Paramedic students will contend with dramatised mass trauma on the library lawn at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Wednesday 21 and Friday 23 September as part of their studies. Mr Brian Haskins, lecturer at the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Bathurst, said, “The simulation will run for one hour, five times on Wednesday and four times on Friday, in a cordoned off area in front of the library to give students enrolled in the Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic) a taste of what they might later encounter on-the-job. The staged scenario is that a tractor and trailer from Charles Sturt University’s Division of Facilities Management has gone out of control and hit a number of students. There will be 10 patients to treat and 10 treating paramedics from the Clinical Skills 2 subject. The two main objectives of the scenario are to expose the students to a mass casualty incident, and to put them under some real pressure by having onlookers, including media, observing their assessment and treatment skills.” The School will also video each simulation session in full for later review by the students.

The US Consul General in Australia, Mr Niels Marquardt, will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Tuesday 4 October. Mr Marquardt will arrive at 1pm to be welcomed by Ms Louise Haberecht from the CSU Office of International Relations, and will meet a group of CSU students who have been on study exchange to the US. He will then meet CSU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Goulter, and the Head of Campus in Bathurst, Mr Col Sharp, to discuss developments at the University. They will tour the campus, accompanied by Ms Maree Neary, Project Manager with the CSU Division of Facilities Management, to inspect some of the new facilities, including the Dental and Oral Health Clinic, the Model Digital Learning Modules ‘Contemporary Classroom’, the Regional Inter-Professional Clinical Simulation Centre, and the Learning Commons. The Consul General will return to the campus on Wednesday 5 October to meet with CSU journalism lecturer Mr Chris McGillion and students to do interviews for the campus-based community radio station 2MCE.

An organisation aimed at lifting the profile of women in the Australian construction industry has honoured the work of a Charles Sturt University (CSU) distance education student with a national award. Fiona Shewring, who is studying for a Graduate Diploma of Vocational Education and Training (VET) at CSU, received an award from the National Association for Women in Construction. During the Association’s annual awards night at Sydney’s Town Hall at the end of May, Ms Shewring was presented the Acoustic Logic Consultancy Award. The annual event was attended by women managers, architects, developers and solicitors involved with the construction sector. The CSU student is employed by the Illawarra Institute of TAFE in Wollongong and during the past four years, has taught more than 100 women painting and decorating skills as part of TAFE NSW’s early pathways program known as Outreach. “The award for Fiona is a credit to her vocational training and work in breaking down the barriers within the trades sector for women,” said VET course coordinator Roslin Brennan-Kemmis.

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.

Resources collated in a national education project, to be launched in Canberra on Wednesday 26 October, will provide a major boost for early childhood education students says Professor Sue Dockett, project team leader from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Murray School of Education. “Funding for the Early Childhood Education Workforce Project was available for only a limited time, so it has been really important that the outcomes of this project are sustainable. Although funding for the collaboration will finish, the resources will have a life of their own. They will have an influence far beyond the life of the project and will be freely available across the country. Regional and remote communities, in particular, will benefit in lots of ways. The studying teachers are working in communities where there aren’t many educators and they should feel valued and important. This project recognises the value quality educators give to a community. They can upgrade their qualifications and stay within their chosen community It’s a chance to look at career options without necessarily having to change location, so quality education is accessible and the profession is gaining and retaining the best qualified educators.”

Many years of dedicated rescue work has seen an IT training officer at Charles Sturt University (CSU) honoured as a ‘hidden treasure’ in the annual NSW government awards for women volunteers in rural communities. Ms Sue Dixon, who works in the CSU Division of Information Technology in Bathurst, was acknowledged in the NSW Department of Primary Industries 2011 Hidden Treasures Honour Roll for 15 years dedication since she joined the local branch of the State Emergency Service in February 1996. Ms Dixon is presently Deputy Local Controller/Rescue Officer, and an accredited rescue operator with the State Rescue Board of NSW. “It is empowering to have the skills to assist someone in their time of need,” Ms Dixon said. “I am just one of many who make a difference to people’s lives. And it is a privilege to be a part of making that difference, no matter how small my part may be. I love what I do.” The Honour Roll citation notes Ms Dixon has attended many rescues and spends approximately 20 hours per week training and responding to rescues and other emergencies such as storms and floods. She is a trainer and assessor of other SES members for road crashes and vertical rescues, and has been a member of several SES teams in national rescue competitions.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Honours student, James Bekkema, has won an Apple University Consortium Scholarship and will now attend The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to be held in San Francisco in August. Sue Moffatt, Head of CSU’s School of Information Technology, describes James as “one smart cookie”, saying the highly sought-after scholarship was won in a competitive national competition between 36 Australian universities. She says James is "an exceptional student who has done much of the Mac development work on his own initiative". The conference includes presentations, dinners, a tour of the US Apple Campus and a keynote speech by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple. “I’m really looking forward to ‘Student Sunday’. I’m currently an Honours student, and this could well be my last year of University, so I'll be asking Apple computer representatives what they are looking for in a university student,” said Mr Bekkema.

Is there such a thing as a balanced assessment of the “Intelligent Design -Creation Science” controversy? Professor David Goldney from Charles Sturt University (CSU) believes so. The well-known scientist and environmental consultant, who has lived and worked in the Bathurst community since 1972, is a committed Christian and an Adjunct Professor at CSU. Professor Goldney estimates almost half the world’s scientists are Christian on some level, but still accept the theory of evolution, including himself. “While I’m a Christian, I’m committed to Darwinian evolution and I think the ‘Intelligent Design’ argument is way off track. There’s a continuum of people, from ‘flat earthers’ to creation scientists, with the view that evolution leads only to atheism and proves there is no God. Somewhere in there might be some middle ground.” Three public lectures are planned for June, where Professor Goldney will “go through the range of creation stories that a Christian might look at and still remain an honest scientist with integrity and accept faith”.

The good news is that Australian soldiers currently in East Timor probably won’t suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) upon their return home. The bad news is that the Iraq War veterans probably will, according to Sergeant Grant Coultman-Smith, a lecturer with Charles Sturt University (CSU). He should know - as a combat veteran, Sergeant Coultman-Smith has suffered from PTSD for over 36 years. He is a Vietnam veteran, worked in post-incident relief after Cyclone Tracy in Darwin and is now an Emergency Response Coordinator with Victoria Police. He is also a CSU Masters graduate in emergency management, a casual lecturer with the University’s School of Public Health and a qualified hostage negotiator. According to Sergeant Coultman-Smith, Vietnam veterans particularly suffer from PTSD because, in addition to the horrors and trauma they experienced, they faced a hostile Australian community and were not debriefed when they came home.