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CANBERRA
Home > Regional News > Canberra
CSU telescope showcases the southern sky in 2009
20 Jan 2009
 The Remote Telescope at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst has a full calendar of observation events plotted for the UNESCO 2009 International Year of Astronomy, which celebrates 400 years since Galileo first turned a telescope to view the night sky. The initiator and administrator of the CSU telescope, Associate Professor David McKinnon at the CSU School of Teacher Education says that images of the southern night sky through the telescope can be seen via the Internet, weather permitting, around themes that depend on which celestial objects are visible at that time. “The observation calendar centres on special events such as the particular phases of the Moon and planets, as well as requests that are lodged via the Remote Telescope website,” Professor McKinnon said. “This year is a wonderful opportunity for school students and anyone interested in astronomy to access the telescope and website to see planets and other objects as they may never have seen them before.”
Media Note: Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Associate Professor David McKinnon. The next scheduled observations are on the first clear night between Tuesday 3 and Thursday 5 February when the CSU Remote Telescope will observe the Moon, ‘deep sky objects’ (such as nebulae, star clusters and galaxies), and the planet Saturn with its rings. The first session was broadcast on the night of 3 January, with participants from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The CSU Remote Telescope has featured in national and international scientific education awards. Print this story Adviser to government on Murray Darling Basin
25 Nov 2008
 A Charles Sturt University (CSU) expert in the management and restoration of aquatic ecosystems has been appointed to advise the Rudd government on the use of water purchased to restore the rivers and wetlands of the Murray Darling Basin. Associate Professor Robyn Watts is one of a panel of scientific experts appointed to the Environmental Water Scientific Advisory Committee by the federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong. The committee will provide advice on setting environmental watering priorities, monitoring the benefits of environmental flows, and identifying knowledge gaps. Associate Professor Watts is a Principal Researcher in the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society where she researches biodiversity and connectivity in aquatic ecosystems and the ecological responses to flow regimes in regulated rivers. She also teaches river ecology and restoration at CSU at Albury-Wodonga.
Media Note: Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Associate Professor Robyn Watts. Print this story Time to correct mistakes of ABC
07 Nov 2008
 The appointment of receivers to manage the private childcare operator ABC Learning Centres represents a prime opportunity for the Rudd government to make right the mistakes of the past, according to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic. The childcare operator yesterday went into voluntary administration with the receivers assuring parents that the centres will remain open. “Many early childhood experts had expressed concern about the growing monopoly of ABC, particularly in regional areas,” said Senior Lecturer with the CSU School of Teacher Education Ms Fran Press. “The Commonwealth should show leadership by brokering a deal between the three levels of government and the community sector to ensure the survival of childcare places. Not only would this ensure the retention of much needed childcare places, it would put them in a good position to work toward the fulfilment of election promises concerning the provision of early childhood education.” The fact ABC currently has about 30 per cent of long day care places in Australia is unusual. “No other country entrusts so much childcare to just one provider,” said Ms Press.
Media Note: CSU lecturer Ms Fran Press is available for interview. She is based at CSU in Bathurst. Contact CSU Media on 0439 475 315
Print this story Award for promoting affinity in Australian society
28 Oct 2008
 A national award promoting religious harmony and acceptance within Australian society has been bestowed on Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in theology, Associate Professor Clive Pearson. The principal of the United Theological College (UTC) in Sydney, within the CSU School of Theology, received an Australian Affinity Award in September. The award recognised Professor Pearson’s significant contributions in the study of religion, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and the ‘facilitating' by CSU in this dialogue. Associate Professor Pearson was particularly recognised for his work on the public theology of issues of diversity in Sydney, including analysis of the riots in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla in December 2005. “The United Theological College has been working with Affinity and Sydney’s Islamic community firstly out of concern for the neighbour, for the stranger in our midst and a concern for social cohesion,” said Associate Professor Pearson. “We have attended and presented at each other's conferences because we believe that it is important for a Christian theology to be done these days in the presence of the religious other as well as the secular.”
Media Note: Associate Professor Clive Pearson is on study leave at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA until 31 December. He is one of 12 international scholars selected to be a member of the prestigious Center of Theological Inquiry. He is completing a book on what is a public theology, with reference to Australia. Associate Professor Pearson and fellow UTC lecturer, the Reverend Dr William Emilsen, recently presented papers to the Forum on Public Policy at Oxford University, UK. Associate Professor Pearson’s paper focused on a Christian theological response to the Cronulla riots in dialogue with a range of other sociological, media and criminology analyses. Dr Emilsen's address focussed on religion and teenage suicide bombers. Print this story HSC students search online for answers
20 Oct 2008
.jpg) For NSW senior high school students, the Higher School Certificate is the ultimate challenge and when competing against thousands of other students for limited university places, the more resources they can access the better. In the past, the Internet has not been seen as a consistently credible source of information for materials, but now teachers are encouraging students to get extra help online. In 2007, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) hosted website NSW HSC Online delivered 13 million pages to users, offering information to students, teachers and parents, with 2008 figures indicating even higher access, despite slightly fewer HSC enrolments. CSU lecturer and NSW HSC Online project coordinator Mr Bob Dengate believes that students and teachers benefit greatly from the site. "With material for 48 HSC subjects, supplemented by advice on study strategies and the availability of past examination papers and markers' comments, figures for this month are expected to approach two million pages."
Media Note: For interviews contact CSU Media. Print this story Christian mission in the public square
30 Sep 2008
 An international conference in Canberra this week will explore how the Christian message speaks in public and civic life in Australia and globally. The Christian Mission in the Public Square conference will be held at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) from Thursday 2 October to Sunday 5 October. About 80 participants from across Australia, Asia and New Zealand will attend the conference which is co-sponsored by the Australian Association for Mission Studies (AAMS) and CSU’s strategic research centre, Public and Contextual Theology (PACT). Director of the ACC&C and Chairman of the Global Network for Public Theology (GNPT), the Reverend Professor James Haire, AM, said “This conference will discuss the history, theology and practice of the Christian mission, and public theology in word and action. For example, some could argue that there is a contradiction between the Christian mission and public theology, while others might assert that public theology is the most legitimate way of engaging civil society with the claims of Christianity in our time.” The conference’s keynote speaker, South African theologian Professor Nico Koopman, will discuss the Christian mission in the public arena of South Africa, and its implications internationally.
Media Note: Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Reverend Professor James Haire, Professor Nico Koopman or Professor Ross Langmead, Professor of Missiology, Whitley College, Melbourne. Professor Langmead is the Secretary of the Australian Association of Mission Studies. The Christian Mission in the Public Square conference will be held from Thursday 2 October to Sunday 5 October in the chapel of CSU’s Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, 15 Blackall Street, Barton, Canberra. Print this story War reporting 'alive and well'
30 Sep 2008
 One of the few women to research and write on the dynamics between the media and the military, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Lyn Gorman, will speak at the Chief of Army’s annual Military History Conference in Canberra on Thursday 9 October. Professor Gorman, has a special interest in the Cold War. She will present a paper entitled The Cold War: An Australian Perspective in which she argues that, contrary to the view that the Korean War was ‘the forgotten war‘, Australian media did provide coverage of this 1950s conflict, and in the case of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, they provided more critical and thorough coverage of the war and Australian involvement in it than has been generally believed. “My research found considerable critical and careful reporting of both wars, which goes against the common assumption that the wars were either largely ignored or that the coverage lacked independence,” Professor Gorman says. “New technologies such as video phones and YouTube, have continued to change the way that war is reported.”
Media Note: Professor Lyn Gorman will speak at The Chief of Army’s Military History Conference, themed The Military, the Media and Information Warfare in Canberra on Thursday 9 October. A revised edition of her book Media and Society into the 21st Century, co-authored with Dr David McLean, will be released at the end of 2008 by publisher Wylie-Blackwell. She has also written in War and Society, a journal published by the Australian Defence Force Academy. Print this story New wheels to boost police recruitment
26 Aug 2008
 Charles Sturt University (CSU) is making recruiting potential officers from all sectors of the community to the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) a little easier with the donation of a high profile vehicle. The eye-catching Holden Rodeo will be used by the NSWPF Recruitment Branch as a mobile advertising tool. It will be formally presented to NSWPF by CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, during a ceremony to swear in the latest probationary constables at the NSW Police College in Goulburn on Friday 29 August. CSU, together with NSWPF, delivers the Associate Degree in Policing Practice, which is the recruit training program for people wanting to join the NSW Police Force. The vehicle will be driven state-wide for career markets, expos and displays. “CSU is delighted to deliver this vehicle to the NSWPF as a symbol of our long-standing and important relationship to educate and train police officers for NSW,” said Professor Chambers. General Manager of NSWPF Recruitment Branch, Inspector Tony Malone, said they wanted a vehicle that would turn heads. “We want to draw attention to NSWPF Recruitment and to our contact details. The Rodeo is proving to be a great marketing tool."
Media Note: The vehicle is due to be handed over to NSW Police Recruitment at approximately 1.30pm during the Attestation Parade at NSW Police College, McDermott Drive, Goulburn. Print this story Is mediation a profession?
26 Aug 2008
 A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has called on the mediation community to consider that it now deserves the title of ‘a profession’. Associate Professor Anne Ardagh addressed the question ‘Is Mediation now a Profession?’ during her recent address to a dinner in Canberra to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Conflict Resolution Service (CRS) in the ACT. “Even though there is no one recognised path to becoming a mediator, mediators are becoming more educated through university and TAFE qualifications, and perhaps on quality assurance grounds the mediation community should embrace the idea that it now deserves the status of a profession,” said Professor Ardagh. The CSU academic believes mediation is at a stage that perhaps psychology or social work or counselling was at not so long ago.
Media Note: Associate Professor Ardagh is the coordinator of CSU’s Dispute Resolution Program through the University’s School of Commerce in Wagga Wagga. She is an accredited and experienced mediator who has supervised a panel of mediators for the Community Justice Centre in Wagga Wagga. She oversaw the pilot program for Community Youth Conferencing in Wagga Wagga from 1996 to 1998, and is also on panels for the Legal Aid Commission's Family Law Conferencing Program and the NSW Health Conciliation Registry. To arrange an interview, contact CSU Media. Print this story CSU academic addresses intelligence community
19 Aug 2008
 The heads of intelligence agencies gathered in the New Zealand (NZ) capital of Wellington in August to hear from guest speaker and Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Mr Patrick Walsh. Over 150 intelligence officers attended the inaugural conference of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. Mr Walsh, who addressed the intelligence officers after the conference was opened by NZ Prime Minister The Hon. Helen Clark, is a senior lecturer in criminal intelligence at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing (AGSP) based in Manly, Sydney. He is also the course co-ordinator for the University’s intelligence program and a vice-president of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO). “It was an honour to address this inaugural event,” Mr Walsh said on his return to Australia. “I talked about the history of AIPIO as a professional body for the Australian intelligence community and the role tertiary education can play in collaboration with intelligence agencies in delivering industry-relevant intelligence education programs”
Media Note: For interviews with Mr Patrick Walsh, contact CSU Media. In addition to its distance education criminal intelligence program, CSU delivers a range of short industry-focused intelligence courses through the AGSP for a range of agencies in Australia and the NZ Police. Read more here. Print this story |
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