Students completing postgraduate courses in Captive Vertebrate Management at Charles Sturt University (CSU) visited the Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo last week to work closely with the Zoo’s habitants. The students, travelling from as far away as  Darwin, Perth and California, spent the week working closely with Dubbo Zoo veterinarian Dr Tim Portas. The courses developed in co-operation with Western Plains Zoo were the first in Australia to offer specialisation in captive vertebrate management. Students are provided with the knowledge and skills to manage zoos and wildlife parks based on a thorough understanding of animal behaviour, the requirements of captive reptiles or birds, preventative medicine, reproduction biology and zoo and exhibit design principles. Dr Portas showed students an ultrasound image of eggs in the reproductive tract of one of the Galapagos tortoise females.  Last year the turtles laid but all the eggs were infertile. Dr Portas is more confident that the new eggs will be fertile because of a positive reproductive examination of the males.

Romance was in the air at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bathurst graduation last week when Donna Trim and Leigh McCulloch received their Bachelor of Computer Science (Games Technology) degrees. Donna is the first female graduate of the course, “I knew it would be male dominated but I thought there might be at least one other girl. It was kind of normal for me going through High School doing IT subjects like computer programming with mostly males.” There was an upside however: “I got quite a bit of attention being the only female." Leigh and Donna, who met while doing the Games course, are now real-life partners. The day was an extra special one for them, with Leigh giving the Vote of Thanks, graduating with distinction, receiving the School of Information Technology Prize for Academic Excellence, and “our parents meeting each other for the first time which was exciting”. CSU’s Information Technology does have a female Head of School, Associate Professor Sue Moffat, who says “there are only two female academics in this School. It would be nice if we managed 50-50 in my lifetime but a ratio of one third females is something to aim for.” Donna enrolled in the Games course because she loves working with computers and loves playing games. She now has her “dream job”, programming multiple player mobile phone games for Viva La Mobile in Surry Hills in Sydney.  

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Deputy Chancellor Ian Macintosh received his Australia Day 2006 award, the Member in the Order of Australia (AM), at an investiture ceremony at Government House in Sydney on Friday. The AM is for services to local government, regional development, higher education and public relations. Mr Macintosh says “it is certainly an honour and something that gives you a good warm feeling”, adding that he did not find it cause for self-congratulation. “You look back and think I could have done it better, I could have done more. I could have worked a bit harder, tried a bit harder”. It is a surprisingly humble self-assessment. CSU’s Vice-Chancellor Ian Goulter said Mr Macintosh’s skills and background have strengthened the University. “Mr Macintosh has made a major contribution to both the NSW Central West and the University.” Mr Macintosh says he is most proud of his involvement with the Australian Nuffield Farming scholarships, which are now the premier agricultural scholarships in Australia, his 8 ½ years as Mayor of Bathurst and especially CSU. “CSU is a phenomenally successful operation. The people who built it up showed enormous foresight and energy. It was then and still is a great team of people. My commitment to CSU is about making it not just the state’s, but Australia’s, dominant regional tertiary institution and I think it is an achievable objective.”

One of the first music lecturers at Bathurst Teacher’s College (BTC), John Cassim, has donated $20 000 to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Foundation Trust. The funds will be used to support the John Cassim Award for Music Education and will be awarded to a student who is undertaking one or both of the two music electives of their teaching degree. When Mr Cassim arrived at the brand new BTC in 1951, it was an era that today’s staff and students would hardly recognise. He particularly recalls one night when a student was discovered with a bottle of beer. “Well that student was dismissed on the spot. I couldn’t believe it.” He says he “loved the students” and he hopes the scholarship money will help the recipient with their University fees. After Bathurst, Mr Cassim taught in Sydney and conducted for the Sydney Opera Company, the precursor to Opera Australia, before establishing a thoroughbred horse racing stud in Bowral. Now 85, he is still breeding race horses and loves to play CDs “so the mares and foals can listen to music”.

A $100 000 scholarship will enable Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD student Jodie Ivers to conduct research into the way people manage their electricity usage . Ms Ivers is the recipient of Country Energy’s inaugural Energy Efficiency Research Scholarship. The industry scholarship will allow the postgraduate student to research renewable energy or an area known as demand management. “Demand management could be changed using new technology such as  a “smart meter” in people’s homes. The meter could tell the resident how much electricity is being used at any time and how much it is costing,” explained Ms Ivers. At peak times, an alarm would alert a resident to warn them the cost will escalate. And why aren’t more people taking up the option of green electricity? “This is what I have to find out. Basically what I’ll be doing is finding out what consumers think about renewable energy, what they know about it, what their attitudes towards green electricity are and trying to find ways to increase adoption and awareness,” said the CSU student. Originally from the central west town of Oberon, Ms Ivers now lives in Bathurst. “I like the socially responsible aspect of research, so I would love to see my work make a difference in what’s happening in regional areas, and reduce the amount of fossil fuels that we are using,” added Jodie Ivers.

The title of 2006 Royal Bathurst Showgirl has been bestowed on Charles Sturt University (CSU) communication student Jennifer Browning. Studying the double degree of Bachelor of  Sports Studies/Bachelor of Arts (Communication/Journalism), as well as holding down a cadetship with the National Radio News (NRN) on CSU’s Bathurst Campus, Ms Browning went to school in the city and is now undertaking her university studies in Bathurst.  “I think being an ambassador for the city of Bathurst will be wonderful,” said Jennifer Browning. She says her communications and interview training was a distinct advantage in the competition. “I am an NRN cadet so we are always immersed in what’s going on around us both in the community and on a national level.” The ten young women were judged on local knowledge, current affairs, deportment and personality. Next stop for the CSU student is a two day course in deportment and personal presentation skills in Dubbo, before the Central West zone competition.

The boys-only Dead Bones Society meets under the gigantic jaw of a T. rex for its third session on Thursday 13 April. The writing workshops at the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst have been so successful that more sessions are planned for the rest of this year and next. Teenage fiction author, Charles Sturt University (CSU) tutor and literacy consultant Paul Stafford says the ‘comedy horror’ workshops are aimed at gifted nine to 12-year-olds with an interest in writing and science. “It’s like a secret club because boys love that kind of thing. A creepy old museum at night is pretty exciting.” The boys are mentored by male teacher education students from CSU where Paul Stafford graduated with a degree in print journalism. Penny Packham, public programs officer at the museum, says the CSU students help the boys focus and express their ideas. “It’s giving the students an opportunity they don’t otherwise have. They are incredibly enthusiastic and quite happy to offer their time.” The workshops have been so successful the museum is looking to expand the program and run similar workshops for girls.

Described as an ardent and vocal supporter of the pharmacy program at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Ian Dean has been awarded a Companion of the University. Mr Dean has worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, UK and the USA. From 1990 to 2003, Ian Dean was Registrar and Chief Executive of the Pharmacy Board of NSW. In presenting the Companion of the University, Dean of the CSU Faculty of Health Studies Professor Mark Burton said “Ian Dean has advocated on behalf of staff, students and the University as a whole in various pharmacy and industry forums and most notably within the NSW Government”. “His understanding of the role that CSU plays in the recruitment and retention of rural pharmacists contributed significantly to the establishment of the first Professor of Rural Pharmacy in Australia at CSU in 2005,” Professor Burton added

Every time actress Alexandra Davies features in another dramatic scene as Cate McMasters, Registered Nurse and Ambulance Paramedic at All Saints General Hospital, the phones run hot at Charles Sturt University (CSU). That’s because CSU is one of the few universities in Australia to offer the double degree Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic). Veronica Madigan, senior lecturer and PHC (pre-hospital care) course coordinator, says CSU started pre-hospital care education in Australia and was the first to offer the double degree. This year it was the most popular double degree to enrol at CSU. “The television drama All Saints has a couple of nurses who are also fully trained paramedics.You see them in their two uniforms at different times in the show so one day they might be a triage sister and in the next scene they might be out on the road as a paramedic,”  Veronica Madigan explained. In Menindee (population 980, 110 kilometres south-east of Broken Hill) there are no doctors but there are Advanced Care Nurses who are also paramedics. “At night they instantly revert to the ambulance service. When there’s a call out they are the ones who jump in the ambulance and retrieve the patients and decide whether or not they need to be flown out or taken on-road to Broken Hill. The diversity is amazing and one of the reasons our students are keen about this course.”