The University Co-operative Bookshop on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bathurst Campus won a top award at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards ceremony in Sydney in November. Mr Mark Bancroft, manager of the Bathurst Campus branch, said that his outlet was named 2007 Australian Publishers Association Small/Regional Bookstore of the Year. “The staff and I are very proud to have achieved this level of industry recognition and we will continue to provide the best textbook service possible,” Mr Bancroft said. “I thank all at CSU for their support and co-operation which plays such a large part in our success. We sell about 55 000 individual volumes each year, and about 70 per cent of our business is to distance education (DE) students. We send orders to CSU students in all corners of the globe.” The Bathurst Campus branch was established in 1970 and processes DE orders for most CSU campuses.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Chancellor, Mr Lawrence Willett, AO, will officiate at the launch of The Centre for Inland Health (CIH) and the Inland Health Foundation (IHF) on Monday 10 December on the CSU Bathurst Campus. CIH Director Dr Rod Pope explained that the Centre is based on a model that “involves academics from all campuses who participate in research and development in the four CSU faculties – Arts, Business, Education and Science – to serve the shared vision of health for our inland communities. It builds linkages between staff from various CSU Schools, Centres and Groups and links them with service providers, government agencies and community representatives for research and development, rather than operating as a discrete grouping of academics focused on either research or teaching and learning,” Dr Pope said. The Inland Health Foundation is being established to fund the Centre’s work through donations.

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with CIH Director Dr Rod Pope. The launch will be held at the Centre for Professional Development on the CSU Bathurst Campus at 6pm on Monday 10 December.

Three Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics from Ontario in Canada will get a taste of the Australian summer when they visit the Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga campuses this month. The trio will visit CSU in Australia on a familiarisation tour of campus facilities and staff as well as the larger regional cities of Albury, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga. Ms Janet Adler, a lecturer in creative arts and mathematics, Ms Gail Grant, a lecturer in language and literacy and social studies and Mr Don Jones a lecturer in mathematics and science are a key part of the CSU Ontario team delivering the University’s Bachelor of Primary Education Studies, an elementary program for primary-junior teachers in Ontario. The 2007-2008 student intake are currently on their teaching practical work before they head off for their winter holiday break. The group represents CSU’s third annual student intake in the successful Ontario program.

Ms Adler will be on the Wagga Wagga Campus from Monday 3 December until Thursday 6 December. She will visit the Albury-Wodonga Campus and local schools from Thursday 6 to Saturday 8 December. Ms Grant and Mr Jones will visit Bathurst Campus from Monday 3 to Thursday 6 December. They will be on the Wagga Wagga Campus from Friday 7 to Thursday 13 December. Further information about CSU Ontario is available here.

Community support is growing for Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Inland Health initiative, which was established in response to the existing lack of information and realistic solutions to meet the health needs of inland Australian communities. Riverina identity and past president of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) Ms Elaine Armstrong congratulated CSU for the initiative to present the health symposium, Planning Together for the Future and the launch of the Centre on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 December. “The workshops offered are of special interest to women and their families in this region as they cover areas such as lung health, muscle, bone and joint health, life with cancer, health workforce and services, heart health, ageing and health and mental health,” said Ms Armstrong. “Of special interest is the symposium on mental health, because of the extended drought conditions which are causing stress and anxiety for families. Anxiety in younger farmers is another major issue, with statistics showing that men aged 30 to 45 years and living in rural and remote areas, are at risk of mental breakdowns and suicides.”

 

For interviews contact CSU Media. Further information about CSU's Centre for Inland Health is available here. The launch of the Charles Sturt Centre for Inland Health and Inland Health Foundation will be held on Thursday 29 November at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus; A two day Inland Health symposium will be held on 29 – 30 November at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media student, Mr Adam Deusien will be heading to Brisbane in January 2008 to take-up a prestigious six-month internship with the Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre company. Adam is the first CSU student to win one of the highly contested internships with Zen Zen Zo. He will specialise in Viewpoints, a technique taught to him at weekly workshops since April by Ms Fiona Green, associate lecturer at the School of Communication at CSU’s Bathurst Campus, and Ms Margie Breen, Performing Arts Producer/Animateur at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre. Ms Green said, “Adam is a dedicated and motivated student who has the talent and drive to succeed in a difficult industry. We’ve told him to dream big and that’s just what he’s done.” Mr Deusien will undertake a rigorous training program with 13 other interns from around Australia and then perform in a company production at the end of the internship. He will then return to Bathurst to finish his degree and conduct workshops with theatre/media students in 2008.

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews. The Zen Zen Zo interns undertake intensive training in acting, physical theatre, auditioning, networking, marketing, grant writing, teaching, administration, finance, preparing budgets, fitness training, sports psychology, as well as meeting some of Australia’s pre-eminent arts leaders, and performing in a Zen Zen Zo production.  More information about Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre can be found here.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Chancellor, Mr Lawrence Willett, AO, will host a community reception Thursday 6 December to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of CSU’s Dubbo Campus. The event will be marked by the release of the 10 Year Anniversary booklet and the launch CSU’s Centre for Inland Health (CIH) in Dubbo.  Head of CSU’s Dubbo Campus, Mr Gary Shipp said, “The Chancellor has invited all staff to attend the community reception in recognition of their invaluable, loyal and friendly service to the University and community". Mr Shipp also explained that The Centre for Inland Health is different to most of the University’s other Centres in that “it uses academics from all campuses who are involved in research and development in the four CSU faculties – Arts, Business, Education and Science – to serve the shared vision of health for our inland communities”.

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews. The community reception will be held at the CSU Dubbo Campus on Thursday 6 December from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

 

This week Mr Kevin Wilkins, senior lecturer in mathematics at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Accounting and Computer Science, will retire after 30 years’ service on the Bathurst Campus. Mr Wilkins began lecturing at CSU’s predecessor, the Mitchell College of Advanced Education, in 1974. Head of School, Associate Professor Ross Wilson, said, “Kevin is a person who has the best interests of his students and his colleagues as his priority at all times. He is always available to offer help to students and staff with intriguing mathematical problems. His colleagues will miss his passion for ensuring his workmates get a 'fair go' at all times.” A former Head of the School, Associate Professor Sue Moffatt, praised Mr Wilkins as an example of the kind of excellence in teaching that institutions such as CSU need in a competitive market. “As a teacher, Kevin had the capacity to make complex concepts seem straightforward and he challenged even the brightest Games Technology student. The student evaluations of ‘Big K’ were always well above the mean.”

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews. Mr Wilkins will be farewelled by his colleagues at the James Hardie Room on CSU’s Bathurst Campus at 5pm on Tuesday 4 December.

The potential of a new generation of web technologies, collectively known as Web 2.0, has attracted keen interest in a seminar being organised by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Information Studies and the National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra on Tuesday 27 November. About 150 people, representing libraries, cultural institutions as well as commercial organisations, are expected at the seminar entitled, Web 2.0 and its potential for the library community. “This seminar will explore very significant issues in terms of how organisations such as libraries can make interaction online much easier and user-friendly,” said Mr Jake Wallis, a lecturer in CSU’s School of Information Studies. Due to the high level of interest in the event from across Australia, staff from the CSU School of Information Studies plan to broadcast the series of talks via the Internet. The seminar will be held in the NLA theatre in Canberra at 8.45am on Tuesday 27 November.

Staff from the School of Information Studies on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus conduct teaching, research and offer consultancy in library and information management, as well as the application of Web 2.0 technologies in the delivery of information services.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) education expert believes greater investment in quality early childhood education and care would reduce the need to invest in gaols. Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, Professor Toni Downes has welcomed both Coalition and Labor policies which she says are trying to make early childhood education and care more affordable for Australian families. Professor Downes welcomes Labor’s pledge to create an entitlement for all four year olds to have at least 15 hours of early childhood education and care. Professor Downes says “While these initiatives are wonderful, they don’t go far enough. I would argue it should be the entitlement of all three and four year olds in Australia to have at least 15 hours of quality early education. In pushing for this additional investment in early childhood education, I contend that there are significant long term economic and social returns for the country. I firmly believe the more we invest in early childhood education the less we would need to invest in prisons,” Professor Downes said.

For interviews with Professor Toni Downes contact CSU Media