The Head of the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Associate Professor John Kent has been named as one of the founding board members of the Primary Industries Education Foundation. The focus of the new Foundation will be on school children and encouraging them to learn more about primary industries. It will deliver educational services to schools such as a web portal of educational resources on primary industries, advice on professional development for teachers and information on career paths in primary industries. The principal of NSW Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) Tocal College, Mr Cameron Archer is the inaugural chairman. Associate Professor Kent is a member of the interim board as a representative of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture. He has over 30 years experience in agricultural education both in Australia and overseas and is a member of the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, a collaborative alliance between CSU and DPI.

People with communication problems resulting from neurological impairment who have been employed to tutor small groups of speech pathology students will be thanked at a ceremony at Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Wednesday 10 June. Employed by the University’s speech pathology program to tutor the third year students for 18 hours over six weeks, the client-tutor program helps the students catch a glimpse of their clients’ worlds. The tutors teach the CSU students about what it is like to live each day with communication problems resulting from such conditions as stroke or traumatic brain injury. The tutors also discussed the experiences of their family members; their experiences of therapy and of the health service in general; and their experiences of community attitudes towards their disability. The ceremony will include short presentations by the five student groups about their experiences with their tutors. This event will be held at 3pm on 10 June, in the Sloshed Cod, CSU Albury City site, off Olive St, Albury.

 

For interviews with client-tutors and students in the speech pathology program, contact CSU Media. The students are studying a Bachelor of Health Science (Speech Pathology) through the School of Community Health at CSU at Albury-Wodonga.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will celebrate the award of six green stars and ‘world leader’ status for environmentally sustainable features to a new building on its Thurgoona site. The Academic Accommodation Stage 3 (AA3) office building has received “a six star Green Star ‘World Leader’ certified rating under Office Design v2” from the national Green Building Council of Australia. Staff from the AA3 building, which is home to the academic staff and students of CSU’s School of Business and Information Technology, will be on hand celebrate the award at a morning tea at 10am on Monday 15 June. “The principles used in buildings at Thurgoona demonstrate a comprehensive, environmentally sensitive process that spans from site planning to selection of materials,” said Executive Director of the University’s Division of Facilities Management, Mr Stephen Butt. Innovative aspects of the building that receive special mention include reduced carbon dioxide production and energy consumption by 65 per cent, and the world’s first use of phase-changing materials in the concrete floor to reduce heating and cooling used in the building.

Before sunrise, a dedicated group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are focussed on evaluating the quality of meat carcasses. The students enrolled in animal, equine, agricultural and veterinary sciences arrive at companies like Cargill Beef Australia and Knights Meats in Wagga Wagga and the Junee Abattoir as early as six o’clock in the morning to learn about carcass evaluation and meat quality.  The student group is led by CSU’s carcass evaluation expert and fifth year Veterinary Science student Mr Richard Sanders.  “The importance of maintaining the flow of trained young experts in the speciality field of Meat Science to service the needs of the beef, sheep and pork industries is not lost on these companies,” said CSU Professor of Animal Production Peter Wynn. “The companies willingly make their facilities available each year for the education of our students.” The students will attend a carcass evaluation workshop sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia in Armidale in early July.  They will then have a chance to participate in an elite national training workshop and selection in an Australian team to compete in international carcass evaluation competitions.  “None of these opportunities would be possible without the support of the management of these companies,” said Professor Wynn.

 

Television production students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga have broken new ground in their on-going development of links with industry. The Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has agreed to the establishment of a CSU student chapter of the Society. The Society's Board of Governors approved the move during a meeting in Atlanta in the United States on Thursday 4 June. The move is the inaugural student chapter in Australia. Formed in 1916, the SMPTE is regarded as the leading technical society for the motion imaging industry. "This new relationship will give CSU students access to conferences, papers, scholarships, guest lectures and of course international industry contacts," said television production course co-ordinator Mr Patrick Sproule. "I believe the approval to form the CSU student chapter shows an enormous respect for the course at Charles Sturt University as well as the Society's recognition of the importance of investment in education in the TV and film industries. A special thanks to past chairman of SMPTE Australian Section, Mr John Maizels, for recommending the formation of the student chapter and shepherding us through due process." Meanwhile, the SMPTE Australian Section has donated $6 000 so 85 Bachelor of Arts (Television Production) students at CSU at Wagga Wagga can attend the SMPTE09 conference in Sydney in July.

The SMPTE provides its members in the motion imaging field with the latest technology information and education on a rapidly changing industry. The biennial SMPTE09 conference and exhibition will be held at Darling Harbour, Sydney from Tuesday 21 July to Saturday 25 July. CSU lecturer Mr Patrick Sproule from the School of Visual and Performing Arts at CSU at Wagga Wagga is available for interview from Wednesday 10 June.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) student Mr Daniel Flavel has returned to his studies after receiving a prestigious Rural Pharmacy Student Award and attending the National Rural Health Alliance Conference in Cairns in May. The second year pharmacy student was nominated for the award by his lecturers at CSU for dedication to his studies. “Daniel is a country boy who, after graduating, is intending to work as a pharmacist in rural Australia,” said lecturer with the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU at Orange, Dr Heather Robinson. “We believed he would benefit greatly by attending the conference.” The Rural Pharmacy Student Award is an initiative of the Rural Pharmacy Workforce Program (RPWP), established in recognition of the key role pharmacists play in maintaining the health of all Australians, particularly in rural and remote Australia.

Commissioner of the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) in NSW, Mr John Pritchard and former Senator and Australian Democrats leader, Ms Lyn Allison will headline a national conference focusing on ethics in the community next week. The 16th annual Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics (AAPAE) Conference will be hosted by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Policing Studies in Goulburn, NSW from Tuesday 9 June to Thursday 11 June. Conference convenor and CSU lecturer in Policing Studies Dr Anna Corbo Crehan says around 50 delegates from universities and the professions are expected to attend to participate in discussion of issues in applied and professional ethics. Dr Corbo Crehan will present a paper entitled ’Appropriate police discretion and Indigenous over-representation in the Criminal Justice System’. Other presentations will focus on ethics in policing; the socio-legal ethics of vulnerable people; and ethics and money in sport.

The Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics Conference will run from Tuesday 9 June from 10am to 2pm on Thursday 11 June. Read the conference program here. Day registrations are available and people should arrive at the venue, the Best Western Centretown, Lagoon Street, Goulburn between 8am and 9 am on the Wednesday or Thursday. The after-dinner speaker on Wednesday 10 June is barrister Mr Stephen Keim, SC who acted for Dr Mohamed Haneef in 2007. The AAPAE formed in 1993 and is a non-partisan, non-profit national umbrella organisation formed to encourage awareness of, and foster discussion of issues in, applied and professional ethics. Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews.

Water scarcity, climate change and population growth are just some of the complex factors combining to pose a threat to food security in developing countries such as Pakistan. Professor Iqrar A. Khan, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad, Pakistan will speak at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga on Friday, 5 June about precision agriculture, a way of preserving land and conserving water while enhancing food security. “Poverty and malnutrition are on the rise in water scarce areas,” Professor Khan said. “High dependence on agriculture and extremely low production forces smallholders to overuse limited land and water resources, causing degradation of these assets.” He says precision agriculture will require investment in new technology, capacity building and knowledge sharing. The International Centre of Water for Food Security at CSU holds monthly seminars with national and international water experts invited to discuss the emerging issues and policies dealing with sustainable management of water resources for food security.

 

Professor Iqrar A. Khan from the University of Agriculture in Pakistan will speak at 10am on Friday 5 June at David Asimus Court, Valder Way at CSU at Wagga Wagga. To attend, call Ms Tracey Wilson at IC WATER on 02 4296 5393 or send an email.

Two new wines will be released this week to add to the multi-award winning range of premium sparkling, table and fortified wines produced at the commercially run Charles Sturt University (CSU) Winery. A 2009 Cellar Reserve Pinot Noir Rosé made from premium pinot noir grapes from the cool-climate Tumbarumba region is the first Rosé made at the winery in 10 years. Mr Richard Lawson from CSU Winery described the wine as an elegant rosé with a beautiful rose petal colour with classic cherry and forest berry characters on the nose and a clean dry finish. “The second release is the 2009 Alfresco Bianco following in the footsteps of last year’s popular vintage, but the alcohol content has been dropped to six per cent which is similar to the many moscato-style wines from Italy,” he said. CSU’s Winery at Wagga Wagga is an integral part of the School of Agriculture and Wine Sciences and at the forefront of viticultural practices and winemaking techniques in Australia.

CSU wines are available for tasting and purchase at the CSU Cellar Door located at McKeown Drive (off the Coolamon Road) in Wagga Wagga. Opening hours are 11am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 11am to 4pm Saturday, Sunday and most public holidays. To arrange interviews contact Mr Richard Lawson from the CSU Winery on 02 6933 2435 or send an email. Only 200 dozen of the 2009 Cellar Reserve Pinot Noir Rosé were produced, and it is available only at the Cellar Door along with the 2009 Alfresco Bianco.