CSU’s Professor Chenoweth established the CSU course in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. He is currently Acting Presiding Officer of the University’s Animal Care and Ethics Committee. Professor Chenoweth has published widely in areas of livestock reproduction and behaviour.

The Dubbo Wiradjuri Elders group have planted a tree to commemorate the establishment of the Centre for Indigenous Studies at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dubbo Campus. The elders met at the campus on Monday 10 March to discuss the choice of a Wiradjuri name for the Centre and to hear about new developments in Indigenous education in University’s Strategy and Plans 2007 – 2011 from Mr Gary Shipp, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies and Head of the Dubbo Campus.

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Mr Gary Shipp.

Escalating oil prices and climate change are factors forcing rural Australia to contemplate the implications of diminishing petroleum supplies and a local biofuel industry. The Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a public forum in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 12 March to address issues such as the implications of rising fuel costs and a biofuel industry on rural communities. Speakers include Professor Peter Sinclair, an environmental sociologist and oil industry analyst from Canada’s Memorial University of Newfoundland, and CSIRO biofuel researcher, Dr Barrie May. The forum, entitled Rural Australia without petroleum?, will be held from 6pm to 7.30pm in the Council meeting room, Civic Centre, Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga.

Australians may consume more native foods in the future as a result of new research to be discussed at the Functional Foods and Biotechnology Forum at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Orange Campus on Thursday 6 March. The research reveals that native plant foods have strong antimicrobial, antioxidant and emulsifying properties with potential applications in many mainstream food products. Addressing the forum about the functional properties of native foods will be Dr Jian Zhao from the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences. “Our research outcomes can potentially help the native food industry to add value to and better market their products and ultimately achieve growth beyond being a cottage industry,” said Dr Zhao. Researchers  from the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, an alliance between CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries,  have studied the functional or health-promoting properties of Australian native foods for several years, supported by the national Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. Speakers from government and private sector functional food research and marketing organisations will address the forum which is hosted by CSU and the NSW Department of State and Regional Development.

 

To arrange interviews with Dr Zhao contact CSU Media. The Functional Foods and Biotechnology Forum will be held at the CSU Orange Campus conference room on Thursday 6 March.  Forum programs are available from Mr Jack Gordon at the NSW Department of State and Regional Development on 02 6360 8417.

 

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Mr Gary Shipp. The National Indigenous Higher Education Network Committee will meet in Dubbo from 10am on Thursday 6 March and 9.30am on Friday 7 March. The NIHEN was recently granted Indigenous People’s Organisational status for the upcoming meeting of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York, USA, from 21 April to 2 May.

 

He competed in his first triathlon at the age of seven and has been training only for triathlons since he was 15 years old. Now 20, Nicholas Kastelein Jnr, a third year Bachelor of Human Movement (Rehabilitation) student at Charles Sturt University (CSU), is now the 18-19 years Australian Long Course Junior Triathlon Champion. He won the title at a race held at Huskisson on the NSW south coast on 24 February. The CSU student explained that “There was no qualifying for the event, just the confidence that such a long distance can be accomplished. The swim leg is two kilometres, cycling is 83 kilometres, and running is 20 kilometres. For the 105 kilometre long course racing, swimming is my strongest discipline with cycling my weakest, but when racing short distances (750m swim / 20kms cycle / 5kms run) these are reversed.” Nick was born and raised in Mudgee and started his degree at CSU’s Bathurst Campus two years ago. “My goal is to finish my CSU degree and pursue a career in triathlon as a professional, racing long or short course events, with my degree to fall back on.”

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Nick Kastelein Jnr.

The development of leaders and managers within Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be recognised tonight, Tuesday 4 March, at a ceremony on the Wagga Wagga Campus. CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter will present an award acknowledging the efforts of nine staff following their successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in University Leadership and Management in 2006 and 2007. The group represents the second intake by the CSU School of Business and Information Technology. The Graduate Certificate in University Leadership and Management is offered to CSU staff with the aim of equipping current and future leaders with the knowledge, skill and confidence needed to support the University in achieving its strategic objectives.

 

The presentation will take place from 7pm in the Convention Centre, building 230, CSU, Wagga Wagga.

The most significant Southern Bell Frog population in NSW is responding well to 8 000 megalitres of environmental water flowing into the Murrumbidgee floodplain over recent weeks with breeding behaviour recorded at nearly every site, according to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher. Dr Skye Wassens is monitoring the response of the frogs inhabiting wetlands between Maude and Balranald on the Lowbidgee Floodplain in inland NSW. The endangered Southern Bell Frog was abundant until recent years, and was in real danger of local extinction. “While the initial signs are encouraging, the small frog numbers located to date indicate a massive population decline over the past six years. Successful recruitment of young frogs and their survival to breeding age is needed for the population to recover and this is not guaranteed unless key wetlands remain full for at least four months and are flooded regularly in future years,” said Dr Wassens.

 

The NSW Department of Environmental and Climate Change (DECC) and CSU researchers will continue to monitor the endangered frog population. For interviews with Dr Skye Wassens contact CSU Media.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD student is examining whether parasites are more than an itchy nuisance for seabirds on two islands off the Australian east coast. Ms Margaret Watson, from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus in inland NSW, will study Crested Terns colonies at ‘The Nobbies’ at Philip Island in Victoria and Montague Island off the NSW south coast. Her study will examine how Crested Tern numbers are being regulated by parasites such as lice and ticks. The research will also look at whether the parasites are being transmitted by Blue Penguins and Silver Gulls, which also inhabit the islands, as well as lizards and colonies of three species of Shearwater seabirds on Montague Island. Ms Watson, who received an Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) PhD scholarship under its Environmental Assets Integration Program, says “It’s just wonderful to be working on islands in the middle of the ocean and to get to visit places you wouldn’t normally be able to.”

For interviews with Ms Margaret Watson contact CSU media.

There is nothing but praise for the international exchange program from a Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism student on her recent return from the United Kingdom.  Ms Eleni Psaltis spent three months in the north of England in late 2007. The third year student said she was the first CSU student to undertake the ‘sister-University’ exchange program with Chester University, which is about 40 minutes from Manchester. “Any new professional experience is good, and this was a brilliant life experience,” Ms Psaltis said. “I’d definitely encourage CSU students to apply for the exchange program. I produced four short radio documentaries for broadcast and the experience confirmed my desire to work in radio.” Ms Psaltis has previously spent a year in Japan in 2005 on a Rotary exchange. She will complete her undergraduate degree through CSU's Bathurst Campus at the end of 2008.