klages Dining Hall. The focus is on homelessness in our area. The speakers are County Commissioner Kathy George and Polly Siler, director of Love INC.

We have space for more people and would be pleased if some university staff and families joined us. Contact Lon Fendall (Center for Global Studies/Center for Peace and Justice) at lfendall@georgefox.edu or ext. 2685.

As of May 1, the university is using an enhanced version of the Centennial Tower logo on all publications and on the Web. In the new design, the cross is more prominent, the old-fashioned oval shape has been changed to a circle, the tower looks more realistic, and the striped background is gone. The changes were made to better illustrate the university’s commitment to a Christ-centered education, enhance the logo’s visual appeal, and make it easier to reproduce.

Departments can use up their existing stationery. All newly printed stationery, business cards, publications and internal communication should use the new logo. The revised logos can be downloaded at: georgefox.edu/offices/communications/creative_srv/style.html.

Please encourage your student employees to attend an “Open Meeting with Students” during the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accreditation team visit on Tuesday, May 5 (that is, after going to the ice cream social).

The ice cream social is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in the Ron Gregory Atrium in EHS. The students’ open meeting with the NWCCU team will be from 3 to 3:30 p.m. in Hoover 105.

Thank you,
Academic Affairs

Mark your calendar on Tuesday, May 5 for a Portland Center employee lunch from noon to 1 p.m.

Bring your own chair and a dessert if you’d like to share. Lunch will be provided by the Portland Center from Baja Fresh.

If the weather is nice, we’ll eat together outside the west entrance of the south building-and if it’s raining, location will be announced.

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accreditation team visit on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 5-6, will include meetings with students and employees. Employees are encouraged to attend these meetings, either in person on the Newberg campus or by connecting via live-stream.

The meeting schedule:

Tuesday, May 5: Open Meeting, 3:30-4 p.m. in Hoover 105
Wednesday, May 6: Exiting Meeting, 2:15-2:30 p.m. in Hoover 105

For more information, contact Academic Affairs at ext. 2141.

The Portland Center Bookstore will be closed for administrative meetings on Thursday, May 7.

You can still order books online at pcbookstore.georgefox.edu.