During Orientation 2009, students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) helped raise money for the organisation, Aussie Helpers. Aussie Helpers is a charity that assists farming families during drought.  The student leaders at CSU at Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga collected a total of $5 883 during Orientation 2009 in February. “The Division of Student Services would like to thank all of the student leaders for working so hard to fundraise money for this year’s charity,” said Student Support Officer Mr Christopher Roche.  “It was a great achievement.  We would also like to thank the students, parents and staff that donated money.”  Each year student leaders select an organisation to fundraise for during Orientation. Aussie Helpers will be using the donation to assist families affected by drought and the Victorian bushfires. Student leaders will present a cheque to Aussie Helpers’ co-founder Mr Brian Egan at 10am Friday 29 May outside the student canteen, building 20, near car park 2, Darnell Smith Drive, CSU at Wagga Wagga.  

The Wagga Wagga Agricultural College Rugby Union Club at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will use the much anticipated clash with 2008 premiers, Wagga Wagga Waratahs, on Saturday 30 May to promote awareness of breast cancer and raise money for the McGrath Foundation. A ‘ladies day’ will be held to coincide with round seven of the Southern Inland Rugby Union competition when the 2007 premiers Wagga Wagga Agriculture College take on last year’s premiers the Wagga Wagga Waratahs in all three grades. “Against a backdrop of competitive rugby union, we hope to contribute to the vitally important ‘Breast Aware’ message of the McGrath Foundation,” said Wagga Wagga Agricultural College Rugby Union Club president Mr Shahid Khalfan. Money raised during the day, including at a special auction of the first grade players’ ‘Breast Aware’ football jerseys, will be donated to the McGrath Foundation. “I urge all members of the community to support the day and the valuable work of the McGrath Foundation,” said the third year CSU veterinary science student.

More than 1 000 Year 12 students from across the central west will converge on Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst for the annual Central West Careers Advisers Association FACTS (Facts About Careers and Tertiary Study) Day on Thursday 28 May. Final year students from Bathurst, Lithgow, Kandos, Oberon, Blayney, Cowra, Orange and Molong will have the opportunity to meet and receive information from about 120 delegates representing more than 60 career and employer organisations, including universities, private providers, TAFE, Centrelink, police and other government agencies. Ms Katy O’Brien, a Prospective Student Adviser at CSU in Orange, said “events like this are the result of the University forging closer ties with careers advisors in all schools, including private, independent and state schools. This day offers our regional school students the opportunity to experience our University by visiting the Bathurst Campus.”

Scholarships worth $330 000 will be presented to 94 students at a special ceremony at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst on Friday 29 May. The University’s Charles Sturt Foundation manages donated funds to enable students to apply for financial scholarships to assist them to meet the costs of their continuing higher education. Mrs Jan Hudson, Manager of Stakeholder and Community Relations at CSU, said that during the past 12 months, over 40 new donors have made significant contributions to the Foundation, some of which have been to the value of $1 million. “These contributions reflect the support and confidence of the corporate and community sectors through investment in the enhancement of educational pursuits of young Australians studying at CSU. Many of these students would not be in a financial position to undertake their studies without this level of support,” Mrs Hudson said.  

An academic whose work has raised Australian consciousness of the largest accident in the Army’s history will this week address a memorial service for the tragic event. In May 1945 at the Royal Australian Engineers Training Camp Kapooka near Wagga Wagga, 24 young trainee engineers and two of their instructors were killed in an explosion in a bunker during a demolitions training exercise. In 2008, CSU senior lecturer Dr Peter Rushbrook detailed the event in the journal, History of Education Review. “Apart from a mass funeral, where the coffins lay on four semi-trailers, and the subsequent inquiry, the Kapooka tragedy has disappeared altogether from our national memory,” wrote Dr Rushbrook. On Thursday 21 May from 2.15pm near the Kapooka Military Area, Dr Rushbrook will be among the official guests at the second consecutive memorial service hosted by the Army Recruit Training Centre (ARTC) Commandant Colonel G W Finney.  

The emerging serious health problem of chronic kidney disease will be examined during a public lecture in Griffith in May. The lecture on Wednesday 27 May coincides with national Kidney Health Week 2009 being held from Sunday 24 May to Saturday 30 May. Associate Professor Ann Bonner from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Nursing and Midwifery in Wagga Wagga will explain chronic kidney disease, its risk factors, optimal healthcare requirements and its impact on individuals, society and the Australian healthcare system. Associate Professor Bonner has practiced for more than 20 years as a renal nurse and has developed postgraduate renal nursing courses for universities in NSW and Queensland. Dr Bonner is also involved in collaborative research projects with renal health care clinicians in these states.

Are books becoming extinct? That is the question which will be posed by the School of Education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga during a public forum on Wednesday 27 May. In the first Edversations Professional Forum for 2009, CSU academics will join representatives from schools, education support agencies and the wider community to discuss the topic. While the next generation of children has embraced new technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and SMS, the expert panel will explore the significance of hard copy texts. “The issue is important for educators and parents alike as children are being immersed in a technological world and we need to ensure that they are equipped with the skills to navigate that world,” said one of the forum’s facilitators Ms Letitia Galloway from the School of Education. “We need to ask ourselves 'What place do books have today in the education and development of children?'” The forum is hosted by CSU and Wagga Wagga City Council.    

Actor and author Mr Brendan Cowell, who graduated in 1997 from the theatre/media course at the School of Communication at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst, narrowly missed out on the Play Award when the winners of the NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2009 were announced at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney last night, Monday 18 May. Mr Cowell’s play Ruben Guthrie  was one of six plays short-listed for the prestigious award. Theatre/media lecturer, Mr Jerry Boland, said Brendan Cowell is an immense talent whose success is highlighted by the calibre of the other nominees and by the public acclaim for his work. “Brendan has enjoyed major success both within Australia and abroad, and I congratulate him for his nomination with such illustrious company.”

The process of how mathematics is learnt by school students has long been investigated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior lecturer Dr Tamsin Meaney. The academic has worked with non-English speaking students in Sydney, Indigenous students in the Northern Territory, teachers in the Republic of Kiribati, and in a Maori school in New Zealand. At a public lecture in West Wyalong on Wednesday 27 May, Dr Meaney will discuss how children come to school with a wealth of mathematical experiences learnt outside the classroom. She will examine the common measurement experiences at home and how they assist school lessons. “The more that parents and teachers work together, the more likely that children will learn with confidence,” said Dr Meaney. ”Often with mathematics, this has lead to an emphasis on the parents having to learn about what happens in schools. However, teachers can also learn a lot about what happens at home and use this in planning more tailored learning opportunities.”