Fitness training will be included in the professional preparation of paramedic students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst, starting with fitness testing for 163 students on Wednesday 15 May. Ms Amanda Hlushak, associate lecturer in the paramedic program at CSU’s School of Biomedical Sciences in Bathurst, said, “The aim of running a baseline fitness test for our paramedic students is to make them more fit and more employable by the end of their three-year course. Paramedic wellness, fitness awareness and physical training will also help reduce on-job injuries, reduce occupational stress and enable longer careers. The students will be in uniform and will be doing a weighted stretcher carry, an endurance step-test, and an obstacle course. The obstacle course will include job-specific tasks including the carrying of paramedic equipment, strength tasks, and doing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).” The testing will take place at the gymnasium in the CD Blake Auditorium (building E1, on Village Drive) and on the adjacent playing fields at CSU in Bathurst, starting on the hour from 8am to 6pm Wednesday 15 May.

Members of the Bathurst Business Chamber and senior executives of Charles Sturt University (CSU) will welcome Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce AC, CVO, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Mr Bryce, when they host them at the monthly business forum to be held at the University in Bathurst at 6pm today, Tuesday 14 May. The acting Executive Dean of the CSU Faculty of Business, Professor Robert Coombes, said, “We are delighted that the ‘Business After Hours’ forum of the Bathurst Business Chamber was scheduled to be held at Charles Sturt University today and that it coincides with Her Excellency’s visit to the city. This is a wonderful opportunity for Her Excellency to meet local businesspeople and to hear of their enterprises, initiatives and aspirations.” Professor Coombes will be joined by CSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Garry Marchant, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Professor Ken Dillon, as well as Mr Angus Edwards, president of the Bathurst Business Chamber, and members of the Bathurst business community. The ‘Business After Hours’ forum will be held at the Council Room at The Grange Chancellery at CSU in Bathurst.

Four Charles Sturt University (CSU) students have organised a 'Hero Dash' fund-raising event in Bathurst for the NSW Cancer Council on Sunday 2 June. Ms Michaela Rath-May, a double-degree public relations and business student at the School of Communication and Creative Industries said, “The event is dedicated to cancer sufferers, survivors and carers - the real ‘Everyday Heroes’ making a selfless difference in their own lives and the lives of others. I and my fellow-students in the organizing team – Mr Jack Renshaw, Ms Libby Mellor and Ms Hailing Cheng - aim to raise at least $1 000, but we hope for a lot more. There are three optional events designed to suit all fitness levels: Cross Fit Challenge (highly active); Kids Boot Camp (moderately active under 14 years); and Participation Walk (any fitness level). We encourage everyone to come along and participate for a good cause.” Hero Dash will be held at Macquarie River Bicentennial Park, Bathurst, from 11.30am to 3pm on Sunday 2 June, and is part of Cancer Council NSW’s ‘Do your thing’ fundraising initiative, which encourages people to create their own fundraising run with the support of Cancer Council NSW. Registration is $10 per person, or $30 for a group of four. To register or find out more about Hero Dash visit the team’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Herodashbathurst.

More than 100 motorcyclists from the Far Riders club will arrive at Mount Panorama in Bathurst on Saturday 25 May to donate surplus or damaged gear to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) paramedic program for use in student simulation exercises. Mr Brian Haskins, lecturer in the paramedic program at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences in Bathurst, said, “The bikers are due to arrive by about 11.30am and will do a lap of the Mount and then gather for a group photo at the Start-Finish line in Pit Straight where they will present the donated equipment – boots, jackets, helmets, gloves. They will be joined by other donors, Ms Cherelyn Chapman and Mr Andrew Carnegie-Smith, who both donated cars that will be modified for use in student extrication exercises. I’ll be there with the new CSU paramedic trauma car to collect the equipment in, and I’ll present certificates of appreciation to the donors. On Saturday afternoon, I will show the CSU Inter-Professional Simulation Centre to some of the donors, including Mr Philip Lennon, who is an Australian specialist in the removal of helmets from injured riders.”

Journalist and Charles Sturt University (CSU) alumnus Mr Hamish Macdonald will visit the University in Bathurst on Tuesday 21 May to screen and discuss a segment for his new TV show with students at the School of Communication and Creative Industries where he studied. Journalism lecturer, Ms Kay Nankervis, said, “It’s always a pleasure to welcome back former graduates to speak to current students about where a career in journalism can lead. Mr Macdonald has subsequently had an international career in the media as a journalist, foreign correspondent, and anchorman at news desks for CNN and Al Jezeera, as well as in Australia. It will be interesting for our students to learn about Mr Macdonald’s career path, and his new three-part series The truth is? for TV network TEN, which explores a range of contemporary social and political issues.” In 2012 Mr Macdonald received a Walkley Award and a Human Rights Television Award for his report ‘The Age of Uncertainty’ on The Project TV show. Mr Macdonald will screen an episode of his new program, The truth is?, and answer students’ questions between 11am to 12.30pm on Tuesday 21 May at the Media Centre TV studio (building C7).

The Red Cross blood donation mobile service will be at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst next week from Monday 3 to Thursday 6 June. The unit will be located outside the CSU gymnasium (CD Blake Auditorium, building E1). The acting Head of Campus, Associate professor PK Basu urged CSU staff and students to donate blood if they can. “One in three people will need blood in their lifetime, yet only one in 30 Australians donate blood each year,” he said. “The demand for blood and blood products is expected to double in the next decade, and more donors are needed. I encourage staff and students to make the time to donate blood here next week, or whenever they are able.” To make an appointment to donate please call the Red Cross on 13 14 95 or visit donateblood.com.au.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night opens at the Ponton Theatre at CSU in Bathurst on Tuesday 28 May and runs until Saturday 1 June. Described as ‘a whimsical comedy’, this modern interpretation is given the full title, Twelfth Night, As Performed By The Illyria Women's Prison Laundry Detail. Mr Ray Harding, theatre/media lecturer at the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, and co-director of the production, says he has entertained the idea of ‘prison inmates’ performing Shakespeare for many years. “The inmates in this instance are, of course, very talented third-year theatre/media students, but the idea and interpretation resonates with the first US production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot which was set in a prison,” he said. Student co-director Ms Fiona Spitzkowsky said, “The complexity of the language combined with the prison-based creative brief provided by Ray has allowed us all to challenge ourselves and eventually produce an exciting, engaging and surprisingly funny Shakespearean performance, with a little modernity for good measure.”

Eighty-three Charles Sturt University (CSU) Foundation scholarships and prizes will be presented to students from all four faculties at the University in Bathurst on Friday 31 May. The total value of scholarships and prizes awarded at ceremonies on various campuses of the University is more than $955 000. The acting Head of Campus at CSU in Bathurst, Dr PK Basu, said, “We look forward to welcoming the generous donors and the hard-working students selected to receive the 2013 scholarships and prizes. All these students have demonstrated outstanding personal qualities combined with strong academic results or financial need in order to be chosen as recipients. I congratulate them and wish them well for their continuing studies and future careers.” A brunch for scholarship donors and recipients will be held in the James Hardie Room at the Centre for Professional Development (CPD) (building S17) at 9.15am. The official presentation ceremony starts at 10.30am in the large lecture theatre (room 2.23) in building S15, followed by lunch/refreshments from 12.30pm in the foyer of S15.

A visiting Australian education expert will deliver a public lecture in Bathurst and workshops for education staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) next week. Professor Bronwyn Davies, an independent scholar and professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, will address the topic, ‘The Fairy Who Wouldn’t Fly’ revisited: Playing with and against the forces of normalisation: feminist narratives and lines of flight, on Thursday 13 June. Host of the visit, Professor Tara Brabazon, Head of the School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said, “The distinctive features of Professor Davies’ work are her development of innovative social science research methodologies. Her research explores how social worlds are constituted. She is best known for her work on gender, for her development of the methodology of collective biography, and her writing on feminism and poststructuralist theory.”