Archive
New peregrine falcon chick for CSU in Orange
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003
A peregrine falcon chick is the newest resident at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange. The fledgling hatched from the one of two eggs produced this season by CSU’s resident pair of peregrine falcons, known as Beau and Swift, and was named Snow in reference to the August snowfall in which the egg was laid. The falcons have been permanent residents at the University since 2007, when staff first noticed them hunting from the iconic water tower on campus. CSU staff mounted a nesting box in the tower and fitted it with two video cameras, and the falcons quickly moved in and raised eight healthy chicks there over the following four breeding seasons. The project has been supported by the RAAF 30 Squadron Beaufighters, whose emblem is the peregrine falcon and whose motto is ‘Strike swiftly’, so the two adult birds have been named Swift (female) and Beau (male). This year Swift laid two eggs, but one was lost when it became stuck in Beau’s plumage as he left the nest. Footage from the nest-box cameras has been available on the FalconCamProject website since 2007 but this is the first year a formal study of the birds’ behaviour has been conducted. The site is one of only a handful in the world where a breeding pair of peregrines can be monitored around the clock, because peregrines normally choose to nest in very inaccessible places like cliff faces and quarries.
Students pitch youth road safety campaign
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003
Four teams from the Kajulu Communications student advertising agency at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst today delivered pitches for a youth road safety campaign to a panel representing central west road transport stakeholders. Ms Anne Llewellynn, lecturer in advertising at the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, said the Kajulu advertising teams were briefed by Ms Iris Dorsett, Road Safety Officer with Bathurst Regional Council, to prepare integrated marketing communication recommendations for a road safety campaign funded by Bathurst and Blayney Regional Councils for the central west region. “The primary target market is young drivers aged 25 and under, and the communications objectives for the campaign are to engage road users to accept responsibility for their own driving and modify negative driving or other impacting behaviours, such as mobile phone use,” Ms Llewellyn said. The student teams completed comprehensive research, strategy development, and detailed campaign recommendations which they presented to the panel starting at 1pm on Tuesday 25 September at Bathurst Council Chambers. Each team’s presentation took about an hour.CSU backs Wagga Crows
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003
For the first time in 12 years, Wagga Wagga will be represented in the NSW Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout, and Charles Sturt University (CSU) is proud to be the team’s major sponsor. The competition will be held at Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle, from Friday 28 September to Monday 1 October and is one of the largest Indigenous sporting events in the country. CSU is sponsoring the Murrumbidgee Wagga Crows team who will play their first game at 2.30pm on Saturday 29 September. Murrumbidgee Wagga Crows Secretary, Ms Donna Murray, said bringing the club back to life is about more than football. “It means a lot for the local Indigenous community to have a team in this competition, because it’s about cultural identity and playing passionately for Wagga Wagga,” she said. “Our players are also positive role models for younger boys and girls in promoting healthy lives.” CSU has a strong commitment to the participation of Indigenous Australians in all aspects of higher education. Read more about CSU’s Indigenous Education Strategy here.
CSU team wins second national bowls title
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) lawn bowls team has claimed its second consecutive national title, winning gold at the Australian University Games (AUG) in Adelaide. CSU’s University Team Manager, Mr Nik Granger, said the team had won five of its seven pool games to qualify third for the playoffs behind the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the University of NSW (UNSW). “We lost to both UWA and UNSW in the pool stage, but we beat UNSW in the semi-final and the team was confident it could knock over UWA in the final,” he said. CSU first earned a place in the top-tier of the AUG in 2009 and won a first division bronze in 2010 before taking the national lawn bowls title last year. Mr Granger said the past 10 years had seen a sharp increase in the standard of competition at the games, which were now Australia’s largest annual multi-sport event. “You’ve got Olympians, Commonwealth Games medallists and state and national representatives throughout the competition,” he said. “CSU had students from our Albury-Wodonga, Wagga Wagga and Bathurst campuses competing alongside several distance education students.” Meanwhile, CSU’s Ultimate Frisbee team was awarded the ‘Spirit of the Games’ award, as voted by all 25 teams competing in the sport.
CSU expands Field Days site
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will have a bigger-than-usual footprint at this year’s Australian National Field Days when it unveils its larger outdoor site. The University has traditionally had a stand in the education pavilion at the annual event, but School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences academic Ms Shevahn Telfser said this year’s larger stand would provide space for interactive demonstrations including a horse skeleton which visitors can help assemble and a display of common and not-so-common fruits and vegetables for visitors to name. “This year we want to engage visitors with fun, educational activities they can complete to earn their visitor’s bag,” Ms Telfser said. “The Field Days help show school-aged visitors what Charles Sturt University can offer them and demonstrates our continuing commitment to agricultural science and business degrees on the Orange Campus.” The Australian National Field Days will run from Tuesday 16 October to Thursday 18 October at Borenore, near Orange, NSW.
Seeking the young and gifted
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003A Charles Sturt University (CSU) education researcher is starting a study that focuses on young children identified as being gifted. PhD student with the CSU School of Education, Ms Nikki Masters, said the study aims to find out more about the experiences of children identified as gifted as they begin their primary schooling. “For a child identified as gifted, the transition to school may bring different challenges. For example, children already reading may stop reading in the first weeks of school, having realised that other children did not read and were not expected to. When these children are left without appropriate support, emotional, social or behavioural difficulties may occur. While the educational needs of all children must be considered, the intellectual, social and emotional needs of gifted children should be also considered in their schooling.” Ms Masters is seeking children aged four or five years old who are currently attending a pre-school in Albury or surrounding Riverina district during 2012 and will start school in 2013 to gather their stories, as well as the stories of their parents, carers and educators. These children should have been identified as gifted by either their parent or their pre-school teacher. For further details about the research project, send Ms Masters an email.
Port Macquarie team wins Game On
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003A team of Port Macquarie High School Year 11 business students has won a competition from 192 similar teams in 29 regional schools across NSW and Victoria. The ‘Jokers’ team, consisting of Mitchell Davis and Mark Han, was the overall winner in the year-long Game On competition run by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Faculty of Business. Senior business teacher and competition coordinator in the local school, Ms Dianne Davison, said the students benefited from participating in the competition as it required them to analyse situations, study information and make complex and difficult decisions. “I am sure they have increased their interests in a business career as they experienced the thrill and challenge of making high level business decisions and saw the relevance of what they learned in their school courses,” Ms Davison said. The ‘virtual business’ the students ran in the simulation game was based on the automobile industry, where they needed to make decisions on human resources, marketing, operations and finance during the competition. The Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Business, Professor Lesley White, will present a prize of $2 500 to the winning school and team at 9am at Port Macquarie High School on Wednesday 10 October. Charles Sturt University will offer its Bachelor of Business Studies on its Port Macquarie Campus in 2013.
Ride2Uni for CSU staff and students
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003Staff and students of Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange are gearing up for National Ride2Work on Wednesday 17 October. The CSU team will be riding as part of Ride2Uni day, which runs concurrently with the Ride2Work activities at university and TAFE campuses across the country. CSU in Orange campus services manager, Mr Mark Chapman, said the University had also held a successful ride for NSW Bike Week last month. “We had a great turnout for that event, and we’re hoping to have even more riders for Ride2Uni day,” he said. “The Ride2Work and Ride2Uni days are a great incentive for people to try riding to work for the first time and to get a sense for the enjoyment and health benefits that can be had from cycling regularly.” The CSU team will muster at Bills Beans on McLachlan Street, Orange, at 8am and leave for the University at about 8.15am. Cyclists will be served a continental breakfast at Banjo’s Café and can register for the ride online.
PR students hone skills at Bathurst festivals
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003Public relations students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) are collaborating with event organisers to deliver bigger and better car racing, wine and food festivals in Bathurst. Mr Donald Alexander, senior lecturer in public relations (PR) at the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, said both students and the festival organisers win from these collaborations. “The Bachelor of Communication (Public Relations) students gain practical experience by working on large projects such as last weekend’s V8 Supercars Race at Mount Panorama, this week’s Bathurst Region Eats & Drinks (BRE&D) Week from 8 to 14 October and the related National Cool Climate Wine Show,” Mr Alexander said. “At least six PR students worked in the corporate office and media centre for the V8 Supercars Race to provide assistance and enhance their understanding of managing a major event and media liaison. With the new BRE&D Week and the National Cool Climate Wine Show, the students get to plan and manage an event, and develop media stories and pitch them to a range of media. They also create innovative concepts, such as this year organising for local ABC Radio to attend the wine show judging to interview associated people and cross ‘live’ to the studio.”
Silly socks screen for foot faults
Wednesday, 1 Jan 2003Students and staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU), some sporting silly socks, are calling on residents in Albury-Wodonga to ‘sock it to diabetes’ as part of activities recognising Foot Health Month across Australia. Students enrolled in the podiatry degree at CSU in Albury-Wodonga are providing screening tests for participants to assess the health of their feet and to show them good self-help practices to care for their feet. Podiatry course coordinator and leading ‘silly sock wearer’ Associate Professor Paul Tinley said the screening activities were part of CSU’s commitment to address the appalling number of foot amputations caused by poor foot health in people afflicted with diabetes. “It is critically important that all people with diabetes understand the risk of injury to their feet. Feet are so far from the heart that they are often the first places to show the problems of poorly controlled diabetes such as reduced sensation. This can lead eventually to lower limb amputation and a significant impact on mobility and health. Checking your feet is important for us all, plus I like the silly socks!” Professor Tinley said.