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.Now that we are using PeopleSoft, we cannot easily access your record by employee name to do data entry. For this reason, it would be helpful if you added your ID number and cost center number to your time sheet or time-off report. This will save us having to look up this information before doing data entry. By next month, we will try to revise these forms to ask for this information.

A word about the holidays: Do not write any hours on the dates marked holidays unless you worked any of the holidays — Dec. 24, 25, 26.

A word about the campus closures: If you were scheduled to work the days the campuses were closed, record the hours you would have worked (or worked if you came in). It is fine to also note “snow day” or “campus closure” on those dates, too. (We were closed all day on Dec. 15, 22 and 23; closed two hours early on Dec. 17; and opened two hours late on Dec. 18.)

If you were scheduled for vacation or sick day(s) during any of the campus closures, you should record the time off as vacation or sick days. If you were not able to get to campus on any of the days we were open, you should use vacation for the time you missed.For more information about campus closure policy, visit the university’s website. 

The university’s FoxTALE upgrade to Version 1.9 is complete. To read about the upgrade and the version’s new features, visit the IT website. The biggest change is a new grade book scheme. If you would like to view Fall 2008 grades in the old format, go to foxtaleold.georgefox.edu. The old format will be available until Jan. 31.

For information on updating grade books with weighted categories in the new 1.9 version, see the document on the conversion procedure on the FoxTALE upgrade web page.

Three information sessions about the new features have been scheduled. You can sign up for one of the following:

Newberg: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 9 a.m. to noon, Hoover 211 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Portland Center: Friday, Jan. 9, 1-4 p.m., PDS 210 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Webinar: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 1:30-3 p.m. (Pacific Time). E-mail gdoherty@georgefox.edu to reserve a seat.

If you have not used FoxTALE, you can sign up for one of two FoxTALE training sessions:

Newberg: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 9 a.m. to noon, Hoover 211 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)
Portland Center: Thursday, Jan. 8, 1-4 p.m., PDS 210 (R.S.V.P. to sabercrombie@georgefox.edu.)

Questions? Contact the IT Service Desk.

Start the new year right by attending the staff lunch scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5, in the Cap and Gown Room. Enjoy food, fellowship, and fun! The cost is $3.

The Portland Center Bookstore’s book buyback has been extended through Wednesday, Dec. 31. Bookstore hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. The store is closed Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 24-26, and Thursday and Friday, Jan. 1-2.

The Bruin Den and Villa Cafe will be closed from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. We will reopen the Bruin Den Jan. 5-9 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both the Bruin Den and Villa Cafe will resume regular hours on Jan. 12, as well as our evening meal service at the Portland Center. We would like extend our thanks for a wonderful 2008 and wishing everyone a blessed and safe Christmas holiday.

The University Store’s book buyback has been extended to Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 22-23. Bookstore hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weather permitting. The store is closed the rest of the week for Christmas.

The Bookstore has extended its buy-back period through Tuesday, Dec. 23.

We will be having our semi-annual textbook buyback on December 16 – 23 from 9a.m. until 4 p.m.  The first 150 people to sell books at buyback will receive a reusable/recyclable shopping bag!  Don’t miss this opportunity for some Christmas cash!
For more information about buyback, log on to: georgefox.edu/offices/store_pdx/buyback.html

Please join the university community in saying farewell to Al Zimmerman (Planned Giving) at a reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, in the Duke Atrium in the Stevens Center. Refreshments will be served. The event was rescheduled for Dec. 22 because of last Monday’s inclement weather.

Al is leaving the university to serve as executive director of the Portland-based Northwest Christian Community Foundation, a conduit for generating gifts in support of a wide range of Christian ministries. Al has worked at George Fox for three years.

This is a reminder to all undergraduate students who are eligible to change their meal plan for the spring 2009 semester.

ALL changes must be made no later than Friday, January 23rd, 2009.

If you are eligible to change your meal plan the options available to to will be listed in Bruindata, University Forms – Meal Plan.

For detailed information check the Meal Plan Options page on the Student Life website.

For more information contact Jere Witherspoon in the Student Life Office.

Student supervisors, please submit your students’ December timesheets to HR as soon as you get them. Please do not wait until the end of December if your student employee is finished working for the month. (Students will see an e-nnouncement today reminding them to sign and submit them to you before they leave for the holidays.)

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 the time sheet, and be sure the student did as well. If the student left without signing it, please send it without the signature, and HR will hold the check until the time sheet is signed. Reminder: If a student delivers his or her own time sheet to HR, it must be in a sealed envelope — a Federal Work Study regulation.

Some of you may have students working over the break. If so, please deliver their time sheets to HR as soon as they have finished their last shift. Time sheets must be received no later than Monday, Jan. 5, in order for the student to be paid on the Jan. 9 pay day, but we need as many as possible before then.

Thanks very much,
HR 

Bedford Holmes’ (Tilikum) farewell event, scheduled from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, will now be in the Duke Atrium in the Stevens Center. Please note the location change. The event will be held weather permitting.

Please complete, sign, and turn in your December timesheet to your supervisor at the end of your last work shift before you leave campus for Christmas break.  Pay day is Friday, January 9, 2009.  If you turn in your timesheet, you should have a check waiting for you when you return to campus on the January 11, 2009. 

If you will be working on campus over the break, please wait to turn in your timesheet until December 31 (or your last day of work if earlier). 

Travel safely home and Merry Christmas to you!

– HR

Friday, Dec. 19: Closed at 5 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 20-28: Closed
Monday-Wednesday, Dec. 29-31: Open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday-Sunday, Jan. 1-4: Closed
Monday-Friday, Jan. 5-9: Open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 10-11: Closed
Monday, Jan. 12: Open at 6 a.m. 

Applications for the position of Orientation Co-Coordinator are now available online. 

Two students will be hired to plan and coordinate Fall Orientation 2009.  Download materials at http://www.georgefox.edu/offices/student_life/forms.html. You’ll also find information about other Orientation positions. 

Contact Meredith Dougherty at mdougher@georgefox.edu if you have questions.

When there is an emergency campus closure, usually due to inclement weather as was the case earlier this week (and may occur again before winter is over), the university’s policy indicates the following in the Employee Handbook, Section 7.1 Emergency Closure:

• If the university is closed, employees are paid as if they worked.
• If the university has a late opening and/or early closure, employees who work are paid for a full work day.
• If employees cannot make it in, their absence is covered by the use of vacation or is unpaid if vacation is not available.
• Employees who are required to work to assist with facilities and safety issues as a result of the weather (primarily Plant Services employees) will be given time off within the following 30 days equal to the time they worked during the closure.

In addition, employees who happen to be on vacation or using sick leave the day of a closure should record those days/hours as vacation or sick leave the same as they would had the campus been open.

Reminder: With the increasing potential for sudden weather changes as you travel, please contact the folks at your destination before you leave for Christmas:

·  informing them of the route you are taking and,
·  an estimated time of arrival at your destination. 

Have a safe trip and a peaceful break.  See you in January.

-  GFU Residence Life

The Department of Performing Arts is selling poinsettias. Red or white are available for $5 each or three for $10. Call ext. 2620 to purchase.

Each year a number of new students join the university beginning in the spring semester. If your room or living area will have an empty space at the end of the semester, please remember to prepare this space for the possible arrival of a new student at the start of the spring term. All students will be notified over the break via e-mail if a new student is placed in their living areas.

Contact Tim Goodfellow at tgoodfel@georgefox.edu for more information.

The University Store’s book buyback is Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 17-19, near the store’s main entrance in the SUB. Hours for buyback are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. See what your books are worth by going to store.georgefox.edu. Select “Main Store” and then “Sell Textbooks” at the top of the screen.

Bon Appetit will serve its annual Christmas banquet from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, in the Klages Dining Room. The featured menu item will be roast baron of beef along with holiday treats including egg nog, pumpkin pie, apple-cranberry crisp, and   chocolate chip cheesecake.

Weather permitting, a large group of Dickens carolers will entertain and stroll throughout the dining room. The dinner is free to all students on meal plans, and only $10 per person to the rest of the campus community. Please come in and join us! Questions? Call ext. 2500.