 |
 |
|
WAGGA WAGGA
Home > Regional News > Wagga Wagga
Cec Grant celebrated
24 Mar 2009
 Members of the Wiradjuri and wider Border community can share their memories of the late Wiradjuri elder, Pastor Cec Grant, at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga on Friday 1 May. The life and work of Pastor Grant, or Wongamar, will be celebrated at the Annual Pastor Cec Grant Lecture, which will be presented by local CSU academic and Wiradjuri elder Yalmambirra. CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, said Pastor Grant made important contributions to Indigenous education at CSU. “The lecture will touch on Christianity and Indigenous culture and spirituality as a tribute to Pastor Grant and his vision,” Professor Chambers said. The evening event will commence with a barbeque at 5pm in front of the Nowik Lecture Theatres, then move into the main theatre for the lecture at 7pm.
Media Note: For interviews with CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, contact CSU Media. Print this story Native plants may help fight cancer
17 Mar 2009
 The search for treatments to beat such modern day diseases as cancer and diabetes is prompting scientists to examine traditional medicines used by Indigenous Australians. Native plants including Prickly Fanflower were used by Indigenous Australians and Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher Dr Philip Kerr is investigating their potential as anti-cancer and anti-diabetic medicine. “Australian and other naturalised flora represent a vast, untapped reserve of potential eco-friendly medicinal agents,” he said. Other plants under investigation include Desert Poplar, Sticky Goodenia, Stiff-leaved Bottlebrush and the well known weed Bathurst Burr which may have the potential to combat cancer. Dr Kerr says his interest was triggered while studying in Western Australia where a controversial ‘cancer treatment’ derived from an Australian native plant was being dispensed to terminal cancer patients. "For many years, natural products from Australian flora had been studied but with no apparent connection to their medicinal potential, but with the renewed interest in medicinal plants worldwide, that interest has burgeoned," he said.
Media Note: CSU researcher Dr Philip Kerr will deliver a seminar, ‘Native Plants, Natural Products, Neoplasia … and Diabetes too!’, from 3pm on Thursday 19 March in the conference room, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Pugsley Place off Pine Gully Road. Dr Kerr is a member of the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, an initiative of CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Dr Kerr will work with the Phytomedicine Programme at the University of Pretoria in South Africa later this year. Print this story Western Research Institute turns 10
17 Mar 2009
 The Western Research Institute (WRI) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst is celebrating 10 years of research that has charted and informed developments in rural and regional Australia. CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, complimented the organisation on this milestone, saying “WRI is celebrating its 10th birthday in the same year that Charles Sturt University is celebrating its 20th. WRI and CSU have worked together on many projects that have helped shape and paint a picture of inland Australia. On behalf of CSU, I congratulate WRI on this significant achievement and look forward to working with the organisation over the next 10 years.” WRI Director, Mr Tom Murphy, said that when the WRI was established in 1999 the aim was to provide timely and factual data about trends and developments in regional Australia and the organisation has exceeded that aim. See more CSU 20th anniversary events here.
Media Note: Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with Western Research Institute's Mr Tom Murphy. Staff and supporters of the WRI will toast its anniversary and success at a function at the Rafters Bar,CSU at Bathurst from 5 to 6.30pm on Wednesday 18 March. Print this story Hair loss for a good cause
17 Mar 2009
 Almost $1 500 has been raised for the Leukaemia Foundation World’s Greatest Shave by a staff member at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga. Multimedia Officer Mr Ian Hamilton, from the CSU Division of Learning and Teaching Services, said farewell to his locks and his beard on Friday 12 March. Ably supported by his CSU workmates and with sponsorship from local businesses, Mr Hamilton declared his hair loss a resounding success. Local hairdresser, Ms Bree Harrison from Mayhem Hair, gave her skills to the fundraiser free of charge. In thanking everyone for their support Ian said, “I have known people who have battled leukaemia so any money I could raise goes to a great cause”. The World’s Greatest Shave ran from Thursday 12 March until Saturday 14 March to support patients with blood cancers and to fund vital research.
Print this story Owning Indigenous history
13 Mar 2009
 Art works developed by Charles Sturt University (CSU) education students will be unveiled on Monday 16 March in a new exhibition aimed at highlighting progress in the teaching of Aboriginal history in the classroom. “The exhibition’s evocative images illustrate Australian history recognising colonisation and its impacts on Indigenous people as well as their responses and the great struggle for justice,” said senior education lecturer, Dr Mary O’Dowd. Describing the art as confronting and moving, Head of the School of Education at Wagga Wagga, Associate Professor Roslin Brennan-Kemmis said, “the exhibition reflects where the Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures interact and where we feel discomfort. It is not easy to face the grief of the Stolen Generations and the role of all Australians in this tragedy.” “The song and imagery in the exhibition unite the two cultures and our shared futures,” said Mr John Muk Muk Burke, a Wiradjuri man and CSU Learning Skills Adviser. During the opening, a six year old non-Indigenous girl will share her knowledge of Aboriginal culture with four Wiradjuri Elders. The Elders will also hear from the Bachelor of Education (Primary) students on what they hope to achieve in the classroom for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. During the opening of the exhibition Aboriginal History: Owning the Past, the University choir will sing Hallleluia as images of Aboriginal history are flashed onto a white wall.
Media Note: Wiradjuri Elder Mrs Isobel Reid and Head of the CSU School of Education, Associate Professor Roslin Brennan-Kemmis will open the exhibition, Aboriginal History: Owning the Past in the CSU Library at Wagga Wagga from 10am, Monday 16 March. CSU Learning Skills Adviser, Mr John Muk Muk Burke and education lecturers, Ms Cheree Dean and Dr Mary O’Dowd will be available for interview at the exhibition opening. Aboriginal History: Owning the Past will run from Monday 16 March until Friday 27 March. CSU Library is in building 13, near car park 7, Nathan Cobb Drive, CSU at Wagga Wagga. The exhibition marks the first group of education students at CSU to complete the subject, ‘Aboriginal History and Culture’.
Print this story Call to rethink investment in land conservation
10 Mar 2009
 Governments across Australia have spent billions of dollars on programs to encourage rural landholders to implement sustainable farming and biodiversity conservation practices, but has this money been well spent? Drawing on his research in south eastern Australia, Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Professor Allan Curtis will address this question when he speaks at the Fenner Conference on the Environment in Canberra on Wednesday 11 March. Professor Curtis will highlight the reality that most conservation work undertaken by private landholders is not funded by governments and that government investment in conservation programs, particularly those that invest in building and engaging human and social capital in rural communities, makes a difference. “The ‘business as usual’ approaches to engaging rural landholders are unlikely to work in the future given the remarkable change occurring as a large proportion of longer-term owners leave the land,” he said.
Media Note: For interviews contact CSU Media. Professor Allan Curtis, Professor of Integrated Environmental Management at CSU at Albury-Wodonga, will speak on Wednesday 11 March at the Fenner Conference on the Environment, Shine Dome, Gordon St, Canberra. Print this story Marking the years
10 Mar 2009
 While 2009 provides Charles Sturt University (CSU) with an opportunity to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the year is also a time to honour the 114-year tradition of excellence and innovation in teaching, learning and research. The University was established when the Charles Sturt University Act was passed by the NSW Parliament in July 1989, however the institution’s history can be traced back to the Bathurst Experimental Farm, established in 1895.The official opening ceremony for the University’s 20th anniversary will be held from 11am, Thursday 12 March, in Joyes Hall at CSU at Wagga Wagga. Read more here.
Media Note: CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Professor Lyn Gorman is available for interview about the University’s 20-th anniversary. A copy of Professor Gorman's speech to the 20th anniversary opening is available from at the end of the CSU news release here. Manager of CSU Archives Mr Wayne Doubleday is available for interview about the University's history. Photos of the official opening of the 20-th anniversary are also available. Contact CSU Media. Print this story Victory in blood donations
10 Mar 2009
 The Australian Red Cross Blood Service has named Charles Sturt University (CSU) as the winner of its Club Red Corporate Challenge in Wagga Wagga for the second successive year. The University made the highest number of blood donations of businesses in Wagga Wagga in 2008. During a visit to CSU at Wagga Wagga by the Red Cross donor mobile unit, the Club Red Corporate Challenge trophy was presented to the University, with donations by CSU staff and students totalling 233 in 2008. The University’s blood donation efforts continue in 2009 as part of CSU’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The University has issued a ‘North-South’ challenge in March where the total staff and student blood donations at CSU at Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst (North) will be tallied against donations at Wagga Wagga and Albury-Wodonga (South). Read more here.
Print this story The business of AIDS
03 Mar 2009
Many business leaders around the world are aware that they must ‘do something’ about HIV/AIDS. However, in order to take effective action, they need to understand the diverse economic, social, political and health issues relating to the epidemic. Charles Sturt University (CSU) postgraduate student Ms Saskia Faulk aims to develop a risk management tool for companies seeking to understand the extent and dynamics of HIV/AIDS so they can put into place HIV/AIDS workplace programs. Ms Faulk is completing a CSU Doctorate of Business Administration by distance education from Switzerland. Ms Faulk has also co-written a book, AIDS and Business, which presents case studies of businesses in countries including Brazil, India, Mexico, Morocco, Thailand, South Africa, and Switzerland. “The spread of HIV/AIDS affects businesses in all sectors, all industries and all countries, so companies and organisations must take action,” she said.
Media Note: For interviews with CSU postgraduate student Ms Saskia Faulk, contact CSU Media. AIDS and Business by Ms Faulk and Mr Jean-Claude Usunier is published this month by Routledge. Print this story Students forge new ground in Pakistan
03 Mar 2009
 Four Charles Sturt University (CSU) students from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences have returned with a wealth of experience after a three week visit to Pakistan where they worked with dairy farmers to improve the nutrition and health of their animals. A highlight for the CSU students Ms Amanda-Lee Charman, Mr Rhys Duncan, Ms Emma Hand and Mr Shahid Khalfan was conducting a seminar for 40 Pakistani students on topics including calf management, animal nutrition and health and fodder production. “The visit broke through new frontiers as the CSU students introduced new concepts in learning,” said CSU’s Professor Peter Wynn, who is leading an Australian project to assist Pakistani dairy farmers. “Our host, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Veterinary and Animal Science in the city of Lahore was very interested with the students’ approach to the seminars and he hoped that his University would be able to adopt similar ‘problem solving’ teaching techniques.”
Media Note: CSU is running a long term project through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) which aims to improve extension services for the 8.5 million small dairy farmers of Pakistan. The program is a part of the Australian Government’s commitment to the Pakistani Government under the Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP). CSU Professor of Animal Production Peter Wynn and the students, based in Wagga Wagga, are available for interview. Contact CSU Media.
Print this story |
|
|
|
