Seven Charles Sturt University (CSU) Study Centre Sydney students from countries including Cambodia, Switzerland and Russia received Dean’s Awards for academic excellence this week at a ceremony in Darlinghurst. Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Professor John Hicks presented Dean’s Awards to Bachelor of Business Studies graduate Ruchik Ganghi from India and students Regine Kilmanek, Germany and Daniela Scarcia, Switzerland. Associate Professor John Messing from CSU’s School of Information Studies presented Dean’s Awards to Bachelor of IT students Anatoli Kovelev, Russia; Dara So, Cambodia; Ji Xin Jia from China and Sui Hei Muk from Hong Kong. CSU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Goulter,said the awards reflected CSU’s vision of a national university known for its excellence in education and applied research with a flexible delivery of learning and teaching.

Allied health students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) accompanied by two academic staff leave this weekend to spend up to six weeks working with children in a Vietnamese orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.The students will gain important practical experience working with the children, many of whom have severe disabilities. Organised by the University’s School of Community Health, this is the fourth visit by the health students and staff to the Phu My orphanage which provides schooling and health care for around 350 orphans. The 11 students who are studying physiotherapy, speech pathology and occupational therapy,have raised $2 700 from student clubs and fundraising to purchase resources and equipment for the orphanage and pay for Vietnamese interpreters.  

World renowned film director and creator of Star Wars movies George Lucas has spread a bit of his Force into the Border region this month with official recognition to a special local family for their film Star Wars: Attack of the Webbs. Lucas, Tegan, Grace and Faith Webb, wrote and starred in the four-minute film with assistance from four of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Speech Pathology students and the editorial help of a final-year Albury High School student. The original story, loosely based on the Star Wars movies, includes cast interviews and comic out-takes. All the Webb children involved in the movie suffer from a rare genetic disease that affects their growth and they received the full red-carpet treatment last year at CSU for the world premiere of the movie. The Webb children received autographed awards from Lucas who stated that he enjoyed their movie very much. The signed statuettes of the Star Wars character Yoda were sent to the Webbs in recognition of the efforts of all involved in the movie’s production. Lucas said the Yoda figure was most appropriate, stating “it sounds like all of you are believers in Yoda’s words: ‘Do or do not – there is no try’.”

Fifty-three first-year veterinary science students at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus were each presented with a free stethoscope last week. The stethoscopes, valued at $159 each, were donated by the manufacturer, Welch Allyn Australia, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of medical diagnostic instruments, and the veterinary wholesale company Lyppard. In presenting the stethoscopes, Welch Allyn’s distribution sales manager, Andrew Petersen and Lyppard’s Andrea Baker said their companies wanted to demonstrate support for CSU’s new Veterinary Science program and its first-year students. CSU is the first regional university in Australia to train veterinary science students. The inaugural intake of 45 students successfully completed their first year of studies in 2005.

Network Ten's Sydney news director, David Breen, is making a hurried visit by helicopter to Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bathurst Campus next Tuesday (4 April) to announce a special opportunity to broadcast journalism students. Kay Nankervis, Associate Lecturer in Journalism in the School of Communication, says Mr Breen will unveil a "competition which is exclusive to our students. He wants ten of our students to visit his news room this year. He will pick the person who performs best over a week and give them six weeks paid work experience at the end of the year." Mr Breen will address those third year journalism students majoring in broadcast, telling them what to expect when they walk into a newsroom fresh from university. Ms Nankervis says it is invaluable information for the would-be journalists. "They learn exactly what news directors are looking for. They get to hear from a person who's working in the industry, who's a hirer and firer. They get to find out what the directors don't like about young journalists, and what they do like about them." The visit is the first in a series of lectures to Communications students from media professionals, including Mark Llewellen, head of news at Channel Nine, and Heather May, ABC’s cadetship co-ordinator.

One of Charles Sturt University’s key public spaces on the Bathurst Campus has been transformed into an exhibition for some of the gems of the Charles Sturt University Art Collection. More than two dozen Australian and British prints, donated to the University by Melbourne businessman Dr Douglas A. Kagi over the last few years, are now hanging in the Mansfield Building. The artworks, which were framed with the generous support of a $10 000 grant from the Charles Sturt Foundation, cover several floors of the building containing lecture theatres. The exhibition includes works by Arthur Boyd, Jamie Boyd, Graham Sutherland, Joe Tilson and Treahna Hamm. “The selection of the Mansfield Building for these key works from the 1 700-piece CSU Art Collection is significant because I wanted to choose a public space on campus which is occupied by both students and staff and flows outside onto the lawn near the library,” said CSU Art Curator Thomas Middlemost. The Mansfield Building honours Emeritus Professor Bruce Mansfield, who was involved in the development of CSU's Bathurst Campus over many years, The exhibition is open to the public.

A deed of agreement has been signed by the NSW Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald and Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter over a series of land transfers to boost agricultural research in Orange. The agreement will eventually see the Orange Agricultural Institute transferred to a purpose-built facility in a new agricultural science and research precinct at CSU in Orange. “The new centre would be physically located on the CSU precinct, meaning Institute staff will be able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with CSU agricultural research teams,” said Mr Macdonald.Highlighting a number of key partnerships between DPI and the University, Professor Ian Goulter said, “this deed is not just for CSU, not just for the Orange community but it is important for NSW agriculture and for Australia”. ABARE forecasts export earnings for farm commodities in 2005-06 will reach $27.2 billion.

The future of the universe from the perspective of science and the Christian theological tradition will be explored in a conference sponsored by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT). From Resurrection to Return: Perspectives from Theology and Science on Christian Eschatology follows conferences on science and theology in Canberra in 2001 and in Adelaide in 2004. The conference will be held on Wednesday 29 March and Thursday 30 March in St Mark’s National Theological Centre and the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Barton, ACT. Among the keynote speakers are renowned theologian and New Testament scholar, Rt. Reverend Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham; Reverend Professor Robert J. Russell, founder and director of the Centre for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley, California; and Reverend Professor Ted Peters, Professor of Theology, Pacific Lutheran Seminary and co-editor of Theology and Science. “The conference is an exciting opportunity for scholars from various disciplines to share insights on an important theme and strengthen our links nationally and internationally in the science and religion dialogue,” said PACT Director, Professor James Haire.

If you are worried by the conflict between providing traditional and computer play experiences for your child then you are invited to a seminar in Albury on Wednesday 22 March. Titled What's Play in the New Millennium?, leading Charles Sturt University (CSU) education researcher Professor Robyn Zevenbergen will discuss what play looks like in a time where digital images dominate so much of the adult world. The CSU academic will also examine whether the digital environment is a quality substitute for play and whether it is real for modern children. The seminar will be held from 6pm in the Robert Brown Room in Albury City Council, Kiewa St, Albury. This is the first of several workshops to be offered during 2006 by CSU's Murray School of Education.