Life, colour, noise and action are ideas not previously associated with the traditional academic library, but Charles Sturt University has transformed its Bathurst Campus library to reflect modern thinking in the way people now learn and interact. “The new Learning Commons on Bathurst Campus is a significant departure from what a traditional library used to be, and is part of CSU’s response to the rapid evolution of learning that is driven by technology,” said CSU Library Services executive director Ms Shirley Oakley. “With our focus on co-location, co-operation and collaboration between students and academics, we have developed this 24 hour a day, seven day a week facility to support students and to attract the next generation of students to CSU.”  Bathurst Regional Council (BRC) has shown considerable interest in the new facility, with Ms Oakley and director of library operations Ms Kerryn Amery taking the Mayor of Bathurst, Mr Norm Mann, Councillor Gordon Crisp, and BRC executives on a tour of the new Learning Commons at 4pm on Monday 2 April.

CSU graduate Kathryn Suttie has won a 2007 Australian Government Quality Schooling award. Kathryn was Highly Commended in the Excellence by a Beginning Teacher category. At the ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra, Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said, “Today’s award winners are examples of some of the outstanding teachers in this country”. Kathryn, who studied Bachelor of Human Movement/Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) and now teaches PE and dance at Wagga Wagga High School (WWHS), said she “is very, very honoured. I trained as a PE teacher but I always wanted to teach dance. Dance is my passion. Here at WWHS we now have two dance ensembles, we have doubled the numbers in elective dance, and we are running HSC dance. CSU was a great university to attend. The experience that I gained as a teacher was excellent, and I owe it to them for my achievements at WWHS in some ways”.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will take over providing all services to its students such as sports clubs, medical, counselling and advisory on Wednesday 4 April. On the Bathurst Campus, the Head of Campus Professor Greg Walker will accept the handover of these services from local CSU Student Association president Patrick Dybell. “CSU students will not notice any difference in the level of services they receive at the University with the change,” said Jim Hackett, the CSU Executive Director of Finance who is overseeing the takeover of all student services by the University. “CSU has taken the stand that the student services provided by the CSU Student Association were an important part of the whole university experience, so the University has stepped in to continue these services, which are particularly important on our regional campuses.” The move has occurred as the result of the voluntary student unionism legislation passed last year by the Federal Government.

Dr Rob Duffield, lecturer in the School of Human Movement at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is a very lucky man. He just happens to be in Barbados during the 2007 International Cricket Council World Cup, and yes, he will be watching cricket. “I have tickets to see two Super 8 round games,” he explains, “the winner of group A (hopefully Australia) v winner of group D (hopefully West Indies) and 2nd in group C v 2nd in group B.” But he also there for business , attending the World Science and Medicine in Cricket Conference, which is being held in the Caribbean nation during the world’s premier one-day cricket competition. Dr Duffield says he is “excited” and “keen to see what is being done in the physiology of cricket as there is limited published work – and keen to see Australia on the pitch!”

The first university to introduce tertiary training for ambulance clinicians in 1994, Charles Sturt University (CSU) has now become the first to enter into a national accreditation process through the Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA). Because most States and Territories are moving toward university based education for paramedics, the CAA, the peak body representing the ambulance authorities in Australasia, recently began an accreditation process, “to standardise the qualifications throughout Australia, as there are now eleven providers of paramedic education in Australia,” according to Peter O'Meara, Associate Professor in CSU’s School of Biomedical Sciences. Accreditation brings ambulance clinicians into line with similar professions such as nurses, and “will allow our graduates to move around the country freely. In terms of credibility and portability it is really important,” Professor O’Meara said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a three day “Coach-the-Coach Conference” at its Bathurst Campus from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 April 2007. According to Dr Stephen Bird, a lecturer with CSU’s School of Human Movement Studies, the conference is booked out and participants will be travelling from around Australia and overseas. “Several lecturers from CSU will be presenting a number of sessions dealing with topics like training techniques, conditioning, and sports psychology and there will also be presentations from some of Australia’s leading Olympic and Commonwealth Games coaches,” Dr Bird said. The conference is being jointly organized by the Western Region Academy of Sport (WRAS) in Bathurst and its western NSW counterpart the Far Western Academy of Sport (FWAS), and is supported by the School of Human Movement Studies.

The country's top economic reform agency has called for the introduction of carbon taxes as a way to cut greenhouse emissions. The Productivity Commission, the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation, last week submitted the proposal to the Prime Minister's task force on emissions trading. Dr Roderick Duncan, lecturer in economics at Charles Sturt University (CSU), says if we are serious about cutting emissions, a carbon tax is inevitable. “But to reflect the true cost of our energy, we are going to have to drastically increase the price of petrol and electricity. People say they are very concerned about global warming, but when I tell them we could triple the price of energy, then they become a lot less enthusiastic.”

Students of Australia’s largest inland university Charles Sturt University (CSU) have been awarded seven of the nine Pharmacy Guild of Australia 2007 scholarships as part of the Guild’s Rural Pharmacy Scholarship Scheme. Faculty of Science Dean Professor Mark Burton was “thrilled” with the announcement. “It’s a testament to our health-based courses at CSU that our students receive such positive recognition. The scholarships encourage recipients to seek work in rural and remote areas which ties in with CSU’s commitment to providing trained professionals who will enhance rural communities,” said Professor Burton. To be eligible, Pharmacy students must be from a regional, rural or remote area. The students then make a presentation to the scholarship committee. Each scholarship is worth $40 000 per student over four years.

In what’s been described as a "U-turn of dramatic proportions", the same study that in 2002 warned menopausal women to abandon Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has now released findings that show HRT risks are not as bad as first thought. The Women's Health Initiative Study (WHIS), a major 15-year research program to address the most common causes of death, disability and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women, last week stated any additional risks may apply only to older women. Charles Sturt University (CSU) biomedical researcher Dr Christopher Scott says he is not surprised by the new findings. “The initial findings were quite scary, but since then they have done a lot more thorough number-crunching. HRT is considered to be beneficial to deal with the symptoms of menopause, but a woman with a strong family history of breast cancer and cardiovascular should not take HRT long term. You have to look at the particular person and what they want to use it for and how long they want to use it.”