Dates and times:
Thursday 23 April, starting 2.30pm – School of Community Health
Friday 24 April, starting 10.30am – School of Environmental Sciences and Murray School of Education
Friday 24 April, starting 2.30pm – Schools of Business and Information Technology and Faculty of Arts

 

Venue: Albury Convention and Performing Arts Centre, Swift Street, Albury

 

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will hold three ceremonies in Albury from Thursday afternoon, 23 April, as 591 graduates receive their degrees, diplomas and certificates from CSU Chancellor Lawrie Willett, AO.

 

Thursday afternoon – Mr Gordon Gregory

Friday morning – Senator Mark Arbib

Friday afternoon – The Hon. Mr Greg Aplin, MP, Member for Albury, NSW Shadow Minister for Fair Trading.

 

Stories of interest at the ceremonies include:

 

Ms Rebecca Penglase will be presented with a University Medal, the highest honour for academic achievement at CSU, when she receives her Bachelor of Business (International Business Management) with distinction on Friday afternoon, 24 April. Having studied on exchange in Japan and now employed by Melbourne based company Accenture, Ms Penglase completed her degree with the School of Business and information Technology in Albury-Wodonga.

Kikuyu Grass is a major conservation issue on many offshore islands in NSW, as this highly invasive grass replaces native vegetation to establish a dense mat making life and breeding very difficult for nesting seabirds, including Little Penguins. Working alongside conservation professionals on Montague Island on the NSW South Coast, PhD graduate Dr Amy Harris developed techniques to effectively eradicate Kikuyu grass from islands of high conservation significance, while minimising the negative impacts on nesting seabirds, particularly Little Penguins.

 

Natalie Walker, from Howlong near Albury, knows what ‘remote Australia’ is, having studied and worked in remote areas of Australia throughout her Bachelor of Health Science (Podiatry) degree. Since completing clinical practice in such towns as Broken Hill in western NSW, Ms Walker now delivers podiatry services to rural and remote areas of far north Queensland covering thousands of square kilometres. From her base in Townsville, she travels to Charters Towers, Ayr, Bowen, Collinsville, Hughenden and Richmond for the North and West Queensland Primary Health Care Centre.

 

In the agricultural landscapes of NSW, native vegetation has been substantially modified since European settlement, primarily by clearing for cropping and grazing. PhD graduate, Dr Susan Hughes has shown that there are strong links between historic laws, land tenure types and land use policies and how they affect vegetation patterns. A greater understanding of these relationships assists in predicting the likely location of remnant vegetation that has high conservation value in agricultural landscapes.

 

Akal Dalby has taken a while to complete her occupational therapy degree, partly because she had twins early in her studies. While studying, she also reached the final auditions for the Australian television series, Pop Idol, leads Christmas carol singing in Albury and played the lead role of ‘Sandy’ in the local production of Grease last year in Albury.