The Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Marketing and Management is holding a short film competition to promote the courses of the School and to raise money for local Bathurst youth service ‘headspace’. Known as the CS[U Flix] - M&M Short Film Awards, the 2008 competition focuses on ‘Life as a business student with the CSU School of Marketing and Management’ and offers filmmakers the chance to win three $2 000 prizes. The short film competition guest judges include Mr Rod McCulloch, Head of CSU’s School of Communication; Mr Jimmy Foggo, digital media producer for Fremantle Media Australia; and Mr Mark Waters, managing director of advertising agency PPS in Sydney. Entries close at 4pm on Friday 15 August, and the winners will be announced at a special awards public screening at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre (BMEC) on Wednesday 27 August.

Climate change and international markets are influencing the demand and supply of conserved fodder in Australia, and this year’s Riverina Outlook Conference will focus on the strategies needed to manage these changes. Hosted by the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation at Charles Sturt University (CSU), the conference will be held in Wagga Wagga on Thursday 14 August. EH Graham Centre Director, Professor Deirdre Lemerle said, “The aim of the event will be to highlight key issues that make the difference between profit and loss from conserved fodder. The Conference continues the long-standing tradition of highlighting future challenges for agriculture while offering suggestions and solutions to deal with them. Managing risks and the challenges of maintaining livestock production levels in a variable climate make the theme for this conference highly relevant to producers, agricultural advisors, consultants, educators and agricultural industry representatives.”  

For the first time, more than 80 sheep and lamb producers will converge on the NSW town of Cowra for Charles Sturt University's (CSU) annual Asia Today forum on Thursday 14 August 2008. Director of the CSU Asian Agribusiness Research Centre, Dr Claus Deblitz, says the day will cover all aspects of marketing lamb, from trends in the Asian markets to hearing from a local marketing group on their ability to lift returns. Dr Deblitz said, “Cowra is an important town within CSU’s region, with many of its residents studying at one of its campuses, so this is why we decided to hold this major conference there. Two areas which will receive attention on the day are the threats from and opportunities offered by climate change and current developments and their consequences for grain markets.” said Dr Deblitz. “We are delighted to be able to bring such a major conference to the local area, and given the high standard of speakers we hope local lamb and sheep meat producers will take part in these discussions.“

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) student will experience the razzle-dazzle of ‘Bollywood’ when she heads to Mumbai, India, in August for work experience in the sub-continent’s filmmaking capital. Ms Zoe Kelly, a theatre/media student at the School of Communication on the Bathurst Campus, won a scholarship to take part in the India Study Abroad Centre’s ‘Film & Media Program’ for four weeks during August-September 2008. Ms Kelly said she was very interested in a career in filmmaking. “When I found out about the film and media program it sounded like such a great opportunity to travel and experience a culture that would challenge and inspire me in many different ways to broaden my perceptions of filmmaking. The idea of experiencing such a foreign culture as well as simultaneously being able to experience the biggest film industry in the world seemed like an incredible way to study abroad. I love the exuberant colours, high-spirited characters and mixture of different genres that ‘Bollywood’ films have to offer, and this is something that I would love to learn more about and experience in the flesh,” she said.

Theatre/media students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and members of the public will be able to attend a Shakespeare masterclass by one of the great British actors, Mr Barrie Ingham, who was given his Broadway debut opportunity by Sir John Gielgud. Mr Ingham will perform his one-man show The Actor at CSU’s Ponton Theatre on the Bathurst Campus on Tuesday 26 August, and will present the Shakespeare masterclass on Wednesday 27 August. Mr Karl Shead, Theatre Technical Officer at the CSU School of Communication, explained that The Actor was devised by Barrie Ingham and Terry Hands during their time together at the Royal Shakespeare Company. “The play asks ‘who and what is an actor?’, and reveals how all of us are actors. It has been performed in New York and London, and toured to South Africa, Australia and throughout USA,” The performance and masterclass arise from the partnership between the Local Stages/Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre program in Bathurst, which provides performing arts development opportunities for artists in the region, and the theatre/media department at CSU’s School of Communication.

The heads of intelligence agencies gathered in the New Zealand (NZ) capital of Wellington in August to hear from guest speaker and Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Mr Patrick Walsh. Over 150 intelligence officers attended the inaugural conference of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. Mr Walsh, who addressed the intelligence officers after the conference was opened by NZ Prime Minister The Hon. Helen Clark, is a senior lecturer in criminal intelligence at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing (AGSP) based in Manly, Sydney. He is also the course co-ordinator for the University’s intelligence program and  a vice-president of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO). “It was an honour to address this inaugural event,” Mr Walsh said on his return to Australia. “I talked about the history of AIPIO as a professional body for the Australian intelligence community and the role tertiary education can play in collaboration with intelligence agencies in delivering industry-relevant intelligence education programs”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are making the battle against obesity and eating disorders personal with a cooking competition to show healthy eating can be cheap as well as nutritious, quick, tasty and good looking. Three student groups – the Nutrition and Dietetics (or Nut) Club, the Social Workers Club and the Health Action Team – are gathering favourite student recipes for a recipe book, with the top 12 recipes entered into a cook-off competition to be held in October on the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus. A panel of local judges will name the winner of a $150 voucher for groceries. President of the Nut Club, Mr Kingsley Vance, hopes that initiatives like this will help the communities within CSU campuses – Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga – to improve their food choices. “University students are often at risk of not eating a nutritious diet, so our competition is all about raising awareness of good nutrition in all our communities,” he said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has appointed its first Professor in Communication. Dr John Carroll, a long-serving academic in the School of Communication at the Bathurst Campus, has been welcomed to his new role by Head of the School of Communication, Associate Professor Rod McCulloch. “This professorial appointment rightfully acknowledges the huge contribution that Professor Carroll has made and will continue to make to the School, through his academic leadership, in the growth of our research and higher degree programs, and in the continued progress and growth of the School in the burgeoning digital communication environment,” Professor McCulloch said. “The School finds itself in the enviable position of being a sought-after destination for higher research and professional studies. This is due in no small way to John’s efforts and commitment to course development, direction and supervision. His knowledge and skills will be essential for the School’s continued success.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will next year celebrate 20 years of strategic higher education and applied research that is making a difference nationally and internationally. Celebrations involving students, staff, academics, graduates and the University’s research partners and institutions will be held at all campuses. CSU is extending a warm invitation to all communities in its footprint to become involved in the celebrations that will highlight its rapid growth and achievements during the past two decades. The first meeting of the 20th Anniversary Committee, chaired by CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, was held on Wednesday 25 June, to commence planning for what is a significant year in the history of the University of inland Australia. Proclaimed in July 1989, CSU has evolved as one of Australia's largest universities, operating across inland New South Wales and delivering education and degree qualifications in many countries around the world.