Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media student, Mr Adam Deusien will be heading to Brisbane in January 2008 to take-up a prestigious six-month internship with the Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre company. Adam is the first CSU student to win one of the highly contested internships with Zen Zen Zo. He will specialise in Viewpoints, a technique taught to him at weekly workshops since April by Ms Fiona Green, associate lecturer at the School of Communication at CSU’s Bathurst Campus, and Ms Margie Breen, Performing Arts Producer/Animateur at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre. Ms Green said, “Adam is a dedicated and motivated student who has the talent and drive to succeed in a difficult industry. We’ve told him to dream big and that’s just what he’s done.” Mr Deusien will undertake a rigorous training program with 13 other interns from around Australia and then perform in a company production at the end of the internship. He will then return to Bathurst to finish his degree and conduct workshops with theatre/media students in 2008.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Chancellor, Mr Lawrence Willett, AO, will host a community reception Thursday 6 December to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of CSU’s Dubbo Campus. The event will be marked by the release of the 10 Year Anniversary booklet and the launch CSU’s Centre for Inland Health (CIH) in Dubbo.  Head of CSU’s Dubbo Campus, Mr Gary Shipp said, “The Chancellor has invited all staff to attend the community reception in recognition of their invaluable, loyal and friendly service to the University and community". Mr Shipp also explained that The Centre for Inland Health is different to most of the University’s other Centres in that “it uses academics from all campuses who are involved in research and development in the four CSU faculties – Arts, Business, Education and Science – to serve the shared vision of health for our inland communities”.

This week Mr Kevin Wilkins, senior lecturer in mathematics at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Accounting and Computer Science, will retire after 30 years’ service on the Bathurst Campus. Mr Wilkins began lecturing at CSU’s predecessor, the Mitchell College of Advanced Education, in 1974. Head of School, Associate Professor Ross Wilson, said, “Kevin is a person who has the best interests of his students and his colleagues as his priority at all times. He is always available to offer help to students and staff with intriguing mathematical problems. His colleagues will miss his passion for ensuring his workmates get a 'fair go' at all times.” A former Head of the School, Associate Professor Sue Moffatt, praised Mr Wilkins as an example of the kind of excellence in teaching that institutions such as CSU need in a competitive market. “As a teacher, Kevin had the capacity to make complex concepts seem straightforward and he challenged even the brightest Games Technology student. The student evaluations of ‘Big K’ were always well above the mean.”

The potential of a new generation of web technologies, collectively known as Web 2.0, has attracted keen interest in a seminar being organised by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Information Studies and the National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra on Tuesday 27 November. About 150 people, representing libraries, cultural institutions as well as commercial organisations, are expected at the seminar entitled, Web 2.0 and its potential for the library community. “This seminar will explore very significant issues in terms of how organisations such as libraries can make interaction online much easier and user-friendly,” said Mr Jake Wallis, a lecturer in CSU’s School of Information Studies. Due to the high level of interest in the event from across Australia, staff from the CSU School of Information Studies plan to broadcast the series of talks via the Internet. The seminar will be held in the NLA theatre in Canberra at 8.45am on Tuesday 27 November.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) education expert believes greater investment in quality early childhood education and care would reduce the need to invest in gaols. Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, Professor Toni Downes has welcomed both Coalition and Labor policies which she says are trying to make early childhood education and care more affordable for Australian families. Professor Downes welcomes Labor’s pledge to create an entitlement for all four year olds to have at least 15 hours of early childhood education and care. Professor Downes says “While these initiatives are wonderful, they don’t go far enough. I would argue it should be the entitlement of all three and four year olds in Australia to have at least 15 hours of quality early education. In pushing for this additional investment in early childhood education, I contend that there are significant long term economic and social returns for the country. I firmly believe the more we invest in early childhood education the less we would need to invest in prisons,” Professor Downes said.

On the eve of the 2007 federal election well known pollster, Mr Sol Lebovic will deliver a keynote address to the Australian Media Traditions conference at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bathurst Campus on Thursday 22 November. Mr Lebovic is the founder of Newspoll and is The Australian newspaper’s polling consultant for the 2007 federal election campaign. The conference is being hosted by CSU’s School of Communications. The School, in association with radio station 2MCE-FM, is using the latest in web streaming technology to broadcast Mr Lebovic’s address over the internet, as well as the Friday keynote address by Ms Rose Holley from the National Library of Australia (NLA). The live internet broadcasts will be transmitted via the AMT Live! on the conference website. Ms Holley is the manager of the NLA’s newspaper digitisation program, which aims to digitise all Australian newspapers, allowing Australians to share in the country’s wealth of newspaper heritage. Conference convenor Ms Margaret Van Heekeren, from the CSU School of Communications, said the use of web streaming technology “takes the conference out of the conference room and gives the broader public a chance to hear from experts”.

A self-help recovery group for people with eating disorders will be established in Bathurst in early December under the umbrella of Sydney-based Eating Disorders Foundation Inc. (EDF). Dr Stephanie Quinton, a health psychologist at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies on its Bathurst Campus said this was the EDF’s first ‘rural’ group outside of Sydney. “This is a self-help recovery group open to local people who might be interested in participating. EDF will assess enquiries and then provide suitable people with information about the date, time and location of group meeting,” Dr Quinton said. Meetings will be held in the evening on the first Monday of each month on CSU’s Bathurst Campus.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD student Mr David Dowell will present results from his doctoral thesis at a public workshop particularly aimed at local businesses in Bathurst on Tuesday 27 November. Mr Dowell’s research focused on the development of trust in business-to-business relationships and its effect on the performance of a business. Mr Dowell’s supervisor, Professor Mark Morrison, said “the meeting to discuss David’s research results is an excellent opportunity for local business people to learn of developments and thinking in the area of business trust. Other experts in this field - Professors Louise Young and Ian Wilkinson from Sydney and CSU’s Professor Denise Jarratt - will attend to comment on the significance of David’s work”. Professor Young will also give a presentation from her own research on ‘Two decades of trust research’. Local business people and interested public are invited to attend the workshop on 27 November from 12.30 to 2.30pm at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, William St, Bathurst.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will honour a woman from inland NSW whose influence is felt across Australia and North America. Dr Jill Ker Conway will be conferred with a Doctor of Arts (honoris causa) in recognition of her achievements in educational leadership in Northern America, for her contribution to Australian society and business, and as a champion of social justice and women’s rights in a ceremony to be held in Wagga Wagga this evening, Tuesday 20 November. Dr Conway has served on the boards of numerous companies, including Nike, Colgate Palmolive and Merrill Lynch, and as Chair of Lend Lease Corporation. She was born in 1934 in the small township of Hillston and spent the early part of her childhood on the family property “Coorain”, located on the far western plains of NSW. The honorary doctorate will be awarded to Dr Conway at the Convention Centre on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, starting at 6.30pm.