The Daily Bruin

An Orientation information meeting will be held Wednesday, February 4 at 6 p.m. in Hoover 102.  Hear a bit more about being a part of Orientation and have your questions answered! 

Contact Joel Perez at jperez@georgefox.edu or Meredith Dougherty at mdougher@georgefox.edu if you have questions.

Instrumentalists are needed for the new Homecoming Coronation Ceremony Sunday, February 15! 

You will be among the first to know the Homecoming King and Queen, and will be able to attend the ceremony (which includes complimentary dessert).

Please contact Jon Archer at jarcher05@georgefox.edu.

This year’s May Serve Team will be selling Singing Telegram packages for you to send to your friends, significant others, and secret valentines as a fundraiser for the members of the team and to make this year’s Valentine’s Day extra special.

You can choose your song, send a box of sweethearts, roses, and/or balloons all for only $8.00 or less depending on what package you buy. We will have a group of singers deliver the package to one of your valentine’s classes or in the Bon.

This is a creative, wonderful, and less expensive way to do something fantastic for your Valentine this year!

Meet us in the Bruin Den between noon and 2 p.m.

The Center for Global Studies is hosting a display on Bolivia from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in the Bruin Den. The event will feature food and music, so drop by to explore the heart of South America.

If you have not already done so, please submit your January 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.

We have added spaces to include your Cost Center and Employee ID numbers since that information is needed to access your record in PeopleSoft, so please take an extra moment to provide that information.

Link to the time-off report: georgefox.edu/offices/hr/Timeoffreport.doc
Link to January time sheet:  georgefox.edu/offices/hr/TimesheetJan09.xls

Holiday note:  Do not write any hours on January 1, 2 or 19 unless you worked any of those days.

The Performing Arts Department will host the return of world-renowned Italian pianist Gianluca Luisi for the third annual Bösendorfer Concert Series at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, in Bauman Auditorium.

Luisi, who first performed on the Bauman stage in 2007, will play works by Chopin and Liszt. The afternoon will feature a set of Six Paganini Grand Etudes.

Kenn Willson (Performing Arts) first invited Luisi to perform at the university after meeting the pianist at the Bösendorfer Mozart Celebration in Vienna, Austria, in May 2006. Luisi has played at master classes held by internationally known musicians such as Lazar Berman, Jorge Demus, Alexander Longuquich, Paul Badura Skoda, Antonio Ballista, and Rosalyn Tureck.

Luisi will perform on the Bösendorfer “Imperial” grand, one of the finest pianos made today and the only concert grand piano in the world with 97 keys.

Employees and students each receive one complimentary ticket that may be picked up at the University Store. Additional tickets ($10 for adults, $8 for seniors and alumni, and $6 for students and children under 12) are available by calling the box office at ext. 3844 or visiting music.georgefox.edu.

“Thy Kingdom Come” missions week continues Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 3-4. Leroy Barber, president of Mission Year, will speak, and the theme of the week is “Where is the Love?”

Schedule
Tuesday, Feb. 3

Evening session with Leroy Barber,
9 p.m., Hoover 105

Wednesday Feb. 4
Chapel with Leroy Barber, 10:35-11:30 a.m.

Missions Faith: Learn how you can get involved,  9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Cap and Gown Room

The university will host an art exhibit, High School Art Northwest 2009, beginning with an opening reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in the Lindgren Gallery.

The exhibit features 46 artworks by high school students who were chosen from submitted entries by juror Jennifer Varner. Among the schools represented are South Salem High School, Saint George High School, Molalla High School, Wilsonville High School, St. Mary’s Academy, Oregon Episcopal School, and West Linn High School. Prize winners will be announced at the opening.

The exhibit runs through Tuesday, Feb. 24. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A new, state-of-the-art rock wall is being proposed to the Associated Student Community to be built. It would be located next to Wheeler, where the third racquetball court was to be constructed, overlooking the amphitheatre. We are trying to get feedback on what you think about the proposal to build this rock wall. Please take less than five minutes to fill out this survey at surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KCBKykf1utPQmg7pRasoUA_3d_3d

Student supervisors, we need your students’ January time sheets to HR as soon as you get them. Please check to be sure all of your students have submitted their time sheets to you. Time sheets must be received no later than Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Please be sure the student’s name is legible on each one, and also include each student’s ID number and the cost center number. Also, don’t forget to sign each time sheet, and be sure the student did as well. (If the student left without signing it, please send it to HR anyway. Do not send students to HR to sign time sheets.)

Reminder: If a student delivers his or her own time sheet to HR, it must be in a sealed envelope, as per Federal Work Study regulations.

Thanks very much.

– Human Resources

If you have not already done so, please sign and turn in your January timesheet to your supervisor no later than Monday, February 2.  Payday is Tuesday, February 10. 

Thanks very much for your attention to this. 

-  Human Resources

Learn about the issue of racism in Portland through the film Grandma Zula’s Legacy at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, in EHS 102 (note room change) on the Newberg campus. Meet the film’s creator and producer through a talkback discussion.

Please come a few minutes early to enjoy munchies and get a seat. Free for all students.

We have discovered that the leave accrual balances showing on pay statements this month are not correct. The current monthly accrual was not added, and the year-to-date totals did not start over with the new year. With the rush to produce W-2s, we have not yet found an answer why, but be assured that we are aware of the problem and will get it fixed for you. Thanks for your patience!

– Human Resources

George Fox Evangelical Seminary and Shapevine are co-hosting “Recalibrating Concepts of Church” from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, in Bauman Auditorium.

Authors Len Sweet, MaryKate Morse, Frank Viola, Alan Hirsch, and Dan Kimball will discuss their books and engage in conversation with each other and the audience. Lance Ford will moderate. Online registration is available at seminars.georgefox.edu. An optional $15 roundtable dinner and book-signing event is scheduled afterwards from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

When sending an order via e-mail to Print Services, you are now able to send it directly using Print Services’ e-mail address. Several employees are aware of this and have been using it, while others have always sent orders directly to Elizabeth Holme. Due to the quantity of orders now coming by electronic transfer, the two e-mails have been separated.

To send a work or supply order to Print Services, use printservices@georgefox.edu. To send “other” communications, use Elizabeth’s e-mail (eholme@georgefox.edu). Both e-mails are checked throughout the day.

“Thy Kingdom Come” missions week is scheduled on the university’s Newberg campus Feb. 2-4. Leroy Barber, president of Mission Year, will speak, and the theme of the week is “Where is the Love?”

Schedule
Monday, Feb. 2
Chapel with Leroy Barber, 10:35-11:30 a.m.

Movie showing of Ordinary Radicals, with an introduction by Leroy Barber
9 p.m., Hoover 105

Tuesday, Feb 3
Evening session with Leroy Barber,
9 p.m., Hoover 105

Wednesday Feb 4
Chapel with Leroy Barber, 10:35-11:30 a.m.

Missions Faith: Learn how you can get involved,  9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Cap and Gown Room

Let all that you do be done in love: 1 Cor. 16:14

George Fox student designers will showcase their fashion creations as their models strut down the runway at a fashion show in the west end of the Student Union Building at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. No entry fee, but donations are welcome. Dress to impress; no jeans please.

Along with your Jan. 30 direct deposit statement (or paycheck), please watch for your 2008 W-2 in your mail Friday, Jan. 30. Most of the information on these forms is easy to understand or explained in the fine print on the reverse, but we thought it would be helpful to provide a little extra information.

Items in Boxes 12a through 12d are required by IRS. The amount (if any) in Box 12a labeled “C” is the taxable cost of your group term life insurance paid by the university in 2008. (This amount was also included in your pay as taxable income in 2008.) The amount (if any) in 12b 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 “403B,” 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 Tory Cole for their extra efforts to get these 2,300 W-2s out ahead of the legal deadline. Processing these for the first time in PeopleSoft created some extra challenges and extra work.

W-2s are being mailed to students that worked in 2008 Friday, January 30 to the same addresses student employees’ paychecks are sent. For most students, this is the campus box. Your W-2, which states your earnings and any taxes withheld for the 2008 calendar year, will be needed to file your tax return(s) that are due by April 15 each year. The W-2 also provides information needed to complete the FAFSA.

When you receive your W-2, be sure to keep it in a safe place. A replacement W-2 will require a written request and a $5.00 replacement fee. There may also be a two-day turnaround to process a replacement W-2.

-  Human Resources

Oregon income tax booklets and forms are available in the hallway at Mail Services. The orange booklet is for part-year resident/nonresident and the blue booklet is for full-year resident. There are no federal forms or booklets available at Mail Services. They are only provided online.