Ahead of the official start of the academic year on Monday 23 February, students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have raised almost $3 000 for the Victorian bushfire appeal. Ninety Residential Student Advisors from CSU at Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga collected $2 883.70 for the Australian Red Cross appeal during training at the University this week. The money was raised when a ransom was paid by the student leaders for the return of props used during the training. The Residential Student Advisors were undertaking training as part of CSU’s Residential Support Scheme. “This initiative is a credit to these students from across CSU’s campuses. It exemplifies the widespread commitment to assisting Victorians after the great loss of life and property,” said Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Lyn Gorman. Meanwhile, the Dean of the Faculty of Business, Professor John Hicks, has agreed to contribute $1 to the Red Cross appeal for every dollar donated by a Faculty of Business student up to $1 000. As other individual and group staff and student fundraising efforts get underway, the University cashiers’ offices on each campus are now donation points for the Australian Red Cross appeal. CSU is also offering its support to students affected by the Victorian bushfires. See here.

As part of its celebrations of the ‘father of evolution’ Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a film presentation and discussion, particularly for Years 10 to 12 high school students and their teachers, to explore the theory of evolution. Participants will view the critically acclaimed documentary film, ‘Flock of Dodos: The Evolution – Intelligent Design Circus’ and be able to discuss evolution and natural selection with CSU scientists attending the event. “Darwin’s theory of evolution is one of the most significant advancements in our understanding of the natural world. This break-through in our scientific understanding still affects many facets of modern life, despite first being published 150 years ago in his seminal book, On the Origin of Species,” says the University’s Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor Nick Klomp. The event runs from 9.30 to 11.30am, Tuesday 10 February, in the Riverina Playhouse, 8 Cross St, Wagga Wagga.

As part of its celebrations of the ‘father of evolution’ Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a film presentation and discussion, particularly for Years 10 to 12 high school students and their teachers, to explore the theory of evolution. Participants will view the critically acclaimed documentary film, ‘Flock of Dodos: The Evolution – Intelligent Design Circus’ and be able to discuss evolution and natural selection with CSU scientists attending the event. “Darwin’s theory of evolution is one of the most significant advancements in our understanding of the natural world. This break-through in our scientific understanding still affects many facets of modern life, despite first being published 150 years ago in his seminal book, On the Origin of Species,” says the University’s Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor Nick Klomp. The event runs from 9.30 to 11.30am, Tuesday 10 February, in the Nowik Lecture Theatre, Guinea St, Albury.

As Australia looks at international experience, including those of Norway, in the formation of a new Indigenous representative body in 2009, a leading Sami academic included a trip to Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga on her recent visit to the country. In Australia to attend the triennial World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education in Melbourne, Associate Professor Asta Balto, from Norway, travelled to CSU to discuss Indigenous education. The Sami people are Indigenous to the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. With a lengthy involvement in Sami education, Asta Balto is currently Associate Professor in Pedagogy at the Sámi University College in Guovdageaidnu, Norway and was recently engaged to help develop the Sami perspective in teacher education in Sweden. While at CSU, Associate Professor Balto met with Mr John Muk Muk Burke, a Wiradjuri man and one of the University’s Indigenous Learning Skills Advisors “It was a privilege to be able to talk first hand with a Sami woman about her people’s struggle for representation, particularly as Australia looks at models for an Indigenous representative body,” said Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at CSU, Dr Mary O’Dowd, who accompanied Associate Professor Balto in Australia. “Clearly the Sami Parliament would be one very relevant model. Asta was also very interested in our research at Charles Sturt University on ‘whiteness’ as it is integral to our shared nations’ understandings of how to achieve social justice for Indigenous people in Australia.”

Students wanting to complete a university degree in information technology (IT) have a local alternative pathway with plenty of job opportunities. Charles Sturt University (CSU) and TAFE NSW Riverina Institute have developed a three year course that integrates the TAFE Diploma of Information Technology (Networking) with CSU’s Bachelor of Information Technology. Students start with full-time study on the Albury Campus of Riverina Institute for the first six months before studying at both institutions. During their third and final year they study full time on CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus at Thurgoona. CSU coordinator of the joint study, Mr Jeff Ash, says the employment rate for graduates of this integrated course is very high, with all students who completed the course in 2007 gaining employment almost immediately and many offered positions before they finished. "Demand for IT graduates is sky rocketing, with the Australian Computer Society – the professional association of the IT industry – forecasting a critical and growing shortage in Australia for the foreseeable future,” Mr Ash said. The collaboration not only creates an integrated program between CSU and TAFE but also shares computing facilities to maximize the resources available to students in this course. In particular, TAFE will make specialist networking resources available to CSU students that are not available at CSU.