A Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate is putting the words into the mouths of some of the nation’s most watched television characters. Ms Kaneana May studied television production at the Wagga Wagga Campus and graduated in 2004 with first class honours in screenwriting, starting her career as a storyliner on the 2005 television series Headland. Ms May, aged 26, says “Since then I have since worked on the Seven network’s All Saints and now work as a script coordinator at Home and Away”.  Ms May was commissioned to write a Home and Away script which went to air in early October. Ms May, from the coastal village Old Bar on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, says “I would definitely encourage others interested in television to do the CSU course. I learned so much about the entire process of television. The course is continually improving to keep pace with what is happening in the industry”.

The Dean of the Faculty of Education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia, Professor Toni Downes will deliver the occasional address at a ceremony in Hong Kong this Sunday 28 October 2007. Almost 130 graduates will be eligible to receive their awards from CSU during the ceremony in the Langham Place Hotel, Mong Kok, Hong Kong from 10.30am. Many of the graduating students have completed their studies under an international collaboration between CSU and The University of Hong Kong - SPACE. Also attending the ceremony will  be the Chancellor of CSU, Mr Lawrence Willett AO, who will present the awards to the graduates.The courses range from accountancy, human resource management, information  technology ,library and information management, teacher librarianship, nursing and pathology.

Complaints can be a positive management tool, providing very good feedback about areas in need of improvement within an organisation, according to Charles Sturt University (CSU) Ombudsman Miriam Dayhew. The CSU Ombudsman will deliver a public lecture on complaints management on Wednesday 31 October in Tumut to discuss the current complaints system used by the University, with examples of how it has been used as a positive management tool. Ms Dayhew says staff, students and others have a right to voice critical comments and it is essential to have an effective complaints system in place to deal with issues as they arise. “By dealing with complaints at the outset, an organisation is more able to resolve them, thereby preventing them from escalating, costing time and resources, and can use the experience to identify faults and improve processes,” said Ms Dayhew. Ms Dayhew is responsible for developing and maintaining CSU’s complaint management systems.

The public lecture will be held on Wednesday 31 October from 6pm in the conference room, Tumut Shire Council, 76 Capper Street, Tumut. For interviews contact CSU Media.

Classroom discipline will be the focus of the latest public forum in the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Edversation series. The media tell us that students are changing and that the old ways of developing classroom discipline are no longer useful or effective. The forum, led by a team of CSU educators, will consider the questions: are students in classes really different today? do we need new ways of working with student and what works best? and what are the roles of teachers, parents and students in contemporary classrooms? The CSU academics will be joined by primary and secondary school teachers as well as senior secondary school students. The forum will have time for comment, questions and discussion from the floor. The forum will be held from 6pm on Tuesday 30 October in the council meeting room, Wagga Wagga Civic Centre, Baylis St, Wagga Wagga.

For interviews contact CSU Media.

During World War 2, the Japanese temporarily captured Kiska Island in the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and established a major military base. The move was seen as a threat to control Alaska. Cultural heritage manager and archaeologist with Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society, Associate Professor Dirk Spennemann will present a richly illustrated talk on Thursday 25 October on his recent work on the uninhabited, remote and wind-swept island. Professor Spennemann visited the island at the request of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to research the big guns and military relics left on the island after it was abandoned by the Japanese in 1943. This free public lecture will be held from 6pm in conjunction with the Australian Army Museum in the Army Museum Theatrette, Murray Valley Highway, Bandiana, four kilometres east of Wodonga.

For interviews with CSU’s Associate Professor Dirk Spennemann, contact CSU Media.

The head of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) innovative Djirruwang Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health program, Wayne Rigby, is guest speaker of a meeting of carers and friends of people with a mental illness. The free information session in Queanbeyan, NSW on Thursday 25 October will examine the “what, why and how” of psychiatric medications. The event has been organised by the advocacy group Carer Assist. A veteran of the rural mental health field, Mr Rigby was recently honoured by the Mental Health Association NSW, who presented him with a 2007 Mental Health Matters Award in Sydney. Read more here.

The information session will be held on Thursday, 25 October from 10am to 12noon, Baptist Church Cottage, Munro Rd, Queanbeyan.

 

A leading Charles Sturt University (CSU) and NSW Department of Primary Industries researcher is warning of dire consequences for Australia’s land, environment, farming industries and rural and regional communities in the face of the crippling drought. Professor Deirdre Lemerle, Director of the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, says, “The current drought is having huge negative impacts on the Australian environment, its people, and our capacity to feed ourselves. Lack of water has drastically reduced local food production and food prices will go up for consumers.” Professor Lemerle also warns that “Australian farmers are highly skilled at drought management, but the droughts of the last few years are amongst the worst on record and are severely testing farmers' resilience. Drought is reducing land managers capacity to protect the environment and make a profit from production. Social and economic effects are causing depression, family disintegration and many other social costs. Government and industry must support land managers if Australia is to be self-sufficient in food production and for agriculture to remain environmentally sustainable," says Professor Lemerle.

For interviews with Professor Deirdre Lemerle, contact CSU Media

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) report shows that sales performance remained slightly higher in the Central West than across regional NSW. The September quarter survey of 197 businesses in the NSW Central West and a further 355 across regional NSW also found that greatest improvement on  the previous survey quarter was reported by businesses across regional NSW. Mr Tom Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of CSU’s Western Research Institute, said that despite the continuing drought and a further interest rate rise, Central West businesses reported an increase in both capital expenditure and employment. The comments follow the release on Monday 15 October of the Reliance Credit Union Central West Regional Business Survey for the September quarter of 2007. “When asked about the impact of the interest rate rise, 66 per cent of Central West businesses reported no impact on their business. The tourism and transport sectors reported the strongest overall sales performance in the Central West, and consumer demand had the strongest positive impact on sales performance in both the Central West and regional NSW. Over half the businesses in the Central West (54 per cent) are anticipating good to very good sales performance for the 2007 Christmas period,” Mr Murphy said.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Inland Health is hosting a community symposium entitled Inland Health – Planning Together for the Future on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 November at CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. The meeting will bring together CSU researchers, staff and students as well as health service providers and community representatives from across southern NSW. The aim of the symposium is to discuss the current activities, priority issues requiring attention and future priorities. The event is supported by the University and Australian Health Management.

The invitation, program and registration form for the Inland Health – Planning Together for the Future symposium can be found here. For interviews contact CSU Media.

Work Choices is only the latest change in Australia’s industrial relations landscape. Charles Sturt University (CSU) industrial relations expert Dr Bill Robbins will discuss the first industrial relations revolution that began in October 1907 with the Harvester case during a free public lecture on Thursday 18 October. The case created a legal decision which became one of the most famous in the industrial, social and political history of Australia, and which also introduced the world’s first significant minimum wage. “On the centenary of the Harvester Living Wage case, it is worth reflecting on how industrial relations can affect the quality of life of the majority of Australians," said Dr Robbins, a senior lecturer in management and industrial relations with CSU’s School of Business & Information Technology. He has researched the management of Australian labour from Australia's convict origins to the contemporary Work Choices environment. The lecture, entitled A World First: the centenary of the Harvester case, starts at 6pm in the CSU Nowik Lecture Theatres, Guinea St, Albury.