Six students from Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Albury-Wodonga Campus will represent the University in netball in the upcoming Australian University Games to be held in September in Melbourne. Led by CSU education student Ms Chelsea Daly, the group is seeking donations from Albury-Wodonga businesses to raise money for travel and accommodation for the group. The Australian University Games are Australia's largest annual multi-sport event, the national university Olympics, and are the most exciting event on the national tertiary calendar. The 2008 event, hosted by Monash University, includes teams from all Australian universities and runs from 28 September to 3 October.

Nearly 30 delegates from the Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia (SEGRA) Conference being held in Albury will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) as part of their meeting on Wednesday 20 August. Hosted by the Head of CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor Gail Whiteford, the delegates, who are from the business community around Australia, will receive short guided tours around the University’s award-winning Thurgoona site. “The visit will highlight the partnership between CSU and Albury City Council, especially in the economic, educational and social development of the Border region,” Professor Whiteford said.

The heads of intelligence agencies gathered in the New Zealand (NZ) capital of Wellington in August to hear from guest speaker and Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Mr Patrick Walsh. Over 150 intelligence officers attended the inaugural conference of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. Mr Walsh, who addressed the intelligence officers after the conference was opened by NZ Prime Minister The Hon. Helen Clark, is a senior lecturer in criminal intelligence at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing (AGSP) based in Manly, Sydney. He is also the course co-ordinator for the University’s intelligence program and  a vice-president of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO). “It was an honour to address this inaugural event,” Mr Walsh said on his return to Australia. “I talked about the history of AIPIO as a professional body for the Australian intelligence community and the role tertiary education can play in collaboration with intelligence agencies in delivering industry-relevant intelligence education programs”

The Beijing Olympics represents the biggest ‘catwalk’ on the Earth for sport shoemakers who are ardently promoting their wears, according to podiatrist and Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Mr Cameron Kippen. “The real glittering prize is market dominance, with China the ultimate goal,” said Mr Kippen, who in investigating the latest releases from major shoe manufacturers such as the Lone Star Spike and Zoom Victory Spike. “In preparation for the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, technicians in the multinational companies have prepared hi-tech footwear, but they have refused to promote new products which claim records will fall because of their products.” The ‘academic footman’ has researched the latest sport shoe designs and believes, however, athletic records will fall with the help of this equipment. Mr Kippen provides up-to-date commentary on sport shoes at the Olympics though his online blog, feetandtheolympics.

A team of seven Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are looking to go ‘one better’ after completing the 2008 City-to-Surf Fun Run last month in Sydney. The team – including Brad White, Andrew Burns and Dominique Ferguson who were the fastest runners in the Brooks Podiatry Team – came second by 35 seconds to the eventual winners. “I am sure we can make that up next year and go one better,” said Mr White, the team leader. “Not a bad showing for a group of ‘no name’ university students!” The students, who are all enrolled in CSU’s podiatry course, based on its Albury-Wodonga Campus, are already talking about improving their performances in next year’s event.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are making the battle against obesity and eating disorders personal with a cooking competition to show healthy eating can be cheap as well as nutritious, quick, tasty and good looking. Three student groups – the Nutrition and Dietetics (or Nut) Club, the Social Workers Club and the Health Action Team – are gathering favourite student recipes for a recipe book, with the top 12 recipes entered into a cook-off competition to be held in October on the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus. A panel of local judges will name the winner of a $150 voucher for groceries. President of the Nut Club, Mr Kingsley Vance, hopes that initiatives like this will help the communities within CSU campuses – Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga – to improve their food choices. “University students are often at risk of not eating a nutritious diet, so our competition is all about raising awareness of good nutrition in all our communities,” he said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will next year celebrate 20 years of strategic higher education and applied research that is making a difference nationally and internationally. Celebrations involving students, staff, academics, graduates and the University’s research partners and institutions will be held at all campuses. CSU is extending a warm invitation to all communities in its footprint to become involved in the celebrations that will highlight its rapid growth and achievements during the past two decades. The first meeting of the 20th Anniversary Committee, chaired by CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, was held on Wednesday 25 June, to commence planning for what is a significant year in the history of the University of inland Australia. Proclaimed in July 1989, CSU has evolved as one of Australia's largest universities, operating across inland New South Wales and delivering education and degree qualifications in many countries around the world.

A visiting international water expert believes "Tossing out food is just like keeping the tap running". Dr Charlotte de Fraiture, from the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka, will speak on Water for Fuel and Food in a Changing World at a public seminar to be hosted next week by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS). Dr de Fraiture, who was a keynote speaker at the 11th International Riversymposium held recently in Brisbane, Queensland, will speak at the School of Environmental Sciences on the University’s Thurgoona site. Dr de Fraiture has worked on such diverse water issues as catchment development, measuring irrigation performance, and modelling global water supply and demand. The seminar, starting at 3pm on Monday 8 September, will be followed by afternoon tea and an opportunity to speak with Dr de Fraiture.

‘So much sky’ was one of the early impressions of post-World War II immigrants from war-torn Europe when they arrived at the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre near Wodonga between 1947 and 1971. Over many years, Bruce Pennay, an adjunct Associate Professor with Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS), has researched the stories of these newcomers to the vast Australian continent. Starting at 11am on Friday 12 September as part of National History Week, Professor Pennay will launch So Much Sky, a history of the Bonegilla centre which traces the migrants’ journeys and relates to the post-war immigration which was the biggest demographic change for Australia since the gold rushes of the nineteenth century. So Much Sky and an associated website were jointly funded by Albury City and the NSW Migration Heritage Centre.