Four school students will make a difference to their charity of choice through a Charles Sturt University (CSU) social justice award. The Social Justice Innovation Award offered through the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU gives teenagers a platform to write about Making a Difference. The judges included senior social work lecturer, Dr Bill Anscombe, and poet and recently-retired English lecturer, Mr David Gilbey. “Although we only advertised the competition in NSW and the ACT, we also received entries from Victoria and the Northern Territory. This highlights the fact that there are a lot of school students with writing talents keen to be involved in the project,” Dr Anscombe said. They winners of Making a Difference 2010 are Mr Kieran Hennessy from Great Lakes Tuncurry Senior High School, Mr Reid Butler from Merewether High School,  Ms Alexandra Jones from Pymble Ladies College and Ms Tara Whitsed of Corryong College.  Their nominated charities, World Vision, Red Cross, Love146 and beyondblue will each receive $250 from CSU.

The CSU Global Where in the World exhibition will finish its travels when it reaches Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Monday 6 September. CSU Global, the University’s student exchange program, ran a Facebook competition to collect images from international student travels. A cash prize of $500 was awarded to the winning student in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga. Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic) student Ms Lauren Owen submitted an image she took in Luang Prabang in Laos. “I like this photograph because it depicts a tradition within the Buddhist community that has been followed for hundreds of years; it shows an ability to enjoy the simple traditions of life, pleasures often lost in a fast paced society,” Ms Owen said. “Having my photograph exhibited gave me a great sense of pride knowing people had viewed, voted and appreciated my work.”  

Three public schools in the Riverina will be on show next week as a Japanese delegation visits the region to learn more about school education in Australia. The three academics and five students from Yamagata University in north east Japan will visit the region from Monday 6 September to Friday 10 September. Hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, the delegation will be given an overview of school education in Australia by senior lecturer Dr Brian Hemmings from the School of Education at CSU in Wagga Wagga on Monday 6 September. They will then visit The Rock Primary School on Tuesday 7 September, Wagga Wagga High School on Wednesday 8 September and Wagga Wagga Public School on Friday 10 September.  The delegates will inspect classrooms and lead activities with the school students such as a Japanese Food and Culture program at The Rock. “We anticipate that this visit will forge a stronger link between the two universities in Australia and Japan. We are also interested in talking about the possibility of teacher education students from Charles Sturt University visiting Yamagata in 2011 or 2012 to give them an international perspective in their studies, ” Dr Hemmings said.

Oral health programs from across Australia, Fiji and New Zealand will be represented at a meeting being held at the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga this week. The Oral Health Educators’ meeting will be held from 8.30am to 4pm on Friday 3 September. Thirty academics who teach the Bachelor of oral health programs within dentistry schools in the three counties will discuss issues such as new developments in oral health programs and regulations. The meeting is being held at CSU in Wagga Wagga following its new oral health program which began in 2009. Representing CSU at the meeting is the Head of School of Dentistry and Health Sciences, Professor David Wilson, and acting Director of the Oral Health and Dental Clinic, Mrs Helen Tane. The University introduced its Bachelor of Oral Health (Therapy/Hygiene) at CSU in Wagga Wagga and its Bachelor of Dental Science at CSU in Orange in 2009

The lives of parasites will be under the microscope in a new exhibition at the Museum of the Riverina in Wagga Wagga. Through its School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences in Wagga Wagga, Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an exhibition partner in Parasites in Focus from Wednesday 1 September until Wednesday 23 February 2011. After a tour of capital centres, the exhibition comes to Wagga Wagga at the Museum’s Botanic Garden site in Baden Powell Drive. It features spectacular photographic prints and interactive exhibits which gives a rare glimpse into the world of parasites. Head of Campus at CSU in Wagga Wagga Mr Adrian Lindner will open the exhibition at 6.30pm on Wednesday 1 September. There will be a special school holiday program for children aged eight years and above on Wednesday 6 October from 10am to 12midday. Bookings are required on 02 6926 9554. Read more about the Museum of the Riverina here.

 

Crime scenes are scattered across Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga this week as students study the finer art of criminal and forensic investigations. About 40 students are attending a four-day residential school at CSU in Wagga Wagga from Tuesday 24 August to Friday 27 August for the distance education subject, Crime Scene. The residential school includes lectures on physical evidence, its collection and preservation and coroner’s courts. From 1.30pm to 4.30pm on each day of the residential school, the students will go out into the field to examine various crime scene scenarios set up with mannequins to test practical skills.  

With the cost of the Federal election running into the tens of millions of dollars, two Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics have spoken out in favour of voting online, stating it would be cheaper, secure and more efficient. “Australians are able to do their taxes online, bank online and even register to vote online,” lecturers Mr Geoff Fellows and Mr Ken Eustace said. “Yet Australians still turn up to polling stations around the country and have their names crossed off the roll in pencil and then mark their ballot papers in pencil. The technology is there for the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to conduct the poll online. Voters could use their Medicare numbers to vote at portable ATM-style machines. The votes could still be scrutinised and it may reduce the number of voters who mistakenly vote informal if the system ensures invalid votes are authorised. Voters could also vote from home by pre-registering their computer and then voting through a special website. The AEC could even charge the political parties to have links from the special site to election material.”

An official copy of the Australian Government’s apology to child migrants in the 1900s will be displayed at the Learning Commons at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange.  With many Central West residents holding strong memories of Fairbridge Farm in Molong - one of the locations where child migrants from the United Kingdom were housed - the apology offered many a sense of closure to a dark time in Australia’s history. “Charles Sturt University in Orange is pleased to have this framed apology on display,” Head of Campus in Orange Professor Kevin Parton said. “It is an important part of our modern history and serves as a reminder to those studying here that events like this have happened.” The child migrants were from care institutions in the UK. Agencies involved in the child migration were Barnados and Fairbridge as well as agencies representing the Catholic and Protestant churches. Child and youth migration to NSW ended in 1967.

Local researchers and international guests will gather in Wagga Wagga to challenge current thinking about energy and its consumption. Attending a workshop in the city on Monday 30 August are members of a group of multi-disciplinary researchers who hail from the Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University (CSU). “The 'big' question the researchers are asking is: What can we learn from the present and the past to help people overcome energy constraints and share our resources equitably?” conference organiser, Adjunct Professor Ian Gray from the ILWS said.  At 9am on Monday 30 August at the Riverine Club in Sturt Street, Wagga Wagga, Professor Gray will welcome delegates to the three-day event, including historian Professor Colin Divall from the University of York in the United Kingdom, Professor Hans-Luidger Dienel and Dr Massimo Moraglio, both from Germany’s Berlin Technical University.

Rural health professionals will take advantage of the modern facilities when they visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange this Thursday 26 August to conduct training. Eleven nursing assistants from Orange will use CSU’s simulation hospital as part of their Certificate III in Health Services Assistance. Nurse educator for the Greater Western Area Health Service’s (GWAHS) Centre for Rural and Remote Education, Ms Trish Casey, said, “The facilities are a wonderful asset when it comes to training local professionals”. Skills laboratory attendant with the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health at CSU in Orange, Ms Sarah Strutt, hopes the ongoing relationship between the two institutions can continue to grow. “Charles Sturt University puts a lot of emphasis on these types of relationships. It gives both parties the opportunity to develop and ensures our regional communities benefit.”