Archive

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus Occupational Health and Safety Committee promoted a healthy approach to life during its Walk and Cycle to Uni Day, held on Friday 5 October 2007. Both staff and students were encouraged to take part in the event which is and based on the National Walk to Work Day, which is run by the Australian Pedestrian Council. The OHS committee hopes the event will not only assist the environment but will also help to improve personal fitness, health and well-being. Over one hundred participants departed from near the old Hampden Bridge in Fitzmaurice Street Wagga Wagga walking and cycling to the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. Head of the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus Professor David Green supported the morning.  There was a free breakfast and prizes awarded for the Best Outfit and Best Decorated Headwear for individual walker, teams, Individual cyclists and team cyclists at the conclusion of the walk. Organiser Anette Coombs has extended a huge thankyou to everyone who participated in Walk or Cycle to Uni Day and in doing so made it a really great morning.

Early childhood is a critical period for literacy development and US research has found that 35 per cent of children enter public schools with low levels of the skills needed to learn to read. Visiting US academic Professor Lynn Williams will present a lecture about how children acquire literacy skills on Thursday 8 November at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bathurst Campus. Associate Professor Sharynne McLeod, from CSU’s School of Teacher Education, said that Professor Williams has a distinguished career in teaching and writing about speech and language development and disorders in children. “Her lecture, Contexts for facilitating emergent literacy skills, will summarize the findings from a range of studies in order to assist early childhood educators, speech-language pathologists, and families in their roles to prevent later reading difficulties for young children,” Dr McLeod said.

Two third year nursing students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) have been awarded 2007 Australian Rotary Health Research Fund Rural and Remote Nursing Scholarships. Ms Susie McCalman, from Peak Hill, and Ms Janet Paine, from Warren, won the only two scholarships available for country NSW, each worth $12 500. Ms Cathy Maginnis, lecturer in nursing and course coordinator at the University’s Dubbo Campus, said this was a great achievement for the students and for CSU’s nursing course on the campus. “We are very proud of these two students, and their achievement confirms why CSU is the University of inland Australia. The Rotary scholarships acknowledge their hard work and commitment to nursing, as they are both are from rural properties and travel long distances to attend the University,” she said. The students are currently undertaking their final clinical placements in hospitals in rural and remote NSW.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has announced it is a major sponsor of Career Central Australia, an online career advisory service designed, developed and maintained by careers advisors and teachers. Ms Zelma Bone, lecturer in management communication at CSU’s Orange Campus, said that the CSU sponsorship enables 2 500 students at thirteen schools in western and central western NSW to become regional members for a greatly subsidised annual fee. Another 27 schools are waiting to join. “This is a wonderful initiative that demonstrates CSU’s commitment to the professions as the University of inland Australia by assisting schools and students to access online careers information every hour of every day, all year around,” Ms Bone said. Career Central Australia provides the latest careers information and job services, a careers newsletter, email bulletins and notices, and customized careers profiles, letters, applications and apprenticeship information.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate is putting the words into the mouths of some of the nation’s most watched television characters. Ms Kaneana May studied television production at the Wagga Wagga Campus and graduated in 2004 with first class honours in screenwriting, starting her career as a storyliner on the 2005 television series Headland. Ms May, aged 26, says “Since then I have since worked on the Seven network’s All Saints and now work as a script coordinator at Home and Away”.  Ms May was commissioned to write a Home and Away script which went to air in early October. Ms May, from the coastal village Old Bar on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, says “I would definitely encourage others interested in television to do the CSU course. I learned so much about the entire process of television. The course is continually improving to keep pace with what is happening in the industry”.

An initiative to curb the critical shortage of midwives in rural and regional Australia has been recognised in the recent New South Wales health awards. A midwifery training program at Leeton District Hospital and conducted in partnership with Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Griffith and Wagga Wagga base hospitals was nominated for the Director General’s Encouragement Award in the 2007 NSW Health Awards. Three students have completed the program, which includes clinical work at Leeton District Hospital and 12 months of study for CSU’s Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery. “The program is one way to develop sustainable maternity services in rural areas, including continuity in care and local antenatal services for women having babies,” said Leeton District Hospital clinical midwifery specialist and CSU graduate Tania McVittie. 

As drought continues to tighten its grip on inland Australia Charles Sturt University (CSU) has received two Federal government grants for the provision and installation of water saving measures at its Wagga Wagga Campus. A water tank will be installed as part of the Veterinary Clinical Building which is currently under construction to collect water for washing horses and for irrigation. Senior CSU architect Chris Nesakumar developed the successful grant application, worth nearly $ 50 000. CSU Wagga Wagga Campus also received a Community Water Grant worth $15 000 to enlarge a dam to store stormwater collected from residences and to install a solar powered pump and associated water systems. The water will be used in a composting program to recycle waste on the Wagga Wagga Campus. It is envisaged that the dam will save around 500 000 litres of water per year.

Researchers at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bathurst Campus are investigating why exercise can help relive some pain. Mr Peter Micalos, lecturer in human anatomy and physiology at the School of Human Movement Studies, is seeking people aged 20 – 60 years with chronic pain syndrome, known as fibromyalgia (FMS), as well as people in good health but with low fitness levels. They are wanted to participate in a supervised, mild aerobic-based exercise program for eight weeks starting in February 2008. Mr Micalos says “Fibromyalgia is characterised by pain in muscles, joints or bones, fatigue, and a wide range of other symptoms. It can be triggered by an acute traumatic event, or have a slow onset from no specific cause, and can be debilitating, especially during an acute flare-up. It can prevent normal activities such as driving a car, walking up stairs, grooming or dressing. There is no universally accepted diagnosis or cure for fibromyalgia, however studies have found individualised exercise programming improves fitness and sleep and reduces pain and fatigue.” The study involves clinical tests and individually supervised exercise twice a week at the CSU Bathurst Campus fitness centre.

A new book that looks at quality assurance tools and certification programs in ecotourism will be a valuable guide for new and existing ecotourism operators world-wide. Co-edited by Dr Rosemary Black from Charles Sturt University (CSU), the book, Quality Assurance and Certification in Ecotourism, is the fifth in a series of books on ecotourism published by UK publisher CABI. Dr Black, a social scientist with CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society, said the book has developed from her research on certification of ‘ecotour’ guides. “The book also includes information on quality assurance and certification for different aspects of ecotourism operations like transport, tours and accommodation,” said Dr Black, who spent four years researching and writing the book. Apart from her own work, the book includes contributions from authors around the world including the UK, Australia, America, the South Pacific, South Africa and South America.