A veterinary science student at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is driving the renewal of environmental activism within the student body at CSU at Wagga Wagga. While a first year student in 2008, Ms Gemma Hawkins from Wagga Wagga established the Eco Active Club with 10 inaugural student members. Support has risen to 50 members in 2009. The group is involved with environmental advocacy in areas such as recycling, promoting transport such as bus and cycling and annual events like Clean Up Australia Day, Earth Hour and World Environment Day. The club also organises student outdoor activities such as rock climbing. With the support of the CSU Division of Facilities Management, Ms Hawkins pushed ahead with a student vegetable garden on campus with the first planting taking place in early June. “I’m hoping the concept of the garden will eventually expand to a common art space for students and the wider community,” said Ms Hawkins. “I feel there is a culture of change sweeping through the University and the student body is embracing action and more practical outcomes for the environment.”

CSU student Ms Gemma Hawkins will attend the inaugural national youth climate summit, PowerShift Youth Conference  in Sydney from Saturday 11 July to Monday 13 July. She will be accompanied by eight students and staff from CSU at Wagga Wagga. A further 10 students from CSU at Albury-Wodonga will also attend the PowerShift Youth Conference including members of the group, Green Adventure People (GAP). CSU student and GAP president Ms Erin Raggatt is available for interview.

Researchers from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute of Land, Water and Society (ILWS)  will meet at Wagga Wagga for two days this week to focus on setting a research agenda to tackle the big issues facing the Murray Darling Basin. Institute Director Professor Max Finlayson said, “the inaugural forum is aimed at addressing the issues which are really challenging Australians in this region, such as learning to live with climate change and ensuring we maintain healthy people, communities and landscapes.” Around 70 CSU researchers based across the University will attend the forum and talk about environmental issues including restoring and sustaining our wetlands and valuing ecosystem services. Social researchers will focus on areas such as the future for regional natural resource management, human wellbeing and healthy communities, and developing regional business enterprise.  “It is important to get our researchers into one room to sit together and focus on the big issues at hand. We are all doing individual research projects but the old adage that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ rings true,” Professor Finlayson said.

The ILWS Research Forum will be held on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 June at the Wine and Food Industry Training Centre, building 412 near car park 11, McKeown Drive at CSU at Wagga Wagga. Professor Max Finlayson is available for interview on Wednesday 17 June from 10.40am. Contact CSU Media.

An innovative Charles Sturt University (CSU) program is giving students from 10 Riverina high schools the chance to sample work in the information technology (IT) industry. The School of Computing and Mathematics at CSU at Wagga Wagga and the Division of Information Technology will host IT Work Experience for about 80 students throughout the year. The high school students will assist in a range of tasks including networking a small office, taking and attending to technical support calls as well as gaining an appreciation for the host of IT-related jobs and tasks at CSU. The Head of the School of Computing and Mathematics, Associate Professor Irfan Altas said, “being a regional city, there’s not many opportunities for school students who are interested in IT to get exposure to the industry, so we came up with the idea to offer them real life, hands-on experience.” One of the features of the work experience is a ‘spend a minute with an IT professional session’, where the students meet one of CSU’s IT managers to discuss their work and role. The students will also participate in mock job interviews.

The School of Computing and Mathematics at CSU at Wagga Wagga and Division of Information Technology are hosting work experience placements for Years 10, 11 and 12 students in Wagga Wagga from Tuesday 16 to Thursday 18 June. Work placements will also be held from Tuesday 11 to Thursday 13 August and Tuesday 24 to Thursday 26 November. Contact CSU Media to arrange an interview with IT Work Experience coordinator and lecturer in Information Systems, Mr Anthony Chan.

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.

A confronting portrayal of daily life for women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be brought home during a public lecture in Albury on Wednesday 17 June by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dr Elaine Dietsch. For the past five years, Dr Dietsch, a senior lecturer in CSU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, has worked with traditional midwives and women in the DRC. Her public lecture, Hell, Horror and Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo, relates to her last visit to the country in May and June 2008. Despite the official end of civil war in the equatorial African country, women and girls in the country's south-east continue to experience sexual assault and torture. The address, part of the CSU 2009 Public Lecture series, will be held in Nowik Auditorium, CSU Albury City site, Guinea St, Albury.

Dr Elaine Dietsch is a senior lecturer with the School of Nursing and Midwifery at CSU at Wagga Wagga. Read more about Dr Dietsch’s work in the DRC here. Photos of Dr Dietsch are available from CSU Media.

A comparison of Mary Shelley’s horror novel Frankenstein with the futuristic film Bladerunner and finding connections and contrasts between female writers Jane Austen and Fay Weldon are all on the agenda at Charles Sturt University (CSU) this week. The annual HSC English Study Day will be held at CSU at Wagga Wagga on Friday 19 June. Staff from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences have joined forces with the Wagga Wagga branch of the English Teachers Association to organise lectures and workshops for up to 1 000 students from regional high schools as well as TAFE NSW Riverina Institute. The wide range of HSC English texts, including novels, plays and poetry, will be analysed and debated throughout the day. “We are looking forward to robust and insightful discussions about the many texts available in the HSC English syllabus in 2009,” said Mr David Gilbey, Senior Lecturer in English at the School of Humanities at Social Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga. Presentations will be given by CSU academics, high school teachers as well as CSU students training to be English teachers. “The rich mix of English texts up for consideration will hopefully benefit and delight HSC students as well as their teachers and CSU students about to embark on their careers as teachers.”

The HSC English Study Day will be held from 9.30am to 3pm Friday 19 June in the Swan Theatre (building 12), as well as the Wal Fife lecture block (building 14) and lecture rooms in  building 11, near car park 4, Tooma Way, CSU, Wagga Wagga. HSC students studying Standard English will break for lunch from 11.30am to12.30pm and Advanced English students will have lunch from 12.30pm until 1pm. CSU lecturer Mr David Gilbey is available for interview. A program is also available. Contact CSU Media.

Igniting an interest in all areas of science is the goal behind expos being hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga and Wagga Wagga in June. Local high and primary school students will attend the Science in the Bush Expos at Wagga Wagga on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 June and in Albury on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June. The days will include exhibitions, interactive talks, shows and workshops about all things science. Topics to be presented by a range of science organisations including CSU, The University of Sydney, the Powerhouse Museum and Australian Museum include Fibre Optics; Hot Rocks; Electric Soils; Forensics; and A Look Inside the Cranium. Science in the Bush is hosted by CSU as a part of the Science in the City project run by the Australian Museum and Executive Partner the University of Sydney. A comprehensive program of activities can be found here.

Science in the Bush is supported by the Australian Government through the Science Connections Programme of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. The activities start at 10am at various sites at CSU at Wagga Wagga from 10am on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 June and from 9.30am at the University’s Thurgoona site on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June. Read more here.

Three expos to be held in northeast Victoria next week over three days will showcase Australian tertiary institutions and courses on offer in 2010. Over 40 institutions including Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be represented at the information days to be held in Shepparton on Monday 22 June, Wangaratta on Tuesday 23 June and Albury-Wodonga on Wednesday 24 June. Representatives from local and interstate universities, institutes of NSW TAFE and private providers will be available to discuss career options with Years 11 and 12 students from Victoria and NSW over the three days. “The days present a great opportunity to find out about the courses students are interested in one place at one time,” said CSU Prospective Student Adviser, Ms Rebecca Gale Collins.

For interviews at the tertiary studies advisory events, contact CSU Prospective Student Adviser, Ms Rebecca Gale Collins on mobile 0409 975 085. The events will be held at:

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.