Students and staff from Charles Sturt University (CSU) as well as local businesses have shown they care for kids with over $5 000 collected last week for the children’s air ambulance service, Careflight. The money was collected during CSU’s Orientation 2008 activities involving students on the University’s Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga campuses. Donations to Careflight were made at the evening and daytime social activities and raffles during the students introduction to academic life at the University. Classes for the Autumn academic session started on all CSU campuses yesterday, Monday 18 February.

For interviews on the Careflight project with Orientation Week coordinator Paul Shaw, contact CSU Media.

In a testament to his leading role in assessing future directions for irrigation in Australia and overseas, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Shahbaz Khan will take up a prestigious new role with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Professor Khan is currently Director of CSU’s International Centre for WATER (IC WATER) and Regional Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific office of UNESCO IHP-HELP. His extensive work has impacted on landholders across inland Australia, the irrigation industry, national water policy in Australia and the international scientific community. In the last few years, Professor Shahbaz and his team, based at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, have received a number of prestigious awards, including the national 2007 Eureka Prize and CSIRO’s Medal for Research Achievement. Professor Khan will also continue to supervise post graduate students at CSU. Professor Khan will join UNESCO as chief of its section on Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management in Paris, France.

 

The apology to the ‘Stolen Generations’ in federal parliament last week allowed Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Koori Teaching Fellow, Mr Laurie Crawford to leave the University on a high. After 37 years as an Aboriginal educator, including the last 17 years at CSU, Mr Crawford last week retired.  Mr Crawford said he has seen a lot of change in Aboriginal education, some of it good, some of it bad. “The biggest positive change has been the development of technology and the delivery of flexible learning by distance education, with a new focus on teaching methods. Another major change has been the development of CSU’s Dubbo Campus, with a major focus on Aboriginal education.” Mr Crawford started as an Aboriginal Education Assistant (AEA) at Walgett High School in 1972, the first AEA appointed to a NSW high school. He came to Bathurst in 1979 to study for a Diploma of Teaching at Mitchell College of Advanced Education, a predecessor of CSU. He then taught at Eglinton Public School near Bathurst until his appointment in 1991 as Koori Teaching Fellow at CSU.

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Mr Laurie Crawford.

Nursing, education and business courses offered on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dubbo Campus will be the focus for CSU staff next week as they travel and talk to Aboriginal people in remote communities in western NSW. Director of the University’s Centre for Indigenous Studies and Head of Dubbo Campus, Mr Gary Shipp, said “This will be the first opportunity for people in some of these communities to meet senior CSU staff and discuss the courses that are available to them. It is important to talk with the local Aboriginal people about what CSU can offer, especially the newly established Centre for Indigenous Studies at Dubbo Campus.” The group will travel to Hay, Balranald, Dareton, Broken Hill and Wilcannia to visit public and private primary and secondary schools, local councils, health organisations and TAFE facilities.

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Mr Gary Shipp. Participants in the recruiting trip include Mr Gary Shipp, Director, CSU Centre for Indigenous Studies and Head of CSU Dubbo Campus; Professor Elaine Duffy, Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery; Mr Ray Eldridge, Manager, Indigenous Support Units (across all CSU campuses); Mr Joe Hull, Community Liaison Officer, Indigenous Support Unit-Bathurst; Mr Daniel Clegg, Community Liaison Officer, Indigenous Support Unit (Albury); and Mr John Nolan, Community Consultant.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Allied Health Clinic this week celebrates five years serving the people of Albury-Wodonga and surrounding districts. Since 19 February 2003, the clinic has treated over 4 000 clients, mostly with foot and associated conditions. “And just as important, over 70 future podiatrists have received a well supervised, practical education in podiatry as they have worked in the clinic as part of their coursework,” said CSU Clinic manager, Mr Matt Austin. “The clinic is a vital part of CSU’s podiatry course as our students receive close supervision from qualified CSU staff in a hands-on, practical setting. Our graduates, who are very likely to be employed in rural and regional Australia, can start working as podiatrists with confidence in their skills and knowledge.” The clinic is now calling for new patients who will be assessed and treated by podiatry students under the supervision of qualified podiatrists. For an appointment at the CSU Allied Health Clinic, telephone the reception on 02 6051 6922.

For interviews with CSU Allied Health Clinical manager Mr Matt Austin, contact CSU Media

Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Professor Margaret Alston heads off to New York tomorrow 12 February to take up her role as Australia’s non-government representative to the 2008 meeting of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women. Due to be held at the UN headquarters from Monday 25 February to Friday 7 March, the 52^nd session of the Commission will be held under the theme of ‘Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women’. The Professor of Social Work and Human Services was selected last year by the Federal Government to join the Australian delegation. Professor Alston has researched widely in the field of rural social issues and is internationally recognised for her work into rural Australia. Established in 1946, the UN Commission on the Status of Women is a committee of the UN Economic and Social Council.

Professor Margaret Alston departs CSU on Wednesday 20 February and is due to return to the University on Wednesday 12 March. For interviews or photos, contact CSU Media.

With a background in business planning and policy development, Mr Stephen Butt has been appointed the new Executive Director of Facilities Management at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Mr Butt, who is an experienced engineer and project manager, comes to CSU from the Greater Southern Area Health Service based in Wagga Wagga. The former fitter and turner who trained in Wollongong, has post graduate qualifications in engineering management. At CSU he will oversee the largest set of building projects ever embarked on by the University, with academic facilities and services and student residences worth $240 million being constructed over five years from 2007 on its campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga. This includes nearly $45 million to be spent by 2009 on the expansion of the Albury-Wodonga Campus.

The exciting challenge of starting university faces over 2 500 students during Orientation 2008, up to a week of academic and social activities at Charles Sturt University (CSU) from Monday 11 February. The program is designed by CSU to help the students adjust to their new University surroundings before the commencement of on-campus classes on Monday 18 February. Compulsory academic advisory and information sessions have been organised for the new students as well as a variety of social activities. Throughout the week, the new students and their parents will be able to tour the campus, seek information about living on or off campus, visit the library, meet their new lecturers and tutors or simply get their student identification cards.  Students can also seek the advice of Orientation coordinators and leaders. Dressed in distinctive blue t-shirts, they are group of selected and trained CSU students who have returned to CSU a week earlier to help the new recruits in the transition to university life. With the theme of ‘Orientation Games’ in honour of this year’s Olympic Games, Orientation 2008 programs are being conducted at the Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga campuses as well as in Canberra and Parramatta.

Kerry Read from the CSU Division of Student Services is available for interview. Contact CSU Media. About 450 new students are due to start at CSU's Albury-Wodonga Campus in 2008.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has suggested that current threats to education as a profession will need a renewal of the profession, its professional bodies and the intellectual traditions that guide educational practice. The identified need for change is contained in a new book, 'Enabling Praxis' written by Professor Stephen Kemmis from CSU’s School of Education. The book will be launched at the upcoming Action Research and Professional Practice Conference to be hosted by University’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE). The conference has attracted over 110 professionals from across Australia and overseas. The event will be held at Wagga Wagga’s Country Comfort Motel on Thursday 7 February and Friday 8 February. RIPPLE Director, Professor Tom Lowrie says some of the world’s most respected education and health scholars, from Norway, Sweden, the UK, Finland and Australia, will gather to discuss and debate issues associated with professional practice, mainly in the disciplines of health and education.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has signed contracts with the Indonesian National Olympic Committee (INOC) to continue to provide strength and conditioning coaching to the Indonesian Olympic team up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Dr Stephen Bird, an academic in exercise rehabilitation at the School of Human Movement Studies at CSU’s Bathurst Campus, was engaged by the INOC in May 2007 as Head of Team Management (Strength and Conditioning). “Following the introductory trial period with the INOC, and our success at the 2007 South East Asian Games in Thailand where Indonesia won 56 gold medals, I was asked to continue to provide expert support to the Indonesia National Olympic team,” said Dr Bird. “We shall be providing strength and conditioning services to the 16 sports Indonesia will compete in at Beijing. The contract also allows final year students from CSU’s School of Human Movement Studies to attend work experience placements with me while I am in Jakarta, with two students already attending. These opportunities provide invaluable experience for our students with support from the School and the University’s Faculty of Education.”

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with CSU’s Dr Stephen Bird.