“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness”

GALATIANS 5:22

NEWS:

Michael True, senior associate in the Career and Professional Development Center, was the keynote speaker for the Internship Forum at the University of South Carolina. He presented on “Internships: The Current State in Higher Education, Trends, and Future Thoughts.”

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Brian Swartz, Ph.D., P.E., chair of the Department of Engineering, has been selected by the Central Pennsylvania Engineers Week Council to receive the 2016 Young Engineer of the Year Award. Brian is a member of the Association for Bridge Construction and Design (ABCD), Susquehanna Chapter, the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

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The Office of Alumni Relations recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to society or Messiah College. These awards are important not only for the tribute they pay to the lives of each recipient, but also as a symbol of the quality of our alumni as a whole.

Young Alumna Achievement Award – Angela Lykins Yeh ‘03

This award recognizes an alumnus who has attended Messiah College within the past 10 years for significant contribution to church, vocation, community and/or Messiah College.

Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award – Marlin Benedict ‘76

This award recognizes a lifetime of vocational achievement in a manner that embodies the mission of the College.

Alumni Christian Service Award – Jodie Smiley ‘77

This award recognizes outstanding lifelong service or long-term effort in fulfilling the mandates of the Christian gospel to both serve and sacrifice for the needs of humanity.

Alumni Appreciation Award – David Vader

This award recognizes an individual who has contributed to the College in an extraordinary manner (long-term professional service; significant volunteer service and/or financial contribution).

Please save the date for Saturday, April 2 for the Alumni Awards Banquet, which will take place from 6-8 p.m., in Hostetter Chapel. Additional event details and ticket information will be coming in March. Please contact the Alumni Office at 717-796-5252 if you have any questions.

MESSIAH 411:

“Open Door” day set for March 3

President Kim Phipps will host an “Open Door” day on Thursday, March 3 from 1-4 p.m. (note: date changed from Feb. 29) to meet individually with students and employees on topics that are important to them. “Open Door” is an opportunity for you to speak with the President in her office on the second floor of Old Main. A sign-in sheet will be located in Old Main Room 206 on “Open Door” day. Please call the President’s Office if you have any questions.

Free tax preparation

Messiah College is partnering with the United Way of the Capital Region and offering employees, students and the community the following free tax services: VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and MyFreeTaxes.com.

VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program: IRS-certified Messiah students provide free tax preparation services to individual and families with total income of less than $54,000. Students, with supervision, will prepare your federal, state and local income tax returns for free. The Messiah site is open every Tuesday evening, except March 8 and 15, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. until April 12. No appointment is necessary. Our site is located in Frey 156. You must have your social security card and a photo ID.

MyFreeTaxes.com: You can prepare and e-file your federal and Pennsylvania tax returns online, safely and free! MyFreeTaxes.com is a free tax website sponsored by the United Way. Anyone with income less than $62,000 is eligible to use the MyFreeTaxes.com tax service. A toll-free certified help line volunteer is available to answer questions while you are filing your returns. Please contact Kathleen Johnston at ext. 7300 if you have any questions.

Sollenberger Sports Center locker rooms closing March 4

On March 4, the pool locker rooms and the two staff locker rooms in the Sollenberger Sports Center will be closing until further notice due to construction. If you have items in any of these locker rooms, please make sure they are gone by March 4. We will be cutting locks and throwing away anything left in the lockers. Thank you!

Fire extinguisher training offered to all employees and students

Fire extinguisher training will be conducted the week of Feb. 28-March 4 in Kelly A002. This training consists of a demonstration of the use of the extinguisher and then the opportunity for each participant to experience “hands-on” practice in extinguishing the “fire.” Training on the types of fires and extinguishers as well as initial instruction on the P.A.S.S. system for using extinguishers is provided via an online course which must be completed prior to the actual hands-on session. There are several sessions offered each day.

To sign up for a time that fits your schedule, go to: MCSquare>the Employee Tab>Employee Training Session. (Students should go to the Student Tab>Student Training.) Click on the session (date/time) that you wish to attend and follow the instructions for registering. If you have any questions regarding this training, please contact Donna Fink at ext. 5038 or Valerian Curd at ext. 6747. Employees, please inform your supervision of the session for which you register.

Spring Break housing

Over spring break, the residence halls and apartments will lock down from 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 4 to 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 12. Residential students can stay during break, but must be granted break card access to get into their building. If you have students that you are requiring to stay during any part of spring break (i.e. athletes, ensembles, etc.) please send an email to housing@messiah.edu with the student name, ID number, dates on campus, and reason for staying.

Federal and state workplace posters

Both federal and state laws require certain information be posted in the workplace. This information is available for employees in strategic locations throughout the campus (ex., certain break room bulletin boards). However, in an effort to make the information more accessible, these “posters” are now also available online in two locations:

• Links for “Workplace Posters, Federal” and “Workplace Posters, State” have been included on the Messiah College website.
• Go to the Human Resources and Compliance webpage and click on compliance. They are listed under downloadable resources.
•    On MCSquare on both the Employee and Student tabs, under the environmental, health and safety channel are links to both “Workplace Posters, Federal” and “Workplace Posters, State.”
• Hard copies of this information will continue to be posted throughout campus buildings.

Nominations due for Performance Awards

Have you been impressed or inspired by the contributions made by a fellow employee during the last year? Has a work group recently modelled outstanding teamwork leading to the successful advancement of departmental or college-wide goals? As in years past, you have the opportunity to nominate a colleague for the Pride in Performance Award. In addition, this year you may also submit a nomination for the Team Falcon Award. A description of each awards program can be viewed at http://www.messiah.edu/info/20733/employee_recognition. The corresponding nomination forms are available at http://www.messiah.edu/info/20588/employees/972/employee_forms.

Prior recipients are not eligible to receive a subsequent award for three years. See the attached list of prior recipients. Nominations are due to Human Resources no later than Wednesday, March 2. Please note that Team Falcon Award nominations must be sent to your division vice president/provost for prior review. The recipients of the 2016 performance awards will be announced at the Employee Recognition Reception in May. All questions regarding the performance awards program and nominations should be directed to Kathy Castonguay in Human Resources.

CLASSIFIEDS:

For sale:

2006 Toyota Avalon: 57,000 miles, leather seats, garage kept, very good condition, gold color, one owner. Pictures available upon request. Asking $7,900. Contact pseibert@messiah.edu.

Job Openings:

The Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics in the School of Science, Engineering and Health at Messiah College invites applications for a part-time physics lab technician/adjunct instructor of physics. For additional information and to apply, please see http://jobs.messiah.edu/postings/7912. Job-related questions may be directed to Niklas Hellgren, assistant professor of physics, at nhellgren@messiah.edu.