Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers are asking beef producers to help them find out more information about a condition affecting up to 10 percent of calves. Researchers from the Fred Morley Unit are undertaking one of the first studies of the impact of scours (diarrhoea) in calves in Australian beef herds. It is the most common symptom of illness in young calves reducing growth rates and causing death in a small number of cases. Senior lecturer with the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Dr Jan Lievaart said,  “Most of the research into calf scours in beef cattle has been done in Northern America and this project aims to get hard data for the Australian situation to see if there are any differences”. Surveys have been sent to 1 000 beef producers in the Hume Livestock Health and Pest Authority area and researchers hope to follow up by collecting samples from affected animals to identify the types of pathogens causing the infection. Producers who return their surveys will receive free entry to the EH Graham Centre  Beef Field Day on Thursday 4 August.

A national conference for Australian pharmacy students will be held at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga in 2012. Members of the University’s student club, Pharmers' Society  won a competitive bid to host the National Australian Pharmacy Students’ Association or NAPSA Congress in January 2012. “Our successful bid to host this national event is sweetened by the fact this is the first time the annual NAPSA conference will be held in a regional centre,” fourth year CSU pharmacy student Mr Sean Dodd said. “We are very proud that the event will be held in inland Australia. It is a vote of confidence in those of us that choose to live, study and ultimately pursue our chosen profession in regional Australia to improve health services,” pharmacy student Ms Amy Minett said. “The work has now begun to stage a relevant and cutting edge conference in Wagga Wagga for more than 200 students from 13 universities,” Mr Dodd said. Head of CSU’s School of Biomedical Sciences Associate Professor Lyndall Angel said, “Again the pharmacy students at Charles Sturt University have shone and shown their maturity and dedication to serve rural and regional Australia”. Read more about the NAPSA Congress Wagga Wagga 2012  here.

Two students from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) in Ontario, Canada have arrived in Bathurst to work at Bathurst West Primary School as part of their studies. Ms Amanda Waugh and Mr Marcus Johnson will work at the school as part of their Bachelor of Primary Education Studies. Ms Waugh says she is enjoying her stay. “We are all loving it here and just had our first day yesterday at the school,” she said. “It was great to meet everyone.  We have found so many similarities but also so many cool differences.” The students will be in Australia until Friday 25 May.

Starting in Bathurst on Thursday 29 March, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Division of Learning and Teaching Services will hold forums on a number of its campuses for academics to discuss developments in online and mobile learning and teaching at the University. Forums facilitator, Associate Professor Philip Uys, the Director of Strategic Learning and Teaching Innovation in the CSU Division of Learning and Teaching Services, said, “The continued evolution of quality in learning and teaching at Charles Sturt University, and the growing expectations of our students for appropriate technology responses, requires the University’s staff to skilfully use an ever-growing set of internal and external educational technologies. Charles Sturt University is increasing its digital, mobile and paperless learning and teaching, which pose challenges for strategists of these new technologies, and for academics using them. It will be good to share information about education technology developments at the University and have some in-depth conversations about why these changes are occurring. We will explore what the learning and teaching potential of the respective educational technologies is, and what issues we are facing.”

Many years of dedicated rescue work has seen an IT training officer at Charles Sturt University (CSU) honoured as a ‘hidden treasure’ in the annual NSW government awards for women volunteers in rural communities. Ms Sue Dixon, who works in the CSU Division of Information Technology in Bathurst, was acknowledged in the NSW Department of Primary Industries 2011 Hidden Treasures Honour Roll for 15 years dedication since she joined the local branch of the State Emergency Service in February 1996. Ms Dixon is presently Deputy Local Controller/Rescue Officer, and an accredited rescue operator with the State Rescue Board of NSW. “It is empowering to have the skills to assist someone in their time of need,” Ms Dixon said. “I am just one of many who make a difference to people’s lives. And it is a privilege to be a part of making that difference, no matter how small my part may be. I love what I do.” The Honour Roll citation notes Ms Dixon has attended many rescues and spends approximately 20 hours per week training and responding to rescues and other emergencies such as storms and floods. She is a trainer and assessor of other SES members for road crashes and vertical rescues, and has been a member of several SES teams in national rescue competitions.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) premier ukulele group, CSUkes, are tuning up for the annual Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival on Saturday 4 February in Katoomba. CSUkes spokesperson Dr Kristina Gottschall says the Blue Mountains town will be taken over by ukuleles and ukulele players of all shapes and sizes when they descend, or ascend, from all corners of the globe to play non-stop across two stages for over 12 hours. “As ‘veterans’ of the festival, now in its third year, the CSUkes will play a range of pop, folk, and rock-out tunes,” Dr Gottschall said. “This includes Five Foot Two on quirky banjolele with a very loud voice, a punk version of My Guy, and even a Monty Python classic. The festival will also feature workshops, busking, and an ‘open microphone’ section for ukulele players of all skill levels.” CSUkes will perform at 5.30pm Saturday 4 February at St Hilda’s Church Hall, 68 Katoomba Street, Katoomba. The other festival venue is the Carrington Hotel Ballroom.

Several new facilities at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst have been completed or are nearing completion, and others refurbished, for the arrival of students and the start of the new academic year at the end of February. Mr Col Sharp, Head of Campus at CSU in Bathurst, said, “In late 2011, work was completed on the relocation and extensive refurbishment of the Learning Commons at the Truskett Library. The $3.5 million project, which includes new computers and study areas, was funded by the University and the federal government’s Better Universities Renewal Funding. The Diggings student residences, built in 1974, have had a total refurbishment - paint, carpets, furniture, and safety features – for approximately $1.2 million, funded by the University. This is part of a broader $2 million upgrade of student residences, including the on campus John Oxley Village, and the off-campus Mitchell, Truskett and Gordon Houses in Brilliant Street, Bathurst. The new hi-tech Regional Inter-Professional Clinical Simulation Centre costing $2.8 million will become operational this month for use by nursing and paramedic staff and students. It was funded by CSU and the government’s Capital Development Pool Program. There are four new tennis courts and two multipurpose/basketball courts as part of the ongoing ‘Health and Wellness’ and sports facilities and amenities upgrade funded by a federal government Voluntary Student Union grant of $2.6 million with a $500 000 contribution by CSU. This includes new access ramps, pathways, and picnic shade structure and barbeque areas.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers representing the areas of emergency management, community psychology, and economics, will host a meeting in Molong on Wednesday 8 February to discuss community preparedness for flooding, and their expectations relating to warnings, response, and recovery. Mr Ian Manock, lecturer in emergency management at the CSU Australian Graduate School of Policing said the meeting follows a postal survey distributed to residents in early January which sought responses to questions about community preparedness and expectations related to flooding in the Molong area. “This is part of a broader research project being conducted by the University which aims to analyse how a number of rural communities in both Australia and Bangladesh prepare for and react to flooding,” Mr Manock said. “Although different in terms of culture, economy, and size, the communities share similarities in that they are all exposed to flooding on a regular basis, and are all located outside major urban areas. We aim to use the experiences of the communities to identify strategies that can improve community preparedness, enable government agencies to better understand community expectations, and hopefully reduce the impact of future flooding on these rural and semi-isolated communities.” The community meeting is at 7pm Wednesday 8 February in the Molong Community Hall.

Academics in health disciplines will hold a day-long trial in the new $2.8 million regional inter-professional clinical simulation centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Friday 24 February. Coordinator of the trial, Dr Ann Lazarsfeld-Jensen, a lecturer in the Bachelor of Clinical Practice in the School of Biomedical Sciences, said, “This first event in the new clinical simulation centre will be an exciting pilot run for a major research project, with another exercise scheduled for April. We will run five scenarios on a tight schedule using ‘actors’ (staff) from the School of Biomedical Science. Medical professionals are generally taught in their own discipline groups and have little contact with each other until they get into clinical settings. In the simulation centre, we will have inter-disciplinary groups – nurses, doctors, registrars, paramedics and other health professionals – working together in the research project.” The $153 000 research project is funded by Australian General Practice Education (GPET), in collaboration with Beyond Medical Education (BME) which is responsible for the further training of general practitioners in this region.