Charles Sturt University (CSU) is lending its expertise to a recruitment campaign with a difference. Instead of targeting prospective students, this campaign is targeting pet dogs. In partnership with the Sydney Animal Behavioural Service and the company HomeoPet, CSU is recruiting 150 dogs from across Australia to participate in research into the treatment of anxious animals. The study will examine the effect on dogs of the homeopathic remedy known as Anxiety. “We would like to hear from anyone who has a pet dog which reacts to thunderstorms,” said Dr Jacqui Ley from the Sydney Animal Behavioural Service. “The anxiety may be demonstrated in behaviour ranging from destructive activities to simply barking at a storm.” “Through its veterinary science program, CSU will be supporting the research by analysis of the data,” said Head of the CSU School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Professor Kym Abbott.

A national award promoting religious harmony and acceptance within Australian society has been bestowed on Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in theology, Associate Professor Clive Pearson. The principal of the United Theological College (UTC) in Sydney, within the CSU School of Theology, received an Australian Affinity Award in September. The award recognised Professor Pearson’s significant contributions in the study of religion, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and the ‘facilitating' by CSU in this dialogue. Associate Professor Pearson was particularly recognised for his work on the public theology of issues of diversity in Sydney, including analysis of the riots in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla in December 2005. “The United Theological College has been working with Affinity and Sydney’s Islamic community firstly out of concern for the neighbour, for the stranger in our midst and a concern for social cohesion,” said Associate Professor Pearson. “We have attended and presented at each other's conferences because we believe that it is important for a Christian theology to be done these days in the presence of the religious other as well as the secular.”

In the lead up to the Super Cheap Autos Bathurst 1000 motor race on Sunday 12 October, event promoter V8 Supercars Australia awarded scholarships to five Charles Sturt University (CSU) students to assist them with their studies. At a ceremony at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery on Thursday 9 October, the retiring chief executive officer of V8 Supercars Australia, Mr Wayne Cattach, presented the scholarships totalling $30 000 to CSU students Ms Lauren Mason, Ms Caris Bizzaca, Mr Justin Lanser, Mr David Marchese and Ms Amy Spear. Head of Bathurst Campus, Mr Col Sharp, said “Charles Sturt University appreciates the generous support of its students by V8 Supercars Australia, which has contributed over $85 000 worth of scholarships to 32 Bathurst recipients in recent years. All the scholarship winners were highly motivated young people who are achieving well in their studies and more broadly.”

After 35 years as a lecturer at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and its predecessor institution, Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), Associate Professor Noel Thomas has retired from his role as Head of the School of Teacher Education. Professor Thomas began his teaching career in 1968, and after completing a Masters degree in mathematics, taught at the University of Papua New Guinea before joining MCAE in 1973. Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education, Professor Jo-Anne Reid, said Professor Thomas’s distinguished career as a teacher educator has brought the respect of both students and colleagues. “Retiring as Head of the School of Teacher Education, the largest School on the Bathurst Campus, Professor Thomas has shown his capacity to grow and change over the years, developing a research profile and working in the classroom with children learning mathematics right up to the end of this career,” she said. Professor Thomas will be farewelled by colleagues at a dinner at the University on Monday 20 October.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bathurst Campus Health Promotion Service is holding a free ‘Chill Out’ barbeque on the library lawn at 11.30am on Thursday 16 October to promote awareness of mental health, sexual health, and alcohol and other drug issues. CSU spokesperson and University nurse, Ms Kathryn Foster, said October is Mental Health Month at CSU and this promotion has been designed to bring in relevant organisations to encourage a closer link between the University and the wider community. “Often, mental health issues can influence students’ intake of alcohol and drugs, leading to poor sleep, course failure, violence and unsafe sex,” she said. “So it is important for everyone to be aware of the services available in our community to help when stress, anxiety or depression are affecting our daily lives.” A range of services and personnel will be present to advise students and guide activities.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Teacher Education will stage a conference about environmental sustainability at the Bathurst Campus on Friday 24 October. Ms Jan Page, lecturer at the School of Teacher Education, said the conference, Education for Sustainability: Connecting Classrooms and Communities, will provide practical ideas for teachers and community members to adapt and adopt. “The focus is on ways that education for environmental sustainability can be used as an integrating tool for both the school curriculum and for connecting classrooms and communities. The conference is particularly timely given the attention that environmental issues are receiving, and aims to raise the importance of environmental education in schools,” Ms Page said. The conference will include a panel discussion with teachers who have experience of implementing environmental initiatives in schools.

A new play that examines the impact of war, politics, economic growth and the vision of three significant Australian writers on three generations of a Bathurst family will premiere in Bathurst on Thursday 23 October. ‘Asparagus’ is written by Mr Ray Harding, a theatre/media lecturer at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication, with assistance from another CSU lecturer, historian Dr Robin McLachlan, from the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies. The play’s author said, “Coming to Bathurst has been an object lesson for me in what the play’s director, Bill Blaikie, a former CSU theatre/media lecturer, calls 'looking for the poetry beneath our own feet'. There is a wealth of fascinating stories laden with dramatic possibilities here which we have only just begun to mine." The Bathurst Theatre Company production of ‘Asparagus’ will be performed at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre from Thursday 23 to Saturday 25 October, starting at 8pm.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will stage a range of activities sponsored by its Bathurst Campus Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee to mark Safe Work Australia Week (19-25 October). CSU OH&S Committee spokesperson, Ms Carissa Michel, said that work-related injury, illness and death can be prevented through the adoption of safer work practices. “Safety is everybody’s business, and as part of the national workplace safety awareness week we encourage all Charles Sturt University staff and students to concentrate on safety to reduce workplace death, injury and disease. The focus of activities on the Bathurst Campus will be a free sausage sizzle on the library lawn from 12 noon until 2pm on Wednesday 22 October, with various safety activities, giveaways and work safety information available. We also urge all staff to complete their OH&S Workplace Inspection or Safety Management Plan, to meet with their Campus OH&S Committee members, and for all staff and students to report any hazards they identify,” Ms Michel said.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism student has won an award from the Australian Press Council (APC) for ‘outstanding achievement in a subject related to the objects of the Council’. Lecturer in journalism at the CSU School of Communication, Mr Chris McGillion, said that what makes Ms Stephanie Boulet’s APC Prize unusual is that she is a third-year broadcast student, not a print student. “Stephanie was nominated by journalism staff at the School of Communication on the basis of her outstanding academic transcripts and an essay she wrote concerning the ethics of covering Aboriginal issues,” Mr McGillion said. “The Press Council accepted my recommendation even though she is a broadcast major because of the importance of ethics and journalism. This award to a broadcast student demonstrates, in a sense, the APC's appreciation of the continuing merging of traditional print and broadcast media, and how ethical journalism underpins both." Ms Boulet, who is from Castle Hill in Sydney, will be presented with a certificate and a cheque for $300 from the APC by Head of the School of Communication, Mr Rod McCulloch, on Tuesday 21 October.