Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Goulter, will welcome the Federal shadow Minister for Health, Ms Nicola Roxon, MP, and NSW MP Mr Bob Debus, when they visit the Bathurst Campus on Tuesday 31 July. Ms Roxon and Mr Debus will arrive at 3pm at the Heffron Building for a briefing with Professor Goulter before a tour of the Bathurst Campus, which will include an inspection of the new library Learning Commons and the School of Nursing buildings. Mr Debus is also the Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate for the new seat of Macquarie in the coming 2007 Federal election.

The National Roads and Motorists Association (NRMA) has awarded Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) community radio station 2MCE a $5 000 grant to produce an innovative road safety radio campaign. The campaign will target young drivers about the dangers of using mobile phones while driving, particularly during the hazardous winter months on roads between Bathurst and Orange. Coordinator of 2MCE’s Studio 4, Bronwen Matherson, said that CSU students will be involved in the production of the NRMA radio campaign. “This campaign will give local youth the chance to share their driving stories and experiences while raising road safety awareness at the same time,” Ms Matherson said. The campaign will include the production of four “driver safety” radio announcements to be broadcast 200 times each, and the exploration of road safety issues on 2MCE’s youth issues program That’ll Learn Ya. 2MCE operates from CSU’s Bathurst Campus.

Ms Tarryn Clarke, a final year honours student in the School of Human Movement at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bathurst Campus is seeking participants around Bathurst to take part in research into Type 2 diabetes. “I am investigating the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, which is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia,” Ms Clarke said. “I want to find out whether there are benefits of combining resistance training – that is, using exercise weights – in combination with a dietary supplement to improve participant’s sensitivity to insulin, glucose control and oxidative stress. If this research is proven correct, we might be able to reduce the incidence of diabetes and limit the progression of the disease and complications arising from it.” To conduct the study Ms Clarke is looking for sixteen males with type 2 diabetes aged between 40 and 60 years who have not used weights in the past six months. “They must take the dietary supplement for three weeks then commit to an acute resistance exercise session for four weeks,” Ms Clarke said. The participants will be supervised by individuals who are trained in resistance exercise training. For further information and register interest, contact Ms Clarke on telephone (02) 6338 4422.

Theo Barker was not only a much-loved member of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) community and Bathurst region, but also an eminent historian. The Bathurst District Historical Society (BDHS) declared him official Bathurst Historian and made him a Life Member in recognition of his “legendary” involvement in the Society over a period of more than forty years. He was also given the honour of being made a Life Fellow of Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), having arrived at Bathurst Teachers College in 1956, eventually retiring in 1979 as MCAE’s Head of History and Geography. When Theo died in 2003 at the age of 84, the Theo Barker (1919-2003) Memorial Lecture was inaugurated by CSU and the BDHS. This month’s second Lecture in the biennial series will feature Dr Pamela Freeman, a winner of the NSW Premier’s History Prize. Dr Freeman will trace the way that Mary McKillop’s childhood influenced her work in Bathurst.

A group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are out to "put the sting" into their more fancied rivals when they compete in the water polo competition in the upcoming Australian University Games, to be held on the Queensland Gold Coast from 23 to 28 September. The CSU Bluebottles, comprising nine CSU students from its Albury-Wodonga and two from Bathurst campuses, boasts seven regular top grade players who have represented the Ovens & Murray Association, NSW and Australian Country Teams. In July, the Bluebottles walked away with a bronze medal at the Australian universities’ East Coast Challenge and are confident of an even better performance on the Gold Coast. Team captain Matt Hogan, who played for the last three years in England and before that had stints with the Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Dolphins in the Australian National League, said, "We are going to the Gold Coast confident in our ability to be competitive. After our top three finish in Sydney we can go to the Australian University Games believing we are a medal chance.” The Bluebottles are looking for support from the Border community to get to the Games. Anyone interested can send an email to csubluebottles@hotmail.com

Research to investigate whether liquid carbohydrates and protein combined with exercise can improve muscle growth is being carried out by Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher Dr Stephen Bird. He will test if the carbohydrates and amino acids commonly found in “sports drinks”, in combination with weights exercise, can influence the body’s hormonal response to improve muscle growth and reduce muscle breakdown. Dr Bird, from the CSU School of Human Movement on the Bathurst Campus, says his research needs “around 20 ‘untrained’ males aged 18 to 29 years. By untrained I mean those who haven’t or aren’t currently doing weight training. They will be asked to commit to participate twice a week for an hour each time, for twelve weeks, and they will be fully supervised by trained nutrition and exercise professionals during the study.” Volunteers looking for further information can contact Dr Bird on (02) 6338 4155.

The 48 members of the staff/student choir on Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Bathurst Campus of  were in fine voice on Friday 24 August when they won first place in the Chief Choral Section of the 62nd annual Bathurst Eisteddfod. The choir is under the direction of Dr Christopher Klopper, music lecturer at the CSU School of Teacher Education. “This is the second year in a row that we have won this section, and we are all delighted,” Dr Klopper said. “We scored 97 out of a possible 100 and the adjudicator noted ‘A fresh and vital choral blend, with exemplary diction … for a large group the precision was wholly noteworthy. Best of all, the music made one feel uplifted. ‘Brilliant’ is a marketplace cliché, but it must be applied here’.” Participation in the CSU choir is open to all students and staff on the Bathurst Campus.

Members of the Riverina equine community at a Charles Sturt University (CSU) Equine Influenza (EI) forum have been urged to work together so that NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) quarantine restrictions, imposed in response to Australia’s first EI outbreak, are upheld by everyone in the community. Participants emphasised that the disease poses a threat to all horses, ponies and donkeys. Around 130 people attended the forum which was organised in Wagga Wagga by the CSU School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences. A panel of CSU equine health experts, led by Director of Veterinary Science Professor Kym Abbott, outlined the status of the EI outbreak, how the highly contagious virus is transmitted and ways to prevent its spread through the nation’s equine population. CSU veterinary science lecturer Dr Sharanne Raidal stressed the importance of community vigilance and compliance to halt the advance of equine flu, which can be transmitted by humans, vehicles and equipment.

Lessons from agriculture in the Middle Ages could today help farms in Australia become more sustainable. Back in that era, farmers didn’t hold individual titles over land but farmed collectively on common property or "commons". A modern day adaptation of this concept is cross-boundary farming, where farmers agree to pool their land resource and manage it as a whole. A free one day forum on cross-boundary farming will be hosted by the Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga Campus, on Friday 7 September. The forum will consider the opportunities and pitfalls of cross-boundary farming, the environmental benefits, property rights, relationships between and within farming families as well as workloads. There will be two panel sessions presenting various practical and political points of view on the practice.