Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is one of the most significant advancements in our understanding of the natural world, according to the Dean of the Faculty of Science at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Nick Klomp. “This breakthrough in scientific understanding still affects many facets of modern life, despite first being published 150 years ago.” CSU will lead the regional scientific communities in celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday during the week commencing Monday 9 February. Events will include presentations to visiting high school classes on Tuesday 10 February in Albury and Wagga Wagga and celebrations by scientific communities around the two regional centres on Thursday 12 February, complete with birthday cakes. More public events celebrating the life of Darwin and the theory of evolution will be held later in 2009, including discussion of his seminal work, On the Origins of Species, published in 1859.

The planned State visit to Australia and to Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Saturday 14 February by His Excellency the President of Timor-Leste, Dr José Ramos-Horta, has been postponed due to the ongoing natural disasters in Australia, including the devastating bushfires in Victoria. The Acting Vice-Chancellor of CSU, Professor Lyn Gorman, said that the University has been advised by representatives of the President that, after consultation with the Office of the Governor-General of Australia, the visit will be postponed to a mutually convenient time later this year. Professor Gorman said, “We fully understand the position of the President and thank him for his wishes for the victims of the Victorian bushfires. We thank the President for his commitment to reschedule his visit later in the year and look forward to welcoming him at that time. Given that this visit was to be the inaugural event of CSU’s 20th anniversary year, the celebrations will now begin with the Official Opening Ceremony at CSU at Wagga Wagga on Thursday 12 March.”

The opportunities in Australia for growing perennial wheat are being investigated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD student Ms Nicole Hyde. As part of a Cooperative Research Centre for Future Farm Industries project, Ms Hyde late last year began to investigate several key questions: Can perennial wheat regrow in following seasons? Can perennial wheat survive our hot, dry summers? How does perennial wheat survive and regrow? “Perennial wheat is being developed in the USA, Russia, China, Argentina and now Australia, by crossing annual bread wheat with various perennial grasses,” said Ms Hyde. “The result should be a perennial grain crop that has the potential to offer significant benefits in Australian farming systems, including improved soil structure, reduced dry land salinity problems, and the provision of feed for grazing during the critical break-of-season period. However perennial wheat has never before been grown in Australia, so we do not yet know if these benefits will actually be delivered.” Ms Hyde hopes to complete her PhD by late 2011.

A leading Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic will lead a team of researchers contributing to the recently announced five-year, $30 million Australian Centre for Groundwater Research and Training. Professor Allan Curtis, a social researcher with the CSU Institute for Land, Water and Society is well known for his work in natural resource management and rural communities in South Eastern Australia. Professor Curtis says the project aims to improve Australia’s capacity to better manage ground water resources which are threatened by over-extraction and pollution. “While the Centre will examine issues around the sustainable harvesting of groundwater resources, including the interactions between surface and groundwater, there is an important contribution for social research in terms of engaging groundwater users in developing practices that make more effective use of groundwater; and developing innovative arrangements that lead to more sustainable use of groundwater,” he said. The new centre is a partnership of 20 organisations including the Australian Research Council and the National Water Commission, CSIRO and 12 universities. Professor Curtis, along with other CSU researchers including Dr Digby Race and Dr Maureen Rogers, will work to identify projects to be funded over the next six months.

Changing the start of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) nursing course in Albury-Wodonga from July to February has resulted in a major increase in enrolments, says nursing lecturer, Mr Paul Warner. “We have 46 new students starting this week, including a big increase in students straight from school. This is a wonderful vote of confidence in the quality of the CSU nursing course,” Mr Warner said. Teaching facilities for the nursing course will move during 2009 from the University’s Albury City site to Thurgoona. The nursing students will be among 1 800 on campus students who started the new academic year with CSU at Albury-Wodonga on 23 February.

Are your feet, legs or lower back sore? Do you live in Albury-Wodonga or surrounding areas? From Wednesday 25 February, podiatry and physiotherapy students from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Community Health will assess and treat clients for a broad range of problems in the lower body, supervised by experienced clinical educators and professionals. Problems could include lower back pain, joint pain, soft tissue injury and sporting injury, as well as developmental problems or lower limb pain in children. “The clinic provides a vital health service for the local community while also helping provide CSU health students with invaluable supervised experience that prepares them for their professional lives,” said clinic coordinator, Ms Kristy Robson. The clinic will run each Wednesday from March to June. Contact the CSU Allied Health Clinic, Olive St, Albury on (02) 6051 6922 for an appointment, which will cost $30 per session.

For the first time, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Regional Bonus Point (RBP) scheme is available to school leavers in regional areas across Australia. “The scheme has been open to school leavers who studied their tertiary entry exam in regional or remote schools in NSW, Queensland and Victoria,” said CSU Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Ian Goulter. “Now school leavers from other states and territories will automatically receive the Regional Bonus Points.” The RBP program is an equity program targeting regional youth. The program offers an additional five points to the university admission score. “CSU recognises that higher education participation rates are quite often lower in regional, non-metropolitan areas so the RBP program gives regional students easier access to courses at any of our campuses.” More information on the RBP scheme is available here.

Landholders in the Greater Hume Shire of southern NSW can state the land management incentives that they prefer - such as fixed grants, rate relief, stewardship payments for existing practices or tenders - in a study being conducted by Charles Sturt University (CSU). Social researcher with CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society, Mr Jonathon Howard, said the study was the first attempt in Australia to map landholder preferences for different types of land management incentives across the landscape. “Government agencies are looking for more effective ways to achieve environmental outcomes,” Mr Howard said. “Catchment management authorities usually provide incentives through fixed grants or tenders but rarely ask people on the land what they actually need. This survey allows landholders to have their say on what sorts of programs should be available to them.” The study will help catchment authorities select the best incentive programs to address particular environmental issues. Landholders in the Greater Hume Shire are encouraged to complete a survey they will receive in the post during December. The study is in association with the Murray Catchment Management Authority, CSIRO and the Council.

The annual conference held by final-year speech pathology students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be a celebration and a farewell. The School of Community Health is celebrating the speech pathology course’s tenth anniversary while also saying farewell to Associate Professor Lindy Mcallister, its founding academic. Professor Mcallister joined CSU in 1997 to set up the speech pathology course, which has educated professionals particularly for practice in inland Australia. Professor Mcallister is taking up the position of deputy dean of medicine and health sciences at the University of Queensland. Guest speakers at the conference include Professor David Battersby, who was Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Health Studies and Head of the University’s Albury-Wodonga and Dubbo Campuses before becoming Vice-Chancellor of University of Ballarat, and Ms Claire Salter, a practicing speech pathologist from Katherine in the Northern Territory. This year’s conference, to run from Wednesday 22 to Friday 24 October, will address speech and language problems in older and younger people.