Last week the UK government announced that all 306 British World War One soldiers executed for desertion or cowardice are to be pardoned, saying the decision was taken on moral grounds. Charles Sturt University (CSU) historian Dr Rob McLachlan, an adjunct senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies, says it was the court martial and execution of Australian soldiers “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock from Bathurst during the earlier Boer War that prevented Australian soldiers suffering the same fate as their British counterparts. He says the public outcry over the deaths of Morant and Handcock ensured Australian soldiers would never again face a British court martial. “Also, the Australian Infantry Force (AIF) was a fully volunteer force, and was not the sort of military that would take easily to this extreme form of discipline. However, I see nothing in the human condition to say it won't happen again.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter thanked several CSU staff members for their tremendous contributions to the University at the annual 20/30-year medal presentation luncheon in Bathurst on Friday 4 August. Recipients of the 30-year service medals were Gwen Edwards from the Division of Student Services, Doreen Casey from the Faculty of Health Studies, and Bill Blaike, Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication. Head of the School, Dr Tom Watson said Mr Blaikie inspired “immense loyalty” among his former students. Recipients of the 20-year service medal were Gerard Boland, also from the School of Communications, Dr Jayne Bisman, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Commerce, Julie Clulow from the Division of Library Services, Suellen Piper-Nagy from the Learning Materials Centre and Lorraine Stephens, a Client Services Officer in the Division of Information Technology.

Reminiscences will flow like beer after a Rugby game at the inaugural Charles Sturt University (CSU) Rugby Fundraiser on Friday 1 September. Well known author and sports journalist Peter FitzSimons is the guest speaker at the fundraiser, which will be held at the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club in Sydney, where CSU alumnus and Rugby Old Boy John Tully is CEO. Also attending is Ross Reynolds, another Old Boy, ex-Wallaby and current forwards coach of the Brumbies. Michelle Fawkes, CSU Alumni Officer says funds raised will go towards registration and insurance costs for the five CSU Rugby teams (including a women’s team) entered in the Central West Division 1 Competition, as well as providing for an accommodation placement and a scholarship.

To mark Adult Learners’ Week in September, Charles Sturt University (CSU) is recruiting for CSU Connect, a free bridging program that fast-tracks distance education students into undergraduate degree courses. Danielle Ranshaw, the StudyLink Program Coordinator at CSU Bathurst says CSU Connect came out of research into rural participation and attrition rates at university. “The idea is to get more people from the regions into the University and also adequately prepare students for study. CSU Connect takes people from a basic level to a fairly advanced level quite quickly.” Lisa Marr is one of the potential students who enrolled in the first CSU Connect program last year. “I saw a poster on a noticeboard in Mudgee. I wanted to go to university, but it has been a while since I left school. I know that if I had a degree, I might get the job I want and fulfil my life a bit more. I feel like I can meet the standard of university study now, that I can complete it and do very well at it.”

"I thought it would be useful to have some industry qualifications,” says Tristam Horn, an Accelerated Teacher Training Program student, of his decision to gain certification in Microsoft® Office. Coming first in Australia in his Excel examination saw the Charles Sturt University (CSU) student win a trip to Orlando, Florida in the USA, where he was then crowned World Champion for Microsoft® Excel. “I learnt a lot that I didn’t know Excel could do. It gave me a better understanding of what it is capable of as far as recording students marks, scaling, grading and graphing, both for my benefit and also for the students to see where they are in the class and in the year. It is an easy way to see how students are going in different areas of their study, and I can see where I need to improve my teaching and hopefully deliver a bit better the next time."

The changing global communications environment and the increasing role of the consumer were the hot topics when the CEO of the International Advertising Association (IAA) World Secretariat spoke to Charles Sturt University (CSU) advertising students last week. Michael Lee, also the immediate past IAA President, was invited to the Bathurst Campus by Rod McCulloch, CSU’s Advertising course coordinator. “Mr Lee is very familiar with CSU because we have won the IAA’s student advertising competition InterAd three times in six years, the only university in the world to have done so. He is very supportive of what we do here”. Mr McCulloch says the IAA is the industry’s peak body. “It has a presence in over 70 countries and has over 4 000 members. The IAA supports the role of advertising in the community and the fostering of professional development and education.”

Being described as a “Walkley winning journalist of the future” must be a heady feeling for any communication student. Matthew Brann, a Charles Sturt University theatre media student in Bathurst has just taken out the radio section of the 2006 JUST Super Student Journalist of the Year Award, announced by JUST Super and the Walkley Foundation. Matthew says his radio item, A Darling Place grew out of his major work last year. “I travelled the Darling River doing stories about the river and its impact on the local communities, where the drought is really affecting small towns. I focused on my own style, which uses a lot of music and actuality.” The judges obviously liked what they heard, saying A Darling Place was a “lovely, whimsical yarn. It provides a wonderful slice of country life that is not often heard in mainstream Australian media”.

Jenny Dickinson, a graduate of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) double degree in psychology and teaching in Bathurst, is one of five young Indigenous people featured in a booklet urging Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders to “join our mob” and become teachers in the New South Wales public school system. The booklet was produced by teach.NSW Public Education, and Jenny was nominated by her principal at Moree East Public School. “I was the first Aboriginal student to accomplish the double degree at CSU,“ Ms Dickinson said. “I became a teacher because it allows me to indulge my passion for Indigenous education. I think it is very important to encourage Indigenous people into teaching. Discrimination is still alive and well in my opinion.”

Australia’s Young Endeavour national youth sail training program “builds positive social capital” according to a study released by the Federal Government. Charles Sturt University students Sarah Poulos and Tom Fisher agree. “I sailed a few years ago and met a whole group of absolutely fantastic people,” says Sarah, currently in her fourth year of a special education teaching degree on Dubbo Campus and the recipient of a two-year scholarship from the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. Tom sailed in July and says “it was awesome. It exceeded my expectations tenfold. You build personal confidence which gives you the ability to do anything you want.” Tom is an agribusiness student from Wagga Wagga Campus who went on a student exchange to Kentucky, USA last year for six months, and is off to Japan soon on a Mitsui travel scholarship.