A senior educator who recently won a prestigious Churchill Scholarship to investigate the world-class Finnish education system will address middle school teaching students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Tuesday 18 September. Ms Margaret Mulcahy, a Principal Education Officer with the NSW Department of Education and Communities, will address how parents and carers can assist in schooling, which complements her interests in learning and thinking by inquiry, curriculum integration, and student-centred learning. She is joined by a senior teacher educator from the University of Lapland in Finland, Dr Tuija Turunen, a research fellow with CSU’s School of Education, who will provide a comparison of how parents work with schools in Finland. She will also address how people become teachers in the Scandinavian country and why most school leavers prefer teaching over law or medicine. Visit coordinator and CSU education lecturer, Dr Liisa Uusimaki, said bringing the two educators from different parts of the world together to share their knowledge with CSU middle school teaching students demonstrates University’s commitment to advancing teacher education for the sake of Australian children.

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.

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.

International early career researchers continue to flock to the Border region, with research students from Indonesia, China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Canada and Ghana commencing research Doctorate and Master degrees during 2011.  Mr Patrick Cobbinah came from Ghana in West Africa to Albury in July to explore how economic, social and environmental issues could be integrated in the planning of ecotourism activities in Ghana. “I chose Charles Sturt University to do my Masters as there are reasonable research facilities available and experts in research related to ecotourism and poverty. The city of Albury is such a serene place, where there are constant efforts in integrating environmental, social and economic needs and variables into management plans, especially on the University’s campus at Thurgoona,” Mr Cobbinah said. Seven postgraduate research students have commenced their studies in 2011with the CSU School of Environmental Sciences based at CSU in Albury-Wodonga.

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.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be represented by five students from NSW and Victoria in a national crop competition in Temora in September. The 2012 Australian Universities Crops Competition (AUCC) is hosted by GrainGrowers from Tuesday 11 September to Friday 14 September. The annual event will see competitors tested in a number of categories on grains, pulses and oilseeds. The competition’s top three students will secure a study tour to the USA. Coaching the Bachelor of Agricultural Science students  is Dr Sergio Moroni, lecturer in crop agronomy from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences to secure the ‘University Teams' award for the third year in a row as well as aiming for places in the top five,” Dr Moroni said. CSU student Ms Georgina Rees said, “The crop competition is a great opportunity to use the knowledge we have gained over the past three years in our course and also learn more about the individual grain industries.”