Lessons from agriculture in the Middle Ages could today help farms in Australia become more sustainable. Back in that era, farmers didn’t hold individual titles over land but farmed collectively on common property or "commons". A modern day adaptation of this concept is cross-boundary farming, where farmers agree to pool their land resource and manage it as a whole. A free one day forum on cross-boundary farming will be hosted by the Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga Campus, on Friday 7 September. The forum will consider the opportunities and pitfalls of cross-boundary farming, the environmental benefits, property rights, relationships between and within farming families as well as workloads. There will be two panel sessions presenting various practical and political points of view on the practice.

The forum gets underway at 9am at the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Wagga Wagga Campus. For interviews contact Margit Beemster, ILWS communications coordinator on 02 6051 9653 or mbeemster@csu.edu.au or CSU Media.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will put local food on show at a Sustainable Food Day to be held on Wednesday 5 September at its Thurgoona site. The event has resulted from their participation in the national 2007 Students of Sustainability Conference held recently in Perth, where as their coordinator Peter Barrett says, “We ate vegan food all week and it was pretty good!”.  The Sustainable Food Day will run from 12noon at the Gums Café on the University’s Thurgoona site and is part of the activities that the students have held since they returned from the Perth conference. “As much of the food as possible comes from local sources, making every dish as sustainable as possible. We will also have recipes and information for CSU students and staff and the public to take with them and make delicious sustainable food at home,” Mr Barrett said.

For interviews with Peter Barrett on Wednesday 5 Spetember, contact CSU Media.

Happiness is desired by all, yet achieved by only a few. But according to Dr Timothy Sharp, it does not always have to be like this. Dr Sharp will show participants how to get more out of life using principles from positive psychology during a seminar hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Friday morning 7 September on its Albury-Wodonga Campus. “My colleagues and I are achieving some wonderful results with individuals and organisations all over Australia, and I look forward to sharing the knowledge and experience we’ve gained over the last few years to Albury,” said Dr Sharp, who has three degrees in psychology and has worked as a clinical and academic psychologist. Australia's leading expert in positive psychology, in 2003 Dr Sharp founded The Happiness Institute in Sydney, NSW. The seminar will start at 9.30am at the boardroom, CSU’s Gordon Bevan building, off Old Sydney Road, Thurgoona.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus Occupational Health and Safety Committee promoted a healthy approach to life during its Walk and Cycle to Uni Day, held on Friday 5 October 2007. Both staff and students were encouraged to take part in the event which is and based on the National Walk to Work Day, which is run by the Australian Pedestrian Council. The OHS committee hopes the event will not only assist the environment but will also help to improve personal fitness, health and well-being. Over one hundred participants departed from near the old Hampden Bridge in Fitzmaurice Street Wagga Wagga walking and cycling to the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. Head of the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus Professor David Green supported the morning.  There was a free breakfast and prizes awarded for the Best Outfit and Best Decorated Headwear for individual walker, teams, Individual cyclists and team cyclists at the conclusion of the walk. Organiser Anette Coombs has extended a huge thankyou to everyone who participated in Walk or Cycle to Uni Day and in doing so made it a really great morning.

Members of the Riverina equine community at a Charles Sturt University (CSU) Equine Influenza (EI) forum have been urged to work together so that NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) quarantine restrictions, imposed in response to Australia’s first EI outbreak, are upheld by everyone in the community. Participants emphasised that the disease poses a threat to all horses, ponies and donkeys. Around 130 people attended the forum which was organised in Wagga Wagga by the CSU School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences. A panel of CSU equine health experts, led by Director of Veterinary Science Professor Kym Abbott, outlined the status of the EI outbreak, how the highly contagious virus is transmitted and ways to prevent its spread through the nation’s equine population. CSU veterinary science lecturer Dr Sharanne Raidal stressed the importance of community vigilance and compliance to halt the advance of equine flu, which can be transmitted by humans, vehicles and equipment.

Following the outbreak of equine flu that has threatened the Australian horse industry, experts from Charles Sturt University (CSU) will provide information and advice at a public forum in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 29 August. Dr Sharanne Raidal, senior lecturer in Veterinary Science at the School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences on Wagga Wagga Campus, says, “This is a very important issue for the Australian equine industry. Halting the spread of disease can only be achieved through strict compliance with DPI instructions regarding movement of horses, personnel and equipment. This means keeping horses at their current locations, and restricting movement of people and vehicles. CSU equine facilities at Orange and Wagga Wagga are providing a good example of doing the right thing by suspending classes and imposing industry-standard precautions to contain the outbreak of equine flu in NSW.”

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Dr Sharanne Raidal. The public forum, ‘Equine Flu: facts and fiction’, will be at 6pm Wednesday 29 August in Joyes Hall, Pine Gully Rd, CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. Speakers from the CSU School of Agricultural and Veterinary Science include Professor Kym Abbott, Dr Sharanne Raidal, Dr Brian Hilbert, Dr Jan Lievaart, Ms Petra Buckley, Mr Hunter Doughty, and Dr Scott Norman.

The 48 members of the staff/student choir on Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Bathurst Campus of  were in fine voice on Friday 24 August when they won first place in the Chief Choral Section of the 62nd annual Bathurst Eisteddfod. The choir is under the direction of Dr Christopher Klopper, music lecturer at the CSU School of Teacher Education. “This is the second year in a row that we have won this section, and we are all delighted,” Dr Klopper said. “We scored 97 out of a possible 100 and the adjudicator noted ‘A fresh and vital choral blend, with exemplary diction … for a large group the precision was wholly noteworthy. Best of all, the music made one feel uplifted. ‘Brilliant’ is a marketplace cliché, but it must be applied here’.” Participation in the CSU choir is open to all students and staff on the Bathurst Campus.

Contact CSU News to arrange interviews with Dr Christopher Klopper.

Two Charles Sturt University (CSU) football teams, the Wagga Agricultural College – the Aggies – and the Rivcoll Reddies will go head to head in the Riverina Southern Inland Rugby first grade grand final this Saturday 1 September at Conelly Rugby Park, Wagga Wagga. This is the first time that the teams will play against each other in the grand final. Both CSU sides have played strongly throughout the season, with the Aggies knocking out Temora in the last few minutes of their semi final and the Reddies cleaning up Griffith in their battle for a spot in the grand final. The Rivcoll Reddies will be captained by Mick Smith and Joel Harris, while the Aggies will be lead on by captain Peter Armstrong. The Rivcoll Reddies will also star in the second grade final against Waratahs and are in the under 16’s grand final against Young.

The first grade grand final kicks off at 4pm. For interviews contact Mick McTagget on telephone 02 6931 7583, mobile 0421 959 265, or contact CSU Media.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) 2006 television production graduates Luke Heywood and Tim Pass are ecstatic with the news that their production Chance Your Hand will be screened at the 2007 New York Television Festival Independent Pilot Competition. Chance Your Hand, a situation comedy showing the behind the scenes drama of a television game show, was a major project during the students’ third year studies. Produced at the CSU School of Visual and Performing Arts studios at the Wagga Wagga Campus in inland NSW, Chance Your Hand is one of only three productions selected from outside the United States. CSU Associate Lecturer Patrick Sproule says, “this is a major accolade for the both the course and the students, showcasing just how capable, creative and talented our television, acting and theatre design graduates are”. Luke and Tim will travel to New York to attend the festival from 5 – 9 September and hope to meet network executives to further their television careers.

For interviews contact CSU Media. The festival website in here. The production Chance Your Hand can be viewed online.  (be aware Chance Your Hand contains coarse language that may offend some viewers).

Email Luke Heywood, writer and co-producer of Chance Your Hand here.

Estimating the number of people in the Federal Calare electorate aged 55 to 75 years with respiratory disease is the goal of a new Charles Sturt University (CSU) research project. Dr Debbie Burton, a senior lecturer and Associate Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU’s Orange Campus, says the project will screen people for asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and the related disease Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). “The free lung health test uses a breathing test, where participants take a full breath in, then breathe out fully and with maximum effort into a tube, to check how well they can ventilate their lungs. Most people diagnosed with COPD experience moderate to severe shortness of breath and reduced lung function before discussing this with their doctor. This delays the diagnosis of COPD and increases the risk of getting the related disease CHF. Once diagnosed, people with these diseases can be managed medically so that the diseases progress more slowly and the quality of life for these people improves.” The study results will be used to identify ways to more easily screen and detect these diseases earlier in older people. If you have received an invitation letter and wish to take part in the study, contact Jillian Webb on telephone 02 6365 7823.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is reaching out to students in distant and remote locations through the growing education resource of podcasting, the broadcast of audio files across the internet. CSU School of Computing and Mathematics lecturer Anthony Chan says: “Podcasting is now happening in CSU biomedical sciences, accounting, information technology, food and wine sciences and commercial radio and management courses. Podcasts are provided to students before and after classes and include interviews with experts from around the world”. An international collaborative project between CSU and USA’s Bentley College allows students in a first year computing subject to learn from each other and another lecturer half way round the world. The School of Computing and Mathematics also uses podcasting with a local Wagga Wagga high school, with their work in Japanese learning and teaching featured on Japanese television. Studies within CSU have shown that podcasting reduces the effects of isolation and promotes inclusiveness. Surveys with CSU undergraduate students also show podcasting reduces their stress levels, especially students who are coming into a higher education environment for the first time.

The International Centre of WATER for Food Security based at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus will host a seminar by Dr Shuqing Zang, Professor of Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS, Vice-Director of Remote Sensing and GIS Department, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Changchun City, China. Dr Zang will detail studies on wetland landscape pattern dynamics under heavy human and natural influences. The report will examine two case studies to demonstrate the wetland landscape dynamics under the impacts of human activities and natural factors. One is about the Sanjiang Plain marsh, the biggest freshwater wetland in China, the other is about the Qian’an Group lakes. With the help of RS and GIS techniques, the pattern formation and dynamics of these wetlands with different driving forces can be analysed, helping to protect China’s wetlands.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS), based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, continues to influence ‘best water management practices’ across the globe. The economics of irrigation systems, climate forecasting and sustainable waste water irrigation and salt management techniques were closely examined by an official delegation of engineers from Argentina during a recent visit to the Riverina. Mr Horacio Diez from the Council of Federal Investment, Mr Juan Cristobal Acuna, Minister of Planning and Public Utilities, and Mr Salomon Lafi, Irrigation and Water Resources Secretary, were guests of CSU and the NSW department of Primary Industries. The party was also briefed on innovative research being undertaken at the EH Graham Centre, an alliance between CSU and the DPI,  before touring the olive oil research laboratory and a 100 year old olive grove located at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus.

The enthusiasm and contribution of three Bachelor of Education students on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dubbo Campus have been acknowledged by the Head of Campus, Mr Gary Shipp, at a ceremony today. “These students all came to study at CSU Dubbo Campus from the coast, and their enthusiasm and contribution to the campus deserves commendation,” Mr Shipp said. “They are spending their last week on the Dubbo Campus prior to leaving for their final internship before graduating from CSU later this year, and we will certainly miss them.” Chloe Macpherson (Early Childhood) was a Resident Advisor at student residences, a committed student representative on the Dubbo OHS committee for three years, and the inaugural student from the Dubbo Campus to study overseas for a semester at the University of Regina, Canada. She committed a great amount of time to promote the exchange program among Dubbo students after her return. Cemone Torrance (Early Childhood) demonstrated leadership and professionalism as the President of the Dubbo Students’ Association, especially during the transition to Voluntary Student Unionism. Todd Mackie (Primary) was actively involved in the organisation of Orientation Weeks for first year students, and assisted staff and students in a range of activities as a volunteer.

Innovation in Australia’s agriculture, horticulture and wine industries will be showcased during a visit to inland NSW this Thursday 9 August by a parliamentary delegation from Morocco. The seven member party will tour the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, an alliance between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the NSW Department of Primary Industries, at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus. The Moroccan delegation, lead by the national Speaker of the House of Representatives, His Excellency Mr Abdelwahad Radi, will investigate managing and utilising water for irrigation, CSU research into crop root development and water use, forage evaluation and livestock nutrition. The group will also tour Australia’s only accredited laboratory for certifying olive oil exports. The delegation will later visit the Griffith and Leeton irrigation areas.

Theo Barker was not only a much-loved member of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) community and Bathurst region, but also an eminent historian. The Bathurst District Historical Society (BDHS) declared him official Bathurst Historian and made him a Life Member in recognition of his “legendary” involvement in the Society over a period of more than forty years. He was also given the honour of being made a Life Fellow of Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), having arrived at Bathurst Teachers College in 1956, eventually retiring in 1979 as MCAE’s Head of History and Geography. When Theo died in 2003 at the age of 84, the Theo Barker (1919-2003) Memorial Lecture was inaugurated by CSU and the BDHS. This month’s second Lecture in the biennial series will feature Dr Pamela Freeman, a winner of the NSW Premier’s History Prize. Dr Freeman will trace the way that Mary McKillop’s childhood influenced her work in Bathurst.

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest tragedies, depicting a naked lust for power at any cost. Written four hundred years ago, its central theme of power and ambition has contemporary parallels, making the play as relevant now as when it was first written. The University Theatre Ensemble’s production is directed by John Bolton, an award winning director from Melbourne, and features third year acting students from Charles Sturt University (CSU). The play is also designed and stage managed by final year students in CSU’s degree in design for theatre and television production. The play’s director John Bolton has taken an innovative approach to the play by producing a shorter, clearer, playful and vibrant piece of theatre working with the students to dissect the text and incorporate the motifs and symbols at the heart of the play.

Macbeth plays at the Riverina Playhouse from 17 August to 1 September. For interviews contact CSU Media.