Mental health industry representatives and Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff in Orange will hear about Australia’s only mental health program for Indigenous people at a meeting being held this Thursday 11 March. The Djirruwang Program, run by CSU’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health, is recognised  as a best practice model within CSU. The University's Bachelor of Health Science (Mental Health), which is part of the program, aims to prepare graduates who have appropriate knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes to work competently as mental health workers within their own communities and mainstream mental health services. The course is designed in collaboration with a community-based Aboriginal Mental Health Steering Committee and the Greater Southern Area Health Service. The members of the seminar panel include Head of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health Professor Elaine Duffy, Course Coordinator Mr Wayne Rigby, clinical coordinator of Aboriginal Mental Health, Mr Tyrone Toomey, and Program graduate Ms Sonia Butler.

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile on Sunday 28 February are reminders of the harshness of nature and the need for governments, emergency services and relief agencies to plan for natural disasters, says an expert in disaster management from Charles Sturt University (CSU). Mr Ian Manock, lecturer in emergency management at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing, said that with a burgeoning world population and in spite of increasing technology, research shows that the incidence of damage to facilities and harm to people from the impact of natural and technological hazards is increasing exponentially. He said the disaster will no doubt have emergency service agencies in Chile pushed beyond their limits and the international community will be called on to assist.

Academics, staff and students will celebrate the 2010 International Women’s Day (IWD) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst with a range of activities on the library lawn starting at 12.30pm on Monday 8 March. Two of the spokespeople for the women involved in this event, Professor Jo-Anne Reid, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Education, and  Associate Professor Jane Mills from the School of Communication and Creative Industries, said, “Our theme  is Equal rights, equal opportunity: Progress for all. The event provides an opportunity to focus on the relevance of IWD to issues of student life and culture, and foreground the intellectual and political life of our campus in a way that is both welcoming and inclusive of all students and staff”. The event has support from the Head of Campus, Mr Col Sharp, the National Tertiary Education Union, and the student association, who are all keen to advance the recognition of women in all roles in the university community, as well as in the community broadly.

The way teachers are ‘made’ in 2010 is the subject of a free public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst at 6pm Wednesday 12 May. The Head of the CSU School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, Associate Professor Ninetta Santoro, will take a historical perspective to understand the present in her lecture examining The Making of Teachers: Teacher Education for the Twenty-First Century. “I will consider what it means to be a student teacher in 2010 compared to past generations, and what effective teacher education might look like in the future,” Professor Santoro said. “The nature of teachers’ work and knowledge has undergone enormous change in recent years due to a wide range of factors including increasingly complex student demographics, developments in information technology, and the ways in which knowledge is produced and transmitted. Australian classrooms are more culturally diverse than ever before, students are more technologically savvy, and school curricula are increasingly complex and expansive.”

Members of the public, health professionals, academics and students are invited to a free public lecture by Dr Brian Maguire, a visiting US Fulbright scholar at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst, on Wednesday 19 May. Professor Peter O’Meara, Professor in Paramedic Practice and Leadership at the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Bathurst said it was a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in the future of paramedic and ambulance services to hear and meet Dr Maguire, a researcher who is contributing to the shaping of paramedic practice and services around the world. “Dr Maguire's groundbreaking research in the United States was the first to show that ambulance personnel in that country have an occupational fatality rate and a non-fatal injury rate that is far above the national average and comparable to the rates for police and fire-fighters,” Professor O’Meara said.

Participants from Charles Sturt University (CSU) recently returned from a three-day OzGreen YouthLead workshop in Sydney. Thanks to sponsorship from CSU Green, one student and one trainee attended the conference “to gain leadership training and learn more about eco-social projects that forge pathways to sustainable futures,” said CSU Green manager Mr William Adlong. Ms Lucy Denniss-Arnold, a trainee at CSU, attended the workshop and was impressed with the calibre of young people who also took part. “Never have I been in the presence of a more compassionate, kind, welcoming group of people. They made the workshop a joy.” Ms Denniss-Arnold found the course inspiring and moving. Mr Adlong said that CSU Green may look to continue offering the sponsorship in future years. “It engages participants deeply with sustainability issues and builds commitment to take actions that make a difference.”

The 2010 Central West RoboCup Junior Challenge robotics competition will see 153 students from 11 schools across the region build and operate mini robots at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Friday 25 June. The coordinator of the competition, Mr Allen Benter, a PhD student and researcher at the CSU Centre for Research in Complex Systems (CRiCS)  in Bathurst, said, “Charles Sturt University is now the official sponsor of the RoboCup Junior Challenge in the NSW central west following its strong support for the event in recent years. Staff at the University have provided technical advice to students and their teachers, have been judges at previous RoboCup events, and in February this year we held a training workshop on campus in Bathurst for students and teachers. It’s very exciting to now see this developing field so enthusiastically embraced by schools in the region.”

When you’re buying trees to plant on National Tree Day, Sunday 1 August, it’s essential to ask some questions, says senior lecturer in the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences Dr Geoffrey Burrows. “When buying native plants, it’s important that seed used in propagation comes from the local area,” Dr Burrows says. “For example, the Yellow Box eucalypt occurs naturally from Queensland to Victoria, but if you collect seed from somewhere other than your region, it means you are introducing genes that wouldn’t normally find their way to that place. You’re actually genetically polluting the local landscape.” Dr Burrows suggests shopping at a nursery that specialises in native plants where they are more likely to gather seed from the local surroundings. “You just need to ask if the seed is local before you buy the plant - that way we can naturally increase native biodiversity within the local area on National Tree Day.”

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Winery is still celebrating after being named one of the winners of a 2010 Inland Tourism Award. The winery took out the Wineries, Distilleries and Boutique Breweries Award during a ceremony held at the Temora Aviation Museum on Saturday 24 July. Established in 1977 at CSU in Wagga Wagga, the commercial winery produces premium varietal table wines. The Winery is tightly integrated with the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre.   “We are thrilled to be recognised for providing a great experience for visitors to Wagga Wagga and the Riverina,” winemaker Mr Andrew Drumm said. The CSU Winery has a number of awards to its name including 25 trophies and 95 gold medals.