Construction of the new 200-bed residential development for Charles Sturt University (CSU) students is nearly complete on the University’s Thurgoona site, and CSU students and staff will be able to inspect some of the new facilities on Thursday 20 November. On completion, ten modular concrete and corrugated iron buildings will each house 20 students in self-catering accommodation. The development will include ‘open plan’ kitchens and living areas in each block, with two buildings enclosing an open courtyard. The corrugated iron, which is light, strong, adaptable and durable, shields the internal concrete walls from the summer heat, enabling the buildings to maintain a more constant temperature without the use of expensive air conditioning. Rainwater collected from roofs will be used to flush toilets, while wastewater, or ‘grey water’, from kitchens and bathrooms will be pumped into the existing grey water treatment ponds on the Thurgoona site. Three buildings totalling 120 beds will be completed by the start of the academic year in February 2009, with a further 80 beds to be ready by April.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) 2007 Shiraz was one of only four wines to be awarded a Gold Medal in the 2007 Shiraz class at the 2008 Royal Melbourne Wine Show on Thursday 13 November and has now been released through the Cellar Door. The CSU 2007 Shiraz was produced with grapes from the University’s vineyard in Orange and was the only NSW wine to be nominated for this year’s Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show. The wine had already been awarded bronze medals at the Orange Wine Show in October and the Riverina Wine Show in September. “The University is delighted with the gold medal in recognition of the quality of our 2007 Shiraz,” said winemaker, Mr Andrew Drumm. “It was also a great achievement to be among the small number of red wines nominated from 660 other Australian one year old red wines for the Jimmy Watson Trophy.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will offer 20 scholarships that encourage joint studies between the University and TAFE colleges. The CSU Rural Learning Partnership Scholarships, each worth $2 000 for one year, are aimed at full-time students in need of financial assistance who are completing such courses such as the Bachelor of Business Studies in Griffith. Students with disabilities, from non-English speaking backgrounds or who are Indigenous are encouraged to apply for the competitive grants which can pay for accommodation, tuition fees, books and computers. CSU’s Head of School of Business and Information Studies, Associate Professor John Atkinson, said the Rural Learning Partnership Scholarships aim to redress some of the current financial inequities of tertiary study in regional Australia by helping students with genuine financial difficulties. The scholarships will be launched in Griffith on Thursday 20 November by CSU and NSW TAFE Riverina Institute at an integrated Business program information session.

Two Australian artists have donated almost 50 prints to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Art Collection. The artists, Dr Guy Warren from Sydney, and Ms Chayni Henry from Milner near Darwin, donated the prints to the University through the Commonwealth's Committee on Taxation Incentives for the Arts. The works will hang in the 2009 exhibitions, Mono Uno: Monotype mark making within the CSU Art Collection and More Beasties, helping to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of CSU in 2009. Dr Warren donated two traditional 1958 oil monotypes and 14 watercolour monotypes from the early 1980s and seven related prints. Ms Henry has donated the entire Rona Green-curated print portfolio Beasties 2005/6. The portfolio includes the work of printmakers Rosalind Atkins, Milan Milojevic, Rew Hanks, Rebecca Mayo, Stephen Spurrier and Murray Walker. “The gifts, valued at almost $60 000, are a timely contemporary injection to the University’s Art Collection which already holds the minutea print exchange portfolio curated by Ms Green in 2000,” said CSU Art Curator Mr Thomas Middlemost.

An academic with a decidedly ‘green’ bent has won the inaugural Albury-Wodonga Environmental Achievement Award for his activities with Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga. Education lecturer Dr John Rafferty, from the Murray School of Education and the Institute for Land, Water and Society won the award for his development of the ‘Inland Living Experience’ concept, which promotes the belief that connection to the environment helps build a healthy, happy and sustainable lifestyle. “Research tells us that sustainability can be achieved through developing intimate relationships with our environment. The Inland Living Experience promotes research and education, engaging and understanding our environment as we experience significant change,” said Dr Rafferty. The award encourages CSU staff and students to actively minimise the environmental impact of their everyday activities and increase environmental awareness. Dr Rafferty will receive his award at a function at the University’s environmentally sustainable Thurgoona site in December.

Final year advertising and advertising/marketing students at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication will benefit from a fourth scholarship offered by OMD Media. Announcing the $2 500 scholarship, the Head of the School and advertising course co-ordinator, Associate Professor Rod McCulloch, said, “This scholarship augments three existing scholarships from OMD Media, OMD Digital and DDB Advertising. It provides monetary recognition to the student and a guaranteed internship at OMD that could lead to the offer of a full-time position. It’s classic win-win; the School is able to offer support to our best students, and OMD gets the first opportunity to employ them.” OMD is one of Australia’s largest media agencies, and the scholarship, which is endowed on behalf of its new strategic media planning company PHD, will be available from 2009.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has contributed in the creation of a new resource to help farmers in the battle against one of Australia’s most noxious weeds, serrated tussock. The Serrated Tussock Best Practice Management Manual and a supporting resource CD was launched today, Tuesday 25 November. “Up-to-date information on the best practices to control and manage the spread of serrated tussock is a key to successful management,” said Mr Scott Chirnside, Chair of the National Serrated Tussock Management Group. The new manual collates information on control and management options. CSU School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences research fellow, Dr Aaron Simmons said, ”Lower wool prices mean people work off farm and have less time to control serrated tussock. This manual will provide farmers with most of the information they need but they do need to consider how the information reflects their individual circumstance.”

Annual ryegrass with herbicide resistance is now common in southern NSW, according to collaborative research between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) recently completed at the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation. In studies conducted from Dubbo in the state’s central west, to the Victorian border in the south, and east-west between the Hume and Newell highways, researchers Mr John Broster and Mr Eric Koetz have found high levels of resistance in ryegrass to widely used herbicides. Director of the EH Graham Centre, Professor Deirdre Lemerle, said these findings show a large increase since the last thorough survey was conducted in 1991. “Around 80 per cent of paddocks surveyed in 2007 had significant levels of resistance to Group A ‘fops’ herbicides, while resistance to Group B ‘SU’ herbicides are in 65 to 70 per cent of paddocks.” Professor Lemerle said 17 years ago, only 10 to 15 per cent of paddocks had ryegrass with resistance to these herbicides. “These high levels of resistance reinforce the importance of developing and introducing new non-chemical weed control techniques into our weed management strategies,” she said. The research is part of a larger survey across the wheat-belt, funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

The former Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Member for Farrer, Mr Tim Fischer, AC, will present his views on his ‘three Rs’ – the Riverina, railways and Rome – when he speaks at the annual Nowik Lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury on Tuesday 2 December, one of his last official engagements before taking up his new post as Australian Ambassador to The Vatican in Rome. With over 30 years in politics, he has been many things to many people: army officer, farmer, politician, humanitarian, diplomat, husband, father and a leader. Head of Campus, Albury-Wodonga, Professor Gail Whiteford, said Mr Fischer, an Honorary Doctor of the University, is a son of the Riverina who has served its citizens, CSU and Australia with distinction over many decades. The 2008 Nowik Lecture will commence at 6pm in the Nowik Lecture Theatre, Charles Sturt University, off Guinea St, Albury.