Archive for November, 2012

HR now has the ability to offer skills assessments through “Prove It! Assessments.”  Prove It! gives you the power to identify and select the most talented candidates and employees, with over 1,300 validated assessments. Assessments range from skills and behavioral assessments for clerical, software, technical, call center, industrial, financial, legal, medical, and more!  If you are interested in using these assessments while hiring for your open position, please email robyn.smith@acu.edu for more details.

In our efforts to make sure that all of your voices are heard in the strategic planning process, we are hosting four input sessions that are open to any faculty and staff member. These input sessions will be in Hunter Welcome Center, Zone C. Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 8 a.m. and again at 3 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7 a.m. and again at 1 p.m.

Each session should last approximately an hour. Please take advantage of this time to ensure that your ideas and opinions are included in the 2014-2020 Strategic Planning Process.

The Season of Caring has officially begun please join us in prayer, donating, and serving. Please join us in these two Thanksgiving needs and keep an eye out for our Christmas Angels in a few weeks.

The Mission Thanksgiving truck will be parked in the middle of campus through chapel November 16th to collect clothes, food, household goods, and toys. Mission Thanksgiving is a part of Love and Care Ministries.

Help provide thanks giving meals for the families of Taylor Elementary School through Turkeys 4 Taylor. A complete meal costs $70. To sponsor all or part of the meal, visit the Center for Christian Service and Leadership in the lower level of the campus Center.

Just a reminder that University Mail Services does carry Christmas stamps.  Our lines are much shorter and we do accept debit and credit cards for payment.  Also, be aware that postage is going up again after the first of the new year; so stock up on your Forever stamps now.

In an effort to keep you informed, we want to provide you with a brief explanation of changes that will be made to the Form W-2 you will receive in January. Changes that were in the health care  reform law affect how certain information is reported on your W-2. This law requires employers to report information about the cost of an employee’s health care benefits on the employee’s W-2. Do not be concerned: this new required reporting is for information purposes only, and it does not represent a new tax. Read More

Are you interested in your BCBS health care account balance or how much of your deductible has been met? You can easily access this information by registering on Blue Cross Blue Shield’s website. Go to www.bcbstx.com , click on the “Log in” button in the top right, click on the “I’m a Member” button, next to the Username form field, click on the link “Need a User Name? Register now.” Use the information on your BCBSTX ID Card to complete the registration process. This site hosts a health of useful information.

President Phil Schubert’s October 29 email kicked off our annual United Way of Abilene pledge drive. To spice things up a bit, our 2013 pledge form offers several incentives for people participating at certain levels. We’ll be accepting pledge forms until November 19th. Numerous ACU students work and volunteer at organizations funded by United Way of Abilene to promote education, medical care, and job training for people in need. Please consider pledging in this year’s United Way campaign, which furthers the mission of ACU right here in Abilene.

With Thanksgiving coming up, plan now to come by the ACU Museum on Thursday afternoons until 5:30 p.m. to pick up casseroles, pies, cakes, dinner rolls and breakfast pastries to freeze, ready for company.  Home cooking, reasonable prices and convenience – just what you need at this busy time of year.

A consultant from TIAA-CREF will be offering individual counseling sessions on campus to discuss your personal financial situation and investments. These sessions will take place on November 19-20 in the Hardin Administration Building, Human Resources Conference Rm. 213. To schedule an appointment, call 1-866-843-5640, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. (EST). Appointments fill up fast and are reserved on a first come, first served basis.

Google is getting ready to make the move from Google Docs to Google Drive permanent. Up until now, users have been able to opt-out of switching to Google Drive. However, over the next month, you will no longer be able to opt-out.

For those of you that don’t know, Google Drive provides an online storage solution for all of your files (kind of like Dropbox, Box, or Xythos), including documents, presentations, music, photos, and videos. It will also house all of your current and future Google Docs. You could  look at this change as a permanent upgrade to Google Docs.

For more details regarding the timeline of when this is all happening, visit our blog.