Students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have raised almost $7 000 for charity during Orientation 2008. Students, representing CSU’s student body, recently presented a cheque for over $6 800 to NRMA CareFlight, a rapid response critical care service. CareFlight duty doctor, Dr Andrew Dubky, received the cheque on behalf of the organisation. “Last year students across five CSU campuses raised more than $1 200 for the Salvation Army Drought Appeal," CSU Student Services representative, Ms Jean Ryan said. "Raising such a large sum of money this year was a testament to how hard our continuing students worked during Orientation 2008 while making the first year students feel welcome.”

 

Funds were raised during Orientation 2008 through the sales of CSU merchandise such as wrist bands and drink holders. Local businesses donated goods for raffles and donation tins were placed in local retail outlets and hotels. Orientation 2008 coordinators are available for interview. Contact CSU Media.  

The popular Connemara pony will take centre stage at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Equine Centre in Wagga Wagga this weekend when the Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society of Australia holds its general meeting on Saturday 5 April from 10am to 4pm. The Connemara ponies, which are well regarded for their compact size, good temperament and marketability, will be on show during a display in the Equine Centre’s covered arena from 11am. Attending the day’s events will be the Society’s president and former federal Treasurer, Mr John Dawkins, and the Director of Veterinary Science at CSU, Professor Kym Abbott, who will officially welcome the pony breeders to the University from 10am. The Connemara Breeder’s Society of Australia last year donated the Connemara pony, Siobhan, to CSU and agreed to establish a fund to support research and education through the Charles Sturt Foundation to aid in education of their members and to support equine student scholarships.

Media can view the Connemara stallions and mares from 11am, Saturday 5 April at the Equine Centre, Agriculture Avenue, CSU Wagga Wagga Campus.  For further information, contact Mrs Zita Denholm, from the Connemara Breeders’ Society on 02 6925 2251 or mobile 0408 552 152.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor David Kemp has taken another step to ensure agriculturalists and the Orange community are better informed about coping with climate change, especially climate variability and its effects on food security, in a public seminar to be held in Orange on Monday 31 March. “The consequences of variable and changing climates are rising energy and food costs, so much so that in the last nine months another 800 million people couldn’t afford the food they need,” said Professor Kemp. “The recent drought also highlighted the social problems of dealing with variable climates – what are the effects and what needs to be done to better help people?” CSU’s Professor Margaret Alston will be one speaker at the public seminar, entitled ‘Managing Beyond the Panic of Climate Change’. The seminar aims to discuss these interrelated trends – to inform people about likely regional, Australian and international trends, what can be done to adjust to these major trends and what people in central NSW can do to ensure their livelihoods under these changing circumstances. The seminar will be held from 10am on 31 March at the Orange Ex-Services Club, Anson Street, Orange.

The seminar is supported by the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science & Technology and the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, a CSU and NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) research alliance.  Speakers will include rural affairs commentator, Mr Julian Cribb, the Head of the Climate Change group with the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, Dr Don Gunasekera, the Head of Climate Change in the NSW Bureau of Meteorology, Dr Perry Wile, the Manager of Climate Change, NSW DPI, Mr Gary Allan, CSU sociologist, Professor Margaret Alston and Spring Ridge farmer, Mr Cam Mackellar.

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.

Staff and students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have braved the barber’s clippers and are now sporting sleek new hairstyles in support of leukaemia research. Five volunteers from the CSU Division of Marketing, along with several students, took part in the head-shave fundraising event at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus on Friday 7 March. The Division of Marketing manager, Ms Glenda Pym, who lost her brother to leukaemia two years ago, , shed  her locks along with Ms Cheryl Wilson, Mr Celso de Souza and Mr Cade Whitbourn and raised over $2 000 for the Leukaemia Foundation. “Shaving my head pales into insignificance in the bravery stakes however it enabled me to do something very positive and in some small way contribute to getting closer to a cure,” said Ms Pym.

For interviews with Glenda Pym from the CSU Division of Marketing, contact CSU Media.

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.

For interviews with Richard Lawson, contact CSU Media. NSW Wine Week runs from Sunday 9 to Saturday 15 March.

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.