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ORANGE
Home > Regional News > Orange
Collaborative project spreads wings
07 Mar 2007
Close collaboration between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and TAFE NSW now enables students to gain computing qualifications from both institutions during three years of full-time study. After completing pilot courses in Albury and Wagga Wagga, the joint program, which incorporates subjects from TAFE NSW’s Diploma of Technology (Networking) and CSU’s Bachelor of Information Technology, is being extended across NSW, with CSU units available via distance education. “This totally integrated approach allows students to study concurrently at both institutions to combine the practical industry experience presented by TAFE NSW with the theoretical rigor of CSU subjects. These students will become even more employable and better qualified in a very competitive industry,” said CSU’s Sub Dean of Information Technology, Dr John Atkinson. Dr Atkinson will meet with TAFE NSW’s Program Manager in Telecom and Networks, Franco Salaun at the Albury campus of TAFE NSW Riverina Institute on Thursday 8 March to discuss further developments in the joint program.
Media Note: CSU's Dr John Atkinson and Franco Salaun from NSW TAFE will be available for interviews on the joint program at 10.30am on Thursday 8 March outside the Rivers Restaurant, Albury campus of TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, Poole St, Albury. Print this story CSU’s world champion triumphs again
06 Mar 2007
 Charles Sturt University (CSU) human movement graduate, Paralympian and current world wheelchair marathon champion Kurt Fearnley won the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday 4 March smashing the course record by more than a minute. Kurt is originally from Carcoar in the NSW Central West region. Yesterday he said from LA, “It was a particularly sweet victory - my fifth straight win. I have definitely hit something - whether it is my peak I don’t know. I have conditioned myself to race week in and week out, and I am not sure how long it will last, so I am trying to do as many marathons as I can and figure out which ones I enjoy most”. This weekend Kurt travels to Japan for a track meeting before the Rome Marathon on 18 March. In April he will compete in the Paris and London marathons and attend the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards in Spain as Australia’s only nominee.
Media Note: For more information, contact CSU Media. Kurt Fearnley, OAM is a Board Member of Australian Volunteers International and a patron of C-pod which seeks to engage corporate Australia in charitable activities. He is nominated in the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability category. The Laureus World Sports Awards will be held in Barcelona, Spain on Monday 2 April. Print this story How green was my Gore?
06 Mar 2007
 Former US Vice President Al Gore was in the news last week when it was revealed his household energy bill amounted to US$30 000 a year. Jodie Kleinschafer, a Charles Sturt University PhD student currently studying ways households can become more energy efficient, said: “If he is being carbon neutral, using renewable energy sources that are 100 per cent green, then he is not being inconsistent with his environmental stance.” She says there are simple ways to reduce electricity consumption. “Turn down the temperature on your hot water, use the air conditioner less, and don’t turn your heater up quite so high.” Mrs Kleinschafer says “smart meters” are also a useful option for improving energy efficiency because they “give immediate feedback on how much electricity is being used and how much it is costing. Until our electricity is from 100 per cent renewable energy sources, it is in everybody’s best interest to become more energy efficient”.
Media Note: Jodie Kleinschafer is the recipient of Country Energy’s $100 000 inaugural Energy Efficiency Research Scholarship. The industry scholarship allows her to research renewable energy or an area known as demand management. For more see here. For interviews, contact CSU Media. Print this story Bedside manners for CSU veterinary students
06 Mar 2007
Charles Sturt University (CSU) veterinary students will be given practical guidance on leadership, team-work, communication, emotional intelligence and conflict management tomorrow Wednesday 7 March as part of a veterinary leadership experience (VLE) workshop on CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. CSU lecturer in dairy cattle practice Natasha Lees said, “The VLE is a chance for students to further develop their skills enabling them to successfully make the transition from the lecture hall to the workplace”. Ms Lees believes the workshops will help CSU produce graduates that meet the needs of its regional, national and international communities. First year students in CSU’s School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences will be addressed during the workshop by Professor Rick Debowes and psychologist Kathy Ruby, both from Washington State University, USA.
Media Note: For interviews and pictures contact CSU Media. Print this story Diabetes 'time-bomb'
06 Mar 2007
 World Health Organisation predictions of a 60 per cent increase in Type 2 Diabetes between 1995 and 2030 have been challenged by a new study from Ontario. Researchers there have found a 69 per cent increase in the rate of the disease between 1995 and 2005 - far greater than previous projections for Canada. The authors of the new research say this could have devastating consequences worldwide. Professor Patrick Ball from Charles Sturt University’s School of Biomedical Sciences isn’t surprised. "The clear evidence is that we are losing the battle. There are so many different facets to the problem including lack of exercise and modern diets packed with fats and sugar. People are starting to accept diabetes as a normal part of the ageing process. I believe it is a worse health problem than tobacco."
Media Note: Professor Patrick Ball is available for interviews. Contact CSU Media. Print this story Happy feet in Hollywood
27 Feb 2007
Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in animation Damian Candusso is celebrating Oscar success for Australian director George Miller’s animated feature film Happy Feet. Damian, who is based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, was already in Los Angeles for the 2007 Motion Picture Sound Editors’ (MPSE) annual Golden Reel Awards ceremony, which was held on Saturday 24 February. Happy Feet was nominated for Best Sound Editing at those awards, but lost to the animated movie Cars. However, last night Happy Feet went one better to pick up the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007 Academy Awards. Speaking from Los Angeles Damian, who worked as a sound editor on the animated penguin flick said, “We’re all very excited,” adding , ”The sound award would have been awesome but the Academy Award is a higher honour”.
Media Note: Damian is available for media interviews, contact CSU Media. Print this story Are TV watchers fat, stupid and sick?
27 Feb 2007
 A report was released in the UK last week which claimed that watching television harmed children much more than previously thought. The research was drawn from analysing 35 scientific studies and identified 15 negative affects including obesity, which the report claimed TV caused through a lack of exercise. That sets off alarm bells for Charles Sturt University’s Dr Michael Gard. “All 35 studies will be variable in terms of methodology, the strength of their findings, and what they measured. There is a lot of research on obesity, health and television, and none have shown any connection between TV watching, physical activity and obesity. Technology does not make you fat and stupid and sick. Yes, kids need a variety of experiences. But there is a greater evil here and that is people like this who start telling us how to live our lives rather than kids watching TV every day.”
Media Note: Dr Michael Gard is the co-author, with Jan Wright, of The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality and Ideology. He is available for interviews, contact CSU Media. The TV watching study was published in the science journal Biologist last week. It also linked TV watching to premature puberty, poor concentration, Alzheimer's Disease, and shortsightedness. Print this story Improving health care in inland Australia
27 Feb 2007
 A project that will develop models of health care that work for the specific needs of rural and remote communities will start in Molong in the Central West region next month. Dr Julaine Allan, from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Biomedical Sciences, will ask focus groups about “their experience of health care provision, what the community needs now and in the future, what models of health service provision work and do not work, and what they would suggest to improve them”. In April, Dr Allan will take her “intensive case study” to Canowindra. “We will compare the two towns and work out why some services work well in one area and not another. Even though communities may be of similar sizes, they are not necessarily the same. We are aiming to improve rural health status by being able to target those differences.” Dr Allan says this is the pilot phase of the project, “and we are seeking additional funding to work with other communities in inland Australia”.
Media Note: Dr Julaine Allan’s project is supported by Cabonne Shire Council. She is seeking participants for her focus groups in Molong in March, and in Canowindra in April. Dr Allan is available for interviews. Contact CSU Media. Print this story Questions about how we learn and teach
27 Feb 2007
Ideas commonly held by education providers and other stakeholders are open to challenge by the findings of contemporary research into learning, knowledge, quantum theory and brain science, according to Mr Patrick Bradbery. Manager of the Professional Development Unit in the Faculty of Business on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bathurst Campus, Mr Bradbery will discuss these issues and the implications for the design and delivery of learning interventions at a presentation titled ”What the bleep do we know about learning?” at the University between 12.30pm and 2pm on Wednesday 28 February. “This presentation questions whether we have lost sight of the purpose and function of tertiary education, and whether it has become purely vocational in its focus,” Mr Bradbery said. His presentation will contextualise the finding from brain research that the ions which carry messages throughout the brain travel along pathways that are only just a little larger than the ions, thus creating a “quantum environment”.
Media Note: A light lunch will be served in the Human Resources Training Room, CSU Bathurst Campus from 12.30pm. Contact CSU Media to arrange an interview with Mr Patrick Bradbery. Print this story Advertising ethics? Not an oxymoron according to new CSU academic
27 Feb 2007
Advertising ethics might strike many as an oxymoron but not Dr John Hadley, a new appointment to Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication on the Bathurst Campus. Dr Hadley is teaching Media Ethics and Public Policy to third year journalism and public relations students, as well as advertising ethics to advertising students. “The course deals with the ethical dilemmas that communication professionals face in their jobs,” he said. Dr Hadley completed his PhD Animal Property: Reconciling Environmentalism and Animal Rights in March 2006 at the University of Sydney where he taught last year. He is an associate of CSU’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics and his main interest is the practical application of ethics in people’s working lives. This is Dr Hadley’s first taste of Bathurst country life, after a background in inner-city Sydney. As a keen cyclist he is already revelling in “the fresh air and no cars”.
Media Note: Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Dr Hadley Print this story |
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