Black and white photography taken by Albury-based historian and photographer Associate Professor Dirk Spennemann from Charles Sturt University (CSU) highlights the splendour of architecture from the Art Deco period found throughout Albury. His exhibition, Light Lines – architecture for a modern age, is a key feature of an extensive Art Deco exhibition on show until Saturday 8 October in the Albury Library Museum, Kiewa Street, Albury, and Albury Regional Art Gallery in Dean Street. Professor Spennemann will speak about his exhibition, which re-frames details of Art Deco architecture in Albury and the region using mainly Art Deco-period cameras, at a public lecture starting at 1.30pm on Sunday 21 August at the Albury Library Museum. He is also a presenter at an Art Deco Talkfest to be held at the Albury Library Museum, between 1.30 and 4pm on Sunday 28 August. For more information about the exhibition and other activities, including bus tours and film nights, visit here.

The development of a way to teach distance education medical science students  how to study normal and diseased human tissue with a virtual microscope has landed a teaching award for a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic. Dr Lucy Webster, from the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, has been awarded the 2011 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. “The most important teaching strategies I employ to inspire and motivate students to learn include creation of interactive and engaging resources and demonstrating a true passion and expert knowledge in my field,” said Dr Webster. “Virtual microscopy enables the digital reproduction of glass slides containing healthy and diseased human tissues. Students are able to view and manipulate these images at remote locations. I combined this technology with the University’s real-time virtual classroom known as Wimba to allow genuine interaction between myself and the students to discuss the important features on each slide without having to be in the same room. Before this initiative, internal and distance education students could only view slides during practical classes or residential schools.”

From rainwater harvesting, to student vegetable gardens, fauna friendly fencing and biodegradable coffee cups, Charles Sturt University (CSU) is funding innovative projects to reduce its environmental footprint. In 2011, CSU Green has allocated almost $100 000 to fund eight sustainability projects. The grants are awarded annually as part of CSU’s commitment to reduce energy and water use, increase biodiversity, cut solid waste, and co-operate with communities towards sustainability. CSU Green communication officer, Ms Nicole Maher, said the project ideas come directly from staff and students. “People who are doing something every day often have really smart ideas about how things can be changed to improve the sustainability of what they are doing, and the sustainability grants offer an opportunity for them to make these changes,” she said. A sustainability film festival, a project to better manage remnant vegetation at the Albury-Wodonga campus, rehabilitation of Village Creek at Bathurst, and the development of a native plant nursery in Wagga Wagga, are also being funded through the program.

In recognition of the 2011 'International Year of Chemistry', a public lecture hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Wagga Wagga City Council will explore how a series of seemingly unrelated chemical discoveries changed the course of history. Professor of Chemistry at Macquarie University in Sydney, Peter Karuso, will trace chemical connections from the humble shipworm to the discovery of antibiotics. "I'm hoping to show people how important chemistry is to their lives by showing how chemical discoveries have changed the course of history over and over again," he said. "Chemistry is so interesting and so powerful that it deserves the best and brightest minds. I hope in some small way to inspire young people and their parents to take an interest in things chemical as I am sure that chemistry will be at the heart of solutions to many of our current and future problems."

The largest-ever group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students and staff will provide physiotherapy and first aid services during the 2011 Tour de Timor, which commences from the capital of Timor-Leste, Dili, on Sunday 11 September. Six CSU physiotherapy and three nursing students and three staff will follow the Tour ‘peloton’ for six days around the mountainous, 600 kilometre course, providing medical services for tired, sore or injured riders. The CSU coordinator, Mr Tim Retchford, said the CSU students will gain valuable professional experience “while working in challenging conditions in a beautiful, though undeveloped, country”. This is the third time CSU students have provided these services during the Tour de Timor. The students and staff leave for Dili on Sunday 4 September to prepare themselves and riders for the event, as well as visiting local medical facilities. Meanwhile, PhD student at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Ms Nicola Wunderlich will take leave during her research in East Timor to cycle in the 2011 Tour De Timor. Read more on CSU News here.

Hair, eyebrows and beards were bleached and coloured at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga on Friday 26 August all in the name of raising money for cancer research and patient support. The activities, held at CSU in support of Daffodil Day, raised nearly $2 400 for the NSW Cancer Council. The fundraising was organised by Charles Sturt Campus Services and the Residential Support Scheme at CSU. “There is a competitive streak between staff across the University so we organised a ‘fund-off’ to raise money for the Cancer Council. A total of $510.25 was raised at CSU in Albury-Wodonga, $841.65 in Bathurst and $1 030.70 was raised in Wagga Wagga,” said Ms Vanessa Conlin, a Residential Operations Officer.  In addition to the temporary ‘hair salons’ for the bleaching and colourings, staff also sold daffodils and pins in support of the annual Daffodil Day event.

Research focusing on weed and disease management, the importance of diverse crop rotations and water movement within the soil profile will be on show at the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation Annual Field Day on Wednesday 7 September. Researchers from Charles Sturt University (CSU) and NSW Department of Primary Industries will present their trials and results to farmers, natural resource managers and industry representatives. Graham Centre Director Professor Deirdre Lemerle said it’s an opportunity to network and gain valuable information. “Our aim is for the field site to be ‘owned’ by the industry, and we are looking forward to some good discussion and debate, at the field day and in the future, about the constraints and opportunities facing our production systems,” she said.

Supermarket botany, wine tasting, magic microscopes, water and soil testing and the multiplication of kangaroo paws using tissue culture will be on show in the Charles Sturt University (CSU) tent at the Henty Machinery Field Days. Staff and students from CSU will take visitors through hands-on and active displays that highlight various aspects of research and teaching in the University’s Faculty of Science, which is represented on its main campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga. Acting Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Science, Professor Lyn Angel, says, “Charles Sturt University has a strong presence in regional Australia, and the Field Days present a key opportunity to engage with the community, listen to current issues on the land, and show some of our education and training facilities”.

Visiting Chinese ecologist Professor Cao Lei has a delightful enthusiasm for all things Australian, and a great concern for the environmental degradation of wetlands and the loss of waterbirds in her homeland. Professor Cao is working at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) as part of her three month visit to Australia, developing a cooperative project proposal with ILWS director Professor Max Finlayson and ILWS researchers on a model for wetland restoration and management in China to address the marked deterioration of wetlands in the giant Yangtze River basin. The Chinese ecologist is particularly concerned with the dramatic fall in the number of many waterbirds that rely on freshwater lakes in the basin for winter feeding and roosting. As leader of the Waterbirds and Wetlands Ecology Group of the University of Science and Technology of China’s School of Life Science, Professor Cao is also investigating how CSU teaches its ecology courses, with a view to establishing ecology as a major area of study at her university.