Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Shahbaz Khan, Director of the International Centre for Water, Senior Principal Scientist and Research Leader with CSIRO Land and Water and Regional Coordinator of the Asia Pacific office of UNESCO IHP-HELP, continues to attract accolades for his world leading water research. Professor Khan has been awarded the Modelling Society of Australia and New Zealand (MSSANZ) Biennial Medal for Natural Systems, after also recently winning a prestigious Eureka Award. Based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, Professor Khan says, “The recognition is great news for CSU and CSIRO research”. CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Vice-President (Research) Professor Paul C Burnett says, “It is fantastic to see that Professor Khan’s work and contribution to new knowledge in this area is being so widely recognised. He and his team should be proud of what they have achieved.” The Biennial Medal will be presented in December at the MSSANZ 2007 conference in New Zealand.

Improve returns from cattle bound for the Asian market will be the focus of a forum hosted by the Asian Agribusiness Research Centre at the Orange Campus of Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Wednesday 26 September. The meeting, titled Asia Today 2007 - Building Beef Returns, will be held at Borenore near Orange. Dr Claus Deblitz, Director of the Asian Agribusiness Research Centre, said Asia Today 2007 will focus on the opportunities available for beef producers who wish to take advantage of this growing regional market. “The practical morning session will provide industry experts demonstrating muscle density testing, low stress stock handling and related activities,” Dr Deblitz said. “In the afternoon, the forum will provide information for the beef industry and review opportunities in international markets. It will address major beef market trends world-wide and in Asia, improving  beef tenderness and marbling to meet customer needs, prospects of beef production in China and the Australian live cattle export business.” Keynote speaker Rob Sinnamon, the 2007 NSW Farmer of the Year, will outline how he significantly improved the profitability of a 5 000 head Santa Gertrudis beef operation he manages near Casino on the NSW North Coast,.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Nursing and Midwifery and Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) have entered into a partnership to offer the CSU nursing degree by distance education to Enrolled Nurses to commence study in February 2008. Residential schools for the students will held be at the Dubbo campus with students able to undertake clinical placements in GWAHS, reducing personal and financial cost to the students. Heather Latham, CSU nursing course manager, says that the University and GWAHS recognise this partnership is important in addressing the critical shortage of Registered Nurses in rural hospitals. “This partnership model provides additional support for Enrolled Nurses to upgrade their knowledge and skills to Registered Nurses while continuing to live and work in their local communities,” Ms Latham said. “GWAHS has allocated a Nurse Educator to support the students during the four year course and this person will work closely with the School of Nursing and Midwifery.”

Interested in studying clinical sciences, nursing or pharmacy? Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Biomedical Sciences is holding an information session on the Orange Campus on Saturday 22 September between 2pm and 4pm for students interested in enrolling in these courses. Dr Debbie Burton, Course Coordinator for the Bachelor of Clinical Science, says people from the Orange region can see what CSU offers in health and medical science courses and to learn about the University’s commitment to alleviating the shortage of health and medical practitioners in inland Australia. “CSU is playing a crucial role in educating health professionals for inland communities. We have seen 60 to 70 per cent of CSU health graduates gaining work and staying in the country. As the range of health courses offered by CSU increases, so will the number of practicing health professionals in inland communities,” Dr Burton said. Information will also be available on the new School of Dentistry and Oral Health that will be established in 2009.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is sending a 115-strong team of students to compete in the annual Australian University Games on the Queensland Gold Coast from Sunday 23 to Friday 28 September. This year the games organisers expect around 6 000 students from over 40 universities from across Australia to compete in a range of sports. While CSU has competed successfully before, this is the first year that CSU has representatives from all its major campuses as well as Distance Education students at the games. CSU individuals or teams have entered in athletics, beach volleyball, fencing, golf, men's and women's hockey, women's and mixed netball, mixed touch football, rugby union 7s, water polo and ultimate frisbee. CSU team manager Niklaus Granger said, "The Australian University Games boast previous Commonwealth and World University Games participants. CSU is usually strong in hockey, touch football and rugby union, but who knows what 2007 will hold for the combined CSU team?" Go, CSU, go!

Six Charles Sturt University (CSU) students studying at the University’s Bathurst Campus have won scholarships in 2007 from V8 Supercars in association with Bathurst Regional Council (BRC). The students received praise from V8 Supercars, BRC and CSU representatives at a race week presentation ceremony at the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst on Thursday 4 October. CSU representative and acting Head of the School of Communication, Mr Rod McCulloch, said, “This tripartite relationship allows our students to benefit from Bathurst’s proud association with Australian motor racing. I thank V8 Supercars Australia and BRC, and its predecessor, Bathurst City Council (BCC), for its long history of supporting students through the Charles Sturt Foundation scholarship program. Starting in 1986, scholarships have been funded by BCC and BRC for the past 21 years, demonstrating their significant commitment to support education in the region.” CSU student Trent Hile, who is studying a double degree in Sports Studies and Journalism, is the recipient of the 2007 Peter Brock Memorial Scholarship.

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.

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.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) have extended condolences to the Drayton family over the tragic death of Mr Trevor Drayton who was killed in an explosion at the Drayton Family Winery at Pokolbin in the NSW Hunter Valley on Thursday 17 January 2008. Professor Thomas Henick-Kling, Director, National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, says Mr Drayton was a highly respected leader of the Australian wine industry who will be sadly missed by all who knew and worked with him. His knowledge and experience was a wonderful resource for the national wine industry. Mr Drayton contributed to the research activities of the NWGIC and his input will be missed but not forgotten. CSU and the NWGIC also expresses condolences to the family of a second man, Mr Edgar Orgo, also killed in the tragic incident, and hopes for a full and speedy recovery of Mr William Rikard-Bell, a graduate of CSU in 2006 with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine Science), who was injured in the conflagration.