An information session will be held in Griffith on Thursday 20 November by TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Griffith City Council for those interested in studying the integrated Diploma to Degree program. The three year program is currently offered through Riverina Institute’s Griffith Campus. Combining university and TAFE studies, the program enables students to gain a Bachelor of Business Studies through CSU as well as three further nationally recognised qualifications including a Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Management and a Certificate IV in Frontline Management through Riverina Institute. “Students benefit from expert tuition from both TAFE and university lecturers and have access to the resources and facilities of both institutions,” explained Riverina Institute’s Head of Griffith Campus, Mr Tony McBride. “The integrated program is proving an excellent model for delivering high quality education and student support,” said CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Goulburn has taken a huge stride in developing its infrastructure at the NSW Police Academy by laying five kilometres of fibre optic cable to connect the campus to the main Sydney-Melbourne fibre optic trunk. The cable, which cost $600 000 to install, now provides a network connection of one Gigabyte per second, which is more than 100 times greater capacity than the technology it replaced. As CSU owns the cable, it will be able to increase the capacity in the future at a reasonable cost.

A national award promoting religious harmony and acceptance within Australian society has been bestowed on Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in theology, Associate Professor Clive Pearson. The principal of the United Theological College (UTC) in Sydney, within the CSU School of Theology, received an Australian Affinity Award in September. The award recognised Professor Pearson’s significant contributions in the study of religion, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and the ‘facilitating' by CSU in this dialogue. Associate Professor Pearson was particularly recognised for his work on the public theology of issues of diversity in Sydney, including analysis of the riots in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla in December 2005. “The United Theological College has been working with Affinity and Sydney’s Islamic community firstly out of concern for the neighbour, for the stranger in our midst and a concern for social cohesion,” said Associate Professor Pearson. “We have attended and presented at each other's conferences because we believe that it is important for a Christian theology to be done these days in the presence of the religious other as well as the secular.”

How children are affected by an individual’s mental illness, a topic rarely considered in the treatment of mental illness, will be discussed at a public lecture to be given by Dr Darryl Maybery from Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Wednesday 5 November in Albury. Titled Parental Mental Illness – Where Are the Children?, the presentation will outline the prevalence and level of risk for children as well as the key points of intervention for children, parents, the family, workers and society for families facing mental illness and some approaches for assisting these children and families. “The ultimate aim of our research at CSU is early intervention and prevention of mental illness in families so that this impact is minimised,” said Dr Maybery, who is Associate Director for the CSU Centre for Inland Health and a senior lecturer with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, based in Wagga Wagga. The lecture will commence at 6pm in the Nowik Lecture Theatre, Guinea St, Albury.

Cultural awareness in the classroom, and the importance of incorporating cultural awareness and understanding at an early age, is among topics to be presented at a conference today, Wednesday 5 November, by trainee teachers finishing their final year in education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga. Teachers and members of the public have been invited to attend the ‘ECON 2008: Teachers of the Future’ conference to learn about the students’ work and learning over the past four years. The conference includes guest speakers Professor Jennifer Sumsion, Sub Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, and Assistant Principal at Melrose Primary School in Wodonga, Ms Maree Geoghegan. ECON 2008 will runs from 4 to 8.30pm in the CSU Cliff Blake Lecture Theatre complex, off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona.

As part of its mission to develop productive and efficient agricultural systems, the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation,  an alliance between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Department of Primary Industries, is holding a working breakfast about genetically modified (GM) crops and their projected impact. Organiser and CSU post-doctoral fellow, Dr Rex Stanton, says the event is targeted at farmers, advisors and consultants and will feature two speakers who will share their international knowledge of GM crops. “Suzanne Warwick is a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, who researches weed and crop evolution and is studying the environmental impact of commercially released GM modified canola crops,” he said. “Culcairn farmer and 2007 Nuffield Scholar, Mr Murray Scholz, will explain his recent study of the implications of herbicide tolerant GM crops on weed management in North America, Europe and South America.”  

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Murray School of Education will celebrate ten years of providing Indigenous educational experiences for its early childhood education students in Lavington on Wednesday 12 November. The CSU students will provide 400 primary school students from Albury and Wodonga with a bush-tucker barbeque, face painting, boomerang making, clap-stick and bandana painting, cave construction, dance, music and storytelling, all based on Indigenous cultures. Wiradjuri spokesperson and CSU education lecturer, Yalmambirra, said the subject gave many students their first hands-on experiences of Indigenous cultures and that these were important for educating future teachers. The Indigenous cultural education day will be held between 9am and 2.30pm at Mirrambeena Community Centre, Martha Mews, Lavington (opposite the North Albury swimming pool).

The tapping sound of typing is replacing the rustle of paper and scratching of pens across lecture theatres in regional Australia as students purchase laptop computers though Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) rebate scheme. CSU is offering a $300 rebate to on campus undergraduate students who purchase a laptop for their studies. Lecturers welcome the rebate scheme. Head of CSU at Dubbo, Mr Gary Shipp, said “The scheme is designed to encourage and assist students make the most of accessing university online systems when visiting and studying on campus. Distance students can take advantage of the scheme when required to attend compulsory residential schools on campus. I hope it will make note taking and assessment writing easier for our students."

An initial survey of NSW households by a Charles Sturt University researcher has found most householders are looking at ways to become more energy efficient by using less electricity. However, while environmental concern is one reason people aim to reduce their usage, according to CSU postgraduate student Ms Jodie Kleinschafer it is the “larger than expected electricity bill” that is the more immediate motivator. “When ‘average’ householders get larger than expected electricity bills, they start to look for ways to reduce the electricity they use,” said Mrs Kleinschafer, who is undertaking a three year, $100 000 research project funded by Country Energy. So far, Mrs Kleinschafer has surveyed 80 households, and in conjunction with Country Energy will survey a further 4 000 regional NSW households in the next two months. She said the findings of her research would enable electricity retailers to manage increasing electricity demand in a way that still satisfies the needs of residential electricity consumers.