News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
Bonnie Parks, library, published“Books at JSTOR: An Interview with Bruce Heterick” in v. 38:4 (2012) of Serials Review: http://tinyurl.com/cbtapln.
Eugenijus Urnezius, chemistry, presented a seminar, “Binucleating ligands based on phosphineappended hydroquinones: A rewarding challenge“ at Vilnius University in Lithuania’s Neorganic Chemistry Auditorium on December 19, 2012.
The University Singers will be touring the Puget Sound region from January 9-13. The group is comprised of student musicians selected by audition from across the University regardless of major and is considered the University’s top concert choir. Performances are free and open to the public and include:
The choir will sing a program of sacred and secular works from the Renaissance to today, including a setting of the Magnificat by Peter Chamberlain, a member of the choir and a junior engineering major. The choir will also be performing private concerts at Olympia High School, John Paul II High School (Lacey), Panorama (a retirement community in Lacey), Shelton High School, Gig Harbor High School and Bishop Blanchet High School (Seattle).
The director of the University Singers is Michael Connolly, performing and fine arts, director of the University’s music program.
January 6, 1937 saw the death of Brother André Bessette, C.S.C. (now Saint André Bessette) in Montreal, Canada. Born in 1845, Andre Bessette entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1870 and served for many years as doorkeeper of the College de Notre Dame on Mount Royal. He was instrumental in the establishment and building of the Oratory of Saint Joseph, now the largest church in North America. He was known as “the miracle worker of Montreal” and many cures and other favors have been attributed to his prayer and intercession. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. The Church in Canada and the United States now observe the feast of Saint André Bessette on this date.
For more information on University history for the month of January, go to www.up.edu/almanac.
In continuing their initiative to be green (paperless) the payroll office reminds employees that they can sign up for electronic receipt of W-2 forms again this year. Employees will be mailed a paper W-2 by January 31, 2013 unless they choose to “opt-in” for electronic delivery on Employee Self-Serve. To do so, log into Employee Self-Serve, Employee, Tax Forms, and Electronic W-2 Delivery. Click in the box next to Consent to receive W-2’s electronically, then click Submit. Employees should then return to the website between January 31 and October each year to print a W-2 form online. Employees may revoke consent for electronic forms if they wish on the website or by providing payroll with a written notification to discontinue electronic delivery.
Employees who participated in Flex-Plan for the 2012 calendar year have a grace period of January 1, 2013 to March 15, 2013 that will allow employees to maximize their 2012 benefit. Employees have until March 31, 2013 to submit claims for expenses incurred on March 15, 2013 or before. Claims can be submitted online at www.flexplan.com or through a paper form available up.edu/hr, Employee Benefits, Flexible Spending Account Information (http://tinyurl.com/b7xha33).
Contact hr@up.edu with questions.
The new timecard deadline schedules are now posted on the University website at www.up.edu website under Services, Controller, Web Time Entry (http://tinyurl.com/293acnn). Scroll to the bottom and choose the Monthly, Semi-Monthly Staff, or Student schedule for 2013. Timecard approvers now only have until 9 a.m. on the day following the employees deadline to approve timecards before the system locks them out of the timecard (refer to the correct timecard schedule for due dates). The tax holiday for Social Security has not been extended, so employees will once again be paying 6.2 percent of their pay check for Social Security. This amount had been reduced to 4.2 percent through 2012. Pay stubs on Self-Serve now have a new look. The University logo and employee name and address are now printed on the stubs so employees can print them for any loan or salary verification without having to go to the payroll office to request a copy. For more information contact Debbie Schwartzkopf, payroll, at 8338 or schwartz@up.edu.
The Pilots men’s basketball team hosts its West Coast Conference home-opener on Thursday, January 17 against the Gonzaga University Bulldogs. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Chiles Center. Only a limited number of tickets remain so visit the Pilots box office today or call 7525. The team returns to the court to host defending WCC champion Saint Mary’s on Saturday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m. For more information on Pilot athletics visit call 7117 or see www.portlandpilots.com.
Employee awards for 2012 were presented at the annual employees’ holiday banquet on Thursday, December 22. The winners are:
Sandy Galati, physical plant, won the MargaretW. Henzi Award for outstanding office/clerical employees, and was cited as “the primary conduit through which literally thousands of work orders pass every year…by virtue of the nature of her job, she has the task of fielding what are often urgent and demanding calls from customers who may be understandably frustrated or experiencing difficulty and yet—without fail—she is always cheerful, helpful, and friendly.”
Anthony Torres, physical plant, won the TedDeiss/Joyce and Virgil Dodson Outstanding Physical Plant Employee Award. He was praised as one who “demonstrated his versatility and proved himself to be a team player by stepping up and playing an extremely critical role when the university had to re-key every room in our residence halls…in July 2012 he was promoted to foreman and given the additional responsibility of supervising the athletics/events crew.”
The winner of the Hooyboer Outstanding Professional Staff Award is Heidi Keller, student accounts. The Hooyboer Award honors the sort of dedication and commitment that drives and infuses the University’s best and most creative and visionary staffers, the sort of men and women who take the University utterly to heart, and work brilliantly for its success, which made the choice of Heidi nearly a foregone conclusion. She was cited in part as “someone whose inspirational spirit causes her employees to hail her as a University treasure.”
A new honor, the President’s Team Award, was presented to the Office of Admissions. The award was established in 2012 by University president Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C. to honor staff teams whose collective effort demonstrates unwavering commitment to the mission and goals of the University.
Winning the Father Charles Miltner, C.S.C., Award was Jason McDonald, admissions. He was lauded as “among the most cheerful, trusted, admired, and accomplished employees in modern University history…in his fourteen years on The Bluff, he has played a crucial part in the University’s amazing rise in national renown, respect, and popularity.” Beginning with the late Fr. John Hooyboer, C.S.C., the first recipient, the award has been presented to diligent and creative men and women who have gone to sometimes extraordinary lengths to further the mission of the University. It is the highest employee honor bestowed by the University.
Employees were also honored for milestone years of service to the University, including Mary Beebe, Leah Teixeira, Cynthia Blanding, Brian Toole, Kurt Bottcher, Maria de los Angeles Vega, John Carleton, Christina Wall, MingXia Chen, Jack Welch, John Donato, Gregory White, Jonathan Down, Gwen Guderjohn, Sharon Hogan, Joseph Houck, Cathleen Kelley, Bradley Kerr, Paul Le Clercq, Mary Louie, Shizuko Madsen, Bryce Majors, Elisa Majors, Kelly Margheim, Matthew Ortiz, Debra Schwartzkopf, Bradford Scott, Russell Seidelman, Mary Beth Snell, Kimberley Spir, Malathi Sundramurthy, and Mary Virnig (5 years); Pat Alderman, Jim Axling, Maureen Briare, Matthew Gerber, Vinci Halbrook-Paterson, Jeromy Koffler, Michael Kranyak, Colin McGinty, Andrea Nelin-Roth, Khiet Nguyen, Natalie Shank, Sheila Smith, Bryce Strang, and Patricia Wood (10 years); Carol Bruce, Lori Coulson, Tim Crump, Teresa Freemont, Joann Jeffers, Jim Ly0ns, Arja Nelson, Scott Pitka, Chris Sperry, Melissa Thongtan, and No Vo (15 years); Rayne Funk, Meridee Kaiel, Paul Luty, Patty Rubin, and Carolyn Strong (20 years); Bill Irwin, Shaun Shepherd, and Cindy Sturm (25 years); Stephen Hafer, Jim Haines, Ron Scott, and John Soission (30 years); and Virginia Asuncion (40 years).
For more information contact Bryn Sopko, human resources, at 8987 or sopko@up.edu.
Effective January 1, 2013, the Oregon minimum wage increased to $8.95 an hour. All student employees earning less than $8.95 were increased to the new minimum wage as of January 1. Please keep this increase in mind when budgeting student employment for the remainder of the 2012-2013 school year. If you have any questions please contact Keith Foster, financial aid, at fosterk@up.edu.
The City of Portland’s senior planner, Douglas Hardy, has sent the University the following message regarding its request for a new Master Plan, according to Jim Kuffner, community relations/special projects: “No appeal was filed on the UP Master Plan, so you can now record the final decision with the Multnomah County Recorder. The only other outstanding requirement is to submit (by April 2) three bound copies of the master plan that includes any changes to what was originally submitted, and all conditions of approval.” The Hearing Officer decision, as well as the final version of the new Master Plan, will be posted to the UP website soon so anyone interested in either or both documents can view them. For more information contact Kuffner at 7331 or kuffner@up.edu.