The Mitchell Student Guild of Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst will again host the annual Kids Day Out charity fundraiser on Saturday 3 March. The director of this year’s Kids Day Out, Ms Alyce Woods, said, “This year’s event promises to be a jam-packed day with appearances from everyone’s favourites, Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego, and Toy Story characters Buzz and Woody, as well as our favourite fairy, Tinkerbell. This year we’ll also have some great rides for both the little kids and the big kids at heart. All proceeds will go to the Bathurst Base Hospital Paediatric Ward, and the local Riding for the Disabled organisation.” The event will also feature carnival rides, kids craft making stalls, an animal petting zoo, jumping castles, barbeque and food stalls, candy and show bags, a community stage with various local musicians and performers, raffles, roving performers, face painting, an ambulance on display, and a special look at our emergency services.

A Japanese academic will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst this week to discuss plans for a filmmaking project linking local high school students with Bathurst sister-city, Okhuma, in Japan. Associate Professor Jane Mills, a lecturer and researcher at the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, will host the visit by Associate Professor Hirotoshi Yaginuma, a fine arts teacher from the Faculty of Education at Niigata University. They will collaborate on the project, and will discuss it with CSU staff in Bathurst and Wagga Wagga, via video-conference, on Wednesday 29 February. “Professor Yaginuma and I are planning a screen literacy research project involving teachers and students from Bathurst High School and from Bathurst’s sister city of Okhuma, who have been relocated to another city, away from the nearby tsunami-caused nuclear disaster zone at Fukushima last year,” Professor Mills said. “This project relates to research about the role of popular screen culture in student engagement levels, the capabilities of the camera on a smart phone for screen literacy learning, and the potential of the mobile phone camera for cultural participation and global citizenship.”

The annual Kids Day Out charity fundraiser planned for Saturday 3 March at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst has been postponed due to the recent heavy rain. Ms Alyce Woods, the director of the event organised by the Mitchell Student Guild at CSU, said, “Due to heavy rain in Bathurst this week we have had to postpone the 2012 Kids Day Out until September. We regret any inconvenience, but the ground is just too soggy for the safe and practical staging of the event. We look forward to better conditions later in the year, and hope to delight children and families with a fun-filled day then.”

The Dean of the Faculty of Business, Professor Lesley White, will host a ceremony to present 11 prizes to outstanding students in the Faculty of Business at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Wednesday 14 March. “The prizes cover a range of disciplines including accounting, taxation, management, marketing, information technology and computer science, and I am delighted that they are made available to outstanding students by organisations which understand the importance of supporting our future business leaders,” Professor White said. Sponsors include the Central West Law Society, Pearson Australia, St George Bank Ltd, the Association of Taxation and Management Accountants, CPA Australia Ltd, Devro Pty Ltd, LexisNexis Australia, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Twenty three Dean’s List Awards will also be presented to acknowledge outstanding academic performance by students in the Faculty.

The annual Somerville Lecture celebrates the contribution of Professor Warren Somerville to the scientific and Bathurst communities, and in 2012 the lecture will be delivered by Charles Sturt University (CSU) scientist Dr Andrew Rawson at the new Flannery Centre in Bathurst on Tuesday 17 April. Dr Rawson is an adjunct associate professor at the CSU School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences who teaches climate change science at CSU in Orange. He is also a senior scientist with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and his primary role within the NSW government is to provide scientific support to climate change policy development. Dr Rawson has contributed to the NSW Greenhouse Plan, the NSW Soils Policy, and the NSW Climate Impacts Profile. The topic of Dr Rawson’s lecture is, Climate Change – reconciling modern climate change with the geological record. CSU education lecturer and Somerville Lecture spokesman, Dr Peter Wilson, said, “This is the third Somerville Lecture and it will be a very appropriate inaugural event at the newly-completed Flannery Centre. The subject of climate change is now an abiding topic of public interest and debate, and the Centre will provide a focus for practical environmentally responsible training and skills development.”

Twenty two Year 5 and Year 6 students from Parkes Christian School participated in ‘Check It Out Day’ as part of the Future Moves program at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst today, Tuesday 27 March. Ms Sue Rogan, the manager of Pre-entry Programs, Academic Support, said, “Check It Out Day is an exciting interactive experience for primary school students that includes faculty workshops with robots, water bombs, and theatre. The students were led by a team of enthusiastic undergraduate students who volunteered their time to encourage students to consider university as an option when they leave school. By exposing students at a young age to the university experience, they develop confidence to pursue further knowledge about degrees and pathways as they go through high school.” The students participated in workshops presented by the School of Computing and Mathematics (robots), the School of Teacher Education (science) and the School of Communication and Creative Industries (theatre/media). They also toured the campus, had lunch in the student dining hall, and attended a mock graduation ceremony. This is the first time Parkes school students have participated in a Future Moves event at CSU, and another event for more than 60 students is planned for May.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students and staff will puff and pant to work and study on Wednesday 12 October as part of the annual Ride to Work Day 2011. Cyclists from CSU in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga will participate in the morning event, which will finish with a free breakfast. Event coordinator, Ms Nicole Maher from CSU Green, said the Ride to Work Day is a great way to, “enjoy some exercise, travel with low emissions and enjoy a free breakfast. More and more people are riding to work for fitness, health and to reduce their environmental footprints, as well as to enjoy a relaxing period before the pressures of daily work.” Tips on cycling to work are available from the Ride to Work official site here.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is encouraging schools from across NSW and Victoria to compete in a new online business simulation competition to invigorate student engagement in their business studies. The CSU Faculty of Business is introducing to schools CSU Business - Game On, a ‘virtual’ business competition where Year 11 students form teams and play for the opportunity to win regional prizes of up to $1 000 or the major prize of $2 500. “Participating student teams will engage in the GoVenture Any Business simulation game that is hosted and funded by Charles Sturt University,” explains Dr Abhishek Dwivedi, a lecturer in the School of Management and Marketing. “It allows students to build and operate their own ‘virtual’ business in a simulated market environment.”

The 2012 Police Expo at Darling Harbour in Sydney on Sunday 1 April will give prospective recruits the opportunity to learn about the range of policing courses offered by Charles Sturt University (CSU). Ms Amanda Davies, lecturer and course director for the Associate Degree in Policing Practice at the CSU School of Policing Studies in Goulburn, said, “Charles Sturt University is proud to participate at the 2012 Police Expo, which is part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of the NSW Police Force. The University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate policing courses. The Associate Degree in Policing Practice is a starting point for new recruits, and other courses enable officers to advance their careers and specialist interests, including law enforcement research and management, through the CSU Australian Graduate School of Policing at Manly.”