Twelve students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will have the ultimate cultural experience in teaching when they land in the Pacific Island country of Vanuatu for three weeks of teaching practice in three schools around the nation’s capital, Port Vila. The students, in their third year of the early childhood / primary school education degree based on the Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Dubbo campuses, will teach for one week in each of Peter Pan School, Port Vila International School and The Central School, starting Saturday 16 October. The program coordinator Ms Sharon Milsome, said immersing the students in the culture gave them a better understanding of how other cultures teach and learn. “Students can try different teaching strategies and hopefully learn from the teachers they are placed with in a variety of classrooms. The students have prepared a variety of lesson plans and ideas to implement while they are there, and will share ideas among their peers. They might even have some fun!” The students return to Australia on Saturday 6 November.

A Japanese university is seeking to extend the success of Australia’s Landcare movement, with its history of practical on-the-ground projects that protect the environment and maintain agricultural production. Ms Tomomi Maekawa, who is a fellow with Charles Sturt University’s Institute for Land Water and Society (ILWS) and PhD student with Tokyo Institute of Technology, will be joined by her supervisor Professor Toshio Kuwako from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Professor Michael Seigel from Nanzan University and another Japanese expert, as well as the chair of Australian Landcare International Mr Rob Youl. During their stay on the Border, the visitors will meet with local Landcare groups and ILWS research professor Allan Curtis, Australia’s leading expert on the Landcare movement. The group will visit the Institute on Monday 16 September to discuss Ms Tomomi’s study of Landcare with Professor Curtis.

A passion for the meat industry and the ability to pick a high yielding, quality carcase has earned two Charles Sturt University (CSU) students a spot in the Australian national meat judging team. Ms Tamara Heir and Ms Laura Kemmis, from CSU’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences in Wagga Wagga, were selected in the five-member team to tour the USA early next year. The team was selected from ten finalists who attended a national industry training week in Brisbane which included visits to retailers, processors and a feedlot. It follows the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Competition held at CSU in July.  Originally from Walla Walla in southern NSW, Ms Heir is studying a Bachelor of Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science while Ms Kemmis, from Queanbeyan near Canberra, is studying a Bachelor of Animal Science. “I’m passionate about building a career in the meat industry and this tour of the United States is an opportunity to develop contacts and gain a better understanding of how Australia compares in the global market,” said Ms Kemmis.  As part of the four week tour of the USA meat industry, the national team will compete in three American meat judging competitions.

Three Charles Sturt University (CSU) students with the School of Animal Science and Veterinary Science are making last minute preparations as they head off to the United States for international meat judging competitions and a meat industry study tour. In 2012, Mr Isaac Allen from Forbes, Ms Vanessa Campbell from Rutherglen, who is currently living and working in Wagga Wagga, and Ms Jordon Hoban from near Macksville in Northern NSW were named in the five-member Australian team to compete in two meat judging competitions in the USA. It follows their success last July at the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging (ICMJ) and at a subsequent intensive Meat & Livestock Australia training program in Brisbane. The team is due to leave Australia for a three-week industry tour of the USA on Friday 11 January and return on Thursday 7 February. Ms Campbell said the trio is all very excited about the trip. “This is a really great opportunity because, as a fourth year vet science student, it gives me a chance to make international meat industry contacts and to see the industry differences between America and the way we do things back home,” she said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bachelor of Agricultural Science students demonstrated their grain industry knowledge by placing second in the team category of the Australian Universities Crop Competition. The three-day event, held in Temora from Wednesday 18 to Friday 20 September, saw students from six universities tested on everything from grain grading and yield potential through to weed identification, business skills and farm management software. Dr Sergio Moroni, lecturer in crop agronomy from CSU’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, coached the team and said the students performed well. “It takes a great effort and independent training for this competition as students volunteered to represent the University and their preparation was done outside of their current study obligations,” he said. CSU was represented by Mr Cameron Prien, Mr Nathanael Liersch, Ms Georgia Branson, Mr Lachlan Vogan and Mr Jamie Thornberry. The annual competition is hosted by GrainGrowers.

The latest debate on climate change and bushfires is “the discussion the Australian community has to have”, a senior CSU ecologist says. Associate Professor David Watson with the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society said the latest debate is a timely reminder of the importance of extreme weather events in Australia. “Recent reports have shown climate change is real and is linked to increasing extremes in weather such as droughts and dry periods, which will increase the chance of bushfires,” said Professor Watson. “Increasing incidences of floods and cyclones are also more likely with climate change, so we as a nation need to consider how we are going to address this. We need to plan for both short-term responses and longer term planning of our cities and settlements across Australia and the various landscapes that will be affected. This is not a political issue — in 2006, then Prime Minister John Howard linked human-induced climate change with increased bushfire risk.  Insurers, agronomists and many other industries are already planning for increases in bushfires, severe storms and other extreme events, so it seems incongruous that the federal government is not being more pro-active.  We cannot afford to sit back and just let climate change happen with doing something about it,” he said.

Stories of what happens to asylum seekers and refugees with nothing to do and preventing social exclusion of children from low income families from services are being presented at the ‘Occupational Therapy Unlimited’ conference run by final year students completing their occupational therapy course with Charles Sturt University. These join over 30 papers being presented as the students celebrate the end of their four year course. Student representative Mr Daniel Frawley said the conference explores the scope and contexts of occupational therapy practice in Australia, with diverse topics covering the interaction of the profession with the functioning brain, different cultures, mental health and working in rural Australia. Academic coordinator of the event and occupational therapy lecturer Dr Sally Denshire said “This student-led event is the jewel in the crown for the graduating student”. The conference will be held on building 667, CSU in Albury-Wodonga at Thurgoona.

People will fence, plant, prune and plan new and existing gardens as part of a Permablitz to be held in Thurgoona on Saturday 6 November. Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Albury-Wodonga Environment Centre will host the Permablitz which is a community project to redevelop existing gardens and cleared paddocks around the Inland Living Experience (ILE) House on the University’s Thurgoona site. Activities for participants will include establishing ‘no-dig’ and perennial herb gardens using permaculture principles and an irrigation system. ILE coordinator and chair of CSU in Albury-Wodonga’s Environmental Committee, Dr John Rafferty, said the blitz is an opportunity for the Albury-Wodonga committee to help establish an education centre to demonstrate practical ways of living more sustainably. “The permablitz is really concerned with engaging with the environment, learning new skills and having fun. Set up permaculture gardens is a good thing to do on many levels,” Dr Rafferty said. The Permablitz will start at 10am at ILE House, St John’s Road (though the CSU entrance on Elizabeth Mitchell Drive), Thurgoona.

Do you stutter, or know of someone who does? You may be interested in learning more about a treatment program soon being offered locally. Speech pathology academics at Charles Sturt University (CSU) are keen to hear from interested adults who stutter. Stuttering program coordinator Ms Lisa Brown said one percent of Australian adults stutter, and “we have developed strategies and techniques to reduce the impact of stuttering”. Ms Brown would like to hear from adults around Albury-Wodonga who want to take part in an intensive one-week treatment program to be conducted in early November by final year speech pathology students. Ms Brown, who is an experienced speech pathologist and is now completing her doctoral research on stuttering, will supervise the students. The program will start on Monday 1 November on CSU’s Thurgoona site.