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.”

Starting in Bathurst on Thursday 29 March, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Division of Learning and Teaching Services will hold forums on a number of its campuses for academics to discuss developments in online and mobile learning and teaching at the University. Forums facilitator, Associate Professor Philip Uys, the Director of Strategic Learning and Teaching Innovation in the CSU Division of Learning and Teaching Services, said, “The continued evolution of quality in learning and teaching at Charles Sturt University, and the growing expectations of our students for appropriate technology responses, requires the University’s staff to skilfully use an ever-growing set of internal and external educational technologies. Charles Sturt University is increasing its digital, mobile and paperless learning and teaching, which pose challenges for strategists of these new technologies, and for academics using them. It will be good to share information about education technology developments at the University and have some in-depth conversations about why these changes are occurring. We will explore what the learning and teaching potential of the respective educational technologies is, and what issues we are facing.”

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) 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.”

Representatives of Charles Sturt University (CSU) and TAFE NSW – Western Institute will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday 12 April at CSU in Bathurst to enhance the collaboration between the two institutions and the opportunities for students in the region. The Vice-Chancellor and President of CSU, Professor Andrew Vann, and Ms Kate Baxter, Director of TAFE NSW – Western Institute, will sign the document on behalf of their institutions. Professor Ken Dillon, the Dean of Studies at CSU, said, “The MoU sets out how the institutions intend to facilitate and continue their academic collaboration. This might include, but is not limited to, providing pathway programs with credit packages for domestic and international students between Western Institute and CSU; the sharing of facilities and resources; the conduct of conferences, public lectures, seminars, workshops and similar activities; research and consultancies; and undertaking joint projects, including professional learning, distance and online learning and systems improvements.” The MoU will be signed at 11am on Thursday 12 April at the Chancellery at The Grange at CSU, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst.

A public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will shed light on the nature of the trade-offs involved in the proposed transfer of water to the environment in the Murray Darling Basin. Professor Kevin Parton a lecturer and researcher at the CSU School of Marketing and Management, is an expert commentator on the economic and social effects of the water transfer. His presentation is at 6pm Friday 20 April, and he believes there will need to be trade-offs between economic, social and environmental objectives when increasing the flows of water in the Murray-Darling system, which is Australia’s largest river system. “The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has proposed to transfer 2 750 gigalitres per year from irrigation to environmental flows,” he said. “Many farmers consider the costs of even the smallest transfer to be prohibitive, while many conservationists regard anything less than 4 000 gigalitres per year as insufficient to capture any significant environmental benefits.” Professor Parton will consider a number of findings from preliminary research in this controversial topic, including the costs to irrigation farmers, the amounts of environmental water needed, gains for Murray-Darling communities from the plan, and the effects on losers from the plan.