Charles Sturt University (CSU) is welcoming new students for the start of the 2006 academic year. For many, it will be their first move away from home. Students from around Australia and overseas are arriving at CSU campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga in central and southern NSW. Orientation week (O Week) starts on Monday 13 or Tuesday 14 February for most of the new arrivals, and will include intensive sessions on enrolments, study skills and using the CSU Library and computer facilities, as well as getting to know the University, its people and the towns in which they will live. Click here to see O Week programs for each campus.

Health and education courses are a popular choice for commencing Charles Sturt University (CSU) students in 2006, according to the latest figures from the NSW Universities Admissions Centre.  “CSU continues to take large numbers of students into education courses. Intakes into health courses are up about a hundred up on last year – graduates in both areas provide direct benefit to rural and regional NSW and Victoria,” said Director of CSU’s Office of Planning and Audit, Col Sharp. High profile courses at Albury-Wodonga Campus in which entry was particularly competitive included physiotherapy, which also had success with early childhood and middle schooling teaching courses and occupational therapy and podiatry.

An outreach program run by Charles Sturt University (CSU) for Indigenous recruits will be proposed by NSW Police. This follows a recommendation from the NSW Ombudsman’s report into Aboriginal policing throughout rural NSW. The proposal has enthusiastic support from the Goulburn Police College as well as significant support from within the Aboriginal community. Regional Commander for the Western Region based at Dubbo, Steve Bradshaw, says Indigenous recruits often find it difficult training at Goulburn because they are so far away from their homes in western NSW. “The recommendation by the Ombudsman suggests that we do some of the police training in an institute close to where the Aboriginal communities are. CSU currently has the contract to conduct police training, and has a campus at Dubbo in the NSW central west, so it seems obvious to approach CSU to develop an outreach program. It has my total support,” he said. CSU Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers says the University welcomes the proposal. “We look forward to working with NSW Police to strengthen Indigenous recruitment,” he said.

“Lazarus with a triple bypass”. The year was 1989, and John Howard had just lost the Opposition leadership. One reporter at the media conference asked him if he felt like a “political corpse”, another if he thought he could ever regain the leadership. How did John Howard go from that moment in political time, to today marking his tenth year in office with four straight election wins, making him Australia’s second-longest serving Prime Minister? Dr Wayne Errington (left), Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is currently writing a biography about John Howard, and will present a paper to a weekend conference looking at Mr Howard’s skill as a politician and his refusal to succumb to political rejection. “He’s grown as a politician, he’s a much more calm person than he was 10 or 15 years ago, he’s much more measured in his policies, he’s prepared to compromise to get things through the senate or to mollify public opinion, and that’s a recipe for a much more successful conservative politician.” Dr Errington’s paper also examines all the elements that have led to John Howard’s remarkable four election wins.

Are you around 50 years, female and have a pain in the heel? Podiatry honours student at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Luke Hewitt is looking for middle aged women with heel and foot pain in the Albury-Wodonga area. “Heel pain affects over 10 per cent of the population and is more common among middle aged women. As part of our research we will test treatments including orthotics to lessen or cure heel pain,” said Mr Hewitt. If you are a woman aged between 30 and 60 years and you suffer pain on the bottom of your heel, Mr Hewitt, supervised by qualified CSU podiatrists, will assess the condition and treatment options as a free service as part of his research at the CSU Allied Health Clinic. The clinic is located on the corner of Guinea and Olive Streets, Albury, each Wednesday and Thursday starting tomorrow, Wednesday 1 March. To take part in the study, contact Mr Hewitt on telephone 02 6051 6733.

The story of two women living on "a knife's edge" in the Villawood Detention Centre has won an inaugural international broadcasting award for former Charles Sturt University (CSU) student Kirsti Melville. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Programme was presented to Ms Melville by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International at a ceremony in New Delhi. The Radio National documentary is described as "the human story behind the federal government's stance on deporting long-term visa overstayers". Ms Melville, a 1994 graduate with a BA Communication (Broadcast Journalism), says it was a compelling program "because their stories were equally moving and powerful as those of refugees, but they are voices you don't hear very often. I think it was one of the first times I felt like I had had a little bit of an impact. You become very aware of your responsibilities as a journalist and to the people involved." The news that she won came as a surprise, "I was completely gob smacked, and on top of that to find out I was going to India in two weeks to accept the Award was mind-blowing." Kirsti's next documentary is about ageing Holocaust survivors in nursing homes in Sydney.

Recent media has highlighted a large study linking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and higher risk of breast and other cancers. Charles Sturt University (CSU) biomedical researcher Dr Christopher Scott will present the science behind HRT, including the role of oestrogen and testosterone in males and females and how they are used in HRT during a public lecture in Albury tomorrow, Wednesday 15 March. He will also discuss the benefits and potential risks of HRT using his own research. The lecture will start at 6pm in the Nowik Lecture Theatre, Guinea St, Albury. Dr Scott joined CSU as a lecturer in physiology in 2003 and has studied the role of  sex hormones for the past 17 years in Australia and USA.

Wangaratta businesses are vying to be known as top retailer for the Good Access Awards, to be presented in November. Charles Sturt University (CSU) students in occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology and podiatry courses will assess nominated businesses around Wangaratta for their level of physical and communication access for people with disabilties. Organised by Ovens and King Health and CSU staff, people with disabilities from the Wangaratta disAbility Access Group have helped the students appreciate the importance of access to their lives. The CSU students will assess the Wangaratta businesses on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 August.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism graduate, Courtney Trenwith has won the Minister’s Award for Excellence at the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) Excellence in Education Journalism Awards. Ms Trenwith received $3 000, as well as high praise for her work. Chair of the ACDE, CSU’s Associate Professor Jo-anne Reid, said Ms Trenwith’s submission was “absolutely outstanding. I was especially impressed that Courtney looked at the human side of education, not just the big issues”. Ms Trenwith says she arrived at the Awards ceremony in Canberra expecting to receive the News category, and was stunned to receive the overall excellence award. She says she loves her work at the Illawarra Mercury newspaper, saying “education was the only round I ever wanted to do”.