Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bachelor of Advertising degree strives to provide real, industry-partnered projects for its students, according to Brett Van Heekeren, lecturer in the School of Communication. “For example, advertising company Campaign Palace recently partnered us in a curriculum based project,” explains Mr Van Heekeren. “They issued us with a brief from one of their clients, then their Creative and Planning Directors flew to CSU Bathurst to hear our Principles of Advertising students pitch campaign executions and recommendations. Campaign Palace brought with them a CSU graduate from the course, Sarah Jacobs, who is now a junior planner there,” said Mr Van Heekeren. Jacinda Agnew is completing her second year of Bachelor of Arts (Communication-Advertising)/Bachelor of Business (Marketing). “The whole process was very rewarding, and it gave us a chance to pitch to people who are so important in the industry.”

A project developing models of health care that work for specific needs of rural and remote communities is nearing completion. Dr Julaine Allan from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Biomedical Sciences conducted research into why Molong and Canowindra have relatively good health services compared to other towns of a similar size. She says “confusion” over State and Federal government health services, and local communities being excluded from the decision-making process, can contribute to the inconsistency of health services from town to town. “Health services can also develop historically. A service tends to stay put. So, one town will have something that another town doesn’t, just because it has always been there,” said Dr Allan. “Next I want to look at small towns which are seeing increasing numbers of disadvantaged people moving in because of cheaper rental prices. They bring with them a greater need for health services. I want to work out what is the best use of limited resources in a large area.”

In a collaboration described as a “first”, NSW Ambulance Service will second two positions to the Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic) course. Described by Peter O'Meara, Associate Professor in CSU’s School of Biomedical Sciences, as “fantastic”, the one and two-year positions are being advertised, “Because the course has been growing at such a rate. This will provide more staff up-front for the growing demand. It will also give NSW Ambulance further knowledge of our course, and we will get the opportunity to pick their brains about what is going on in NSW Ambulance. They are always seeking graduates, and an extra 250 jobs on top of the 300 they already recruit annually was just announced in the NSW Budget,” said Professor O’Meara.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) has been awarded much sought after international quality accreditation. The NWGIC, located at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, implemented a quality management system for its research activities in 2006.  Following an external review and audit in June 2007, the Centre was awarded accreditation for its implementation of the ISO 9000 Quality Management System. This achievement, driven by Mrs Helen Pan (NWGIC), Mr Chris O'Connell (NSW DPI), Professor Geoff Scollary (CSU), and Mrs Cathy Campbell (NSW DPI), reinforces the NWGIC’s place at the forefront of Australian research facilities. Director of the NWGIC Professor Thomas Henick-Kling says the quality accreditation is a wonderful achievement and shows a commitment to quality. The NWGIC is the home of leading wine industry research activities including the Winegrowing Futures Program.

What does religion have to do with farming – and vice versa? Quite a lot, according to Dr Judith Crockett, lecturer in social sustainability at the Orange Campus of Charles Sturt University. She identified three distinct groups of farming families: the non-religious, the religious – who make occasional trips to church, often for social reasons, and Christian, whose “whole lives are permeated by their Christian beliefs and values”. These families tend to exhibit quite distinct gender and family relationships, have fewer problems with “succession planning” - the transfer of the farm between generations – and, “many are very progressive sustainable managers of land, very involved in Landcare as well as broader community activities,” said Dr Crockett. “That is because they see themselves as caretakers of the land rather than the owners of it.”

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) affiliation with the Ajisai Nursing College (ANC) in Minokamo in Japan will be further enhanced when Sally Ellis, a Bachelor of Nursing student at CSU Dubbo, visits Kizawa Memorial Hospital and the ANC this month. For ten years now, Japanese students who have completed ANC’s three-year nursing diploma have been able to undertake a conversion degree to a full Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) at CSU, which includes clinical placements at Dubbo Base and Lourdes Hospital. Ms Ellis says she wants to “develop an insight into transcultural nursing and Asian culture”, and will look at “health care delivery for the older person, and community care”. She has also been invited to observe at an open-heart operation. CSU has committed $2 000 to Ms Ellis’s trip. “It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the support of CSU,” she said. Heather Bell, Manager of Campus Services at CSU Dubbo, said, “This is a great example of the University providing support to students to internationalise their degree.”

An analysis of 14 existing studies on Echinacea, published last week in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, shows that the herbal remedy can cut the risk of catching a cold, and reduce the severity of a cold by up to a day-and-a-half. This comes as no surprise to Dr Philip Kerr, lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry at Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga Campus. “I’m a tincture rather than tablet man myself,” says Dr Kerr. Echinacea supplements are available as tablets, extracts, tincture, tea and even in fresh juice. He adds it should be taken, “At the very first sign of feeling a bit off.” Dr Kerr says to watch for the “tingle on the tongue” as a sign of an effective Echinacea remedy. Echinacea effectiveness can be reduced by “the process by which the plant extract has been prepared, and which variety of the plant has been used,” Dr Kerr said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) and international computing giant IBM have announced a scholarship and internship program that will see CSU information technology (IT) students gain invaluable industry experience with IBM in Bathurst while completing their degrees. Initially six students will receive scholarships from IBM while they work for 40 weeks part time with the global information technology provider, developing skills in application development and maintenance and IT helpdesk support. “This program provides an exciting opportunity for the University’s students to engage with one of the world’s leading corporations in providing quality courses and graduates for the information technology industry,” said Professor John Hicks, Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Business.

Will nano-technology save the world or spell the end of civilisation? Professor John Weckert of Charles Sturt University’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics says as well as those two groups of people with diametrically opposed view of this new technology, there is also a third viewpoint:  “These voices are trying to get the arguments into perspective so that the technology can be used in ways that are most beneficial.” Professor Weckert is the editor-in-chief of a new journal, NanoEthics. “It was thought that now is a good time to set up an academic journal that can be a forum for serious discussion of these issues,” said Professor Weckert. He says the journal is aimed at academics, philosophers, ethicists, policy makers and “people involved in regulation, many of whom are lawyers. It is very much a cross-disciplinary journal.”