Three talented CSU acting students will feature in an upcoming University of Montana production in the United States of the classic fairy tale, Peter Pan, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. Students Laura Hughes, Lauren Hopley and Tom Dickins, who have been cast in major roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of Peter Pan, are studying in the USA as part of the CSU International Exchange Program.  The trio have been busy with seven weeks of rehearsal, including fight choreograpy and flying effects. Laura Hughes was cast in the part of Wendy Darling, Lauren Hopley plays her mother Mrs. Darling, and Tom Dickins stars as Peter Pan. Lauren Hopley is completing her second and final semester on exchange. Both Laura Hughes and Tom Dickins are due back from the CSU International Exchange Program in Autumn 2006.

Coming to the end of 2005 Charles Sturt University (CSU) is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a lead educator for librarians across Australia and internationally. In a climate of rapidly changing technology and workplace demands, CSU and its predecessor institutions have led the way in the development and delivery of library and information management and teacher librarianship programs. Now the only courses of their kind offered by a regional Australian university, CSU’s success in this field has been attributed to teaching traditional librarianship principles in combination with contemporary information management techniques. "Our position as a leader in library and information management education is demonstrated by the fact more than 50 per cent of Australian librarians and teacher librarians who graduate from University do so from CSU," said Head of the CSU School of Information Studies Associate Professor Ken Dillon based in Wagga Wagga. "We teach students in a number of countries with formal programs in places as diverse as Mauritius and Hong Kong”.

Professor of Social Work at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Margaret Alston has this week been hearing submissions on Australia’s mandatory detention policy of illegal immigrants as part of a four-member panel on the People’s Inquiry into Detention at the University of NSW in Sydney. The Inquiry has completed public hearings in Port Augusta, Melbourne, Perth, Launceston and regional Victoria and is headed by Inquiry president Marcus Enfield. Professor Alston, who is also Director of the University’s Centre for Rural Social Research, is one of several Professors of Social Work from around Australia to sit on the Inquiry. Established to examine the effects of mandatory detention, the Inquiry has heard from a range of refugee advocates and detainees. “This Inquiry is an opportunity for those who would like to place on the public record their experiences of the mandatory detention policy,” said Professor Alston. “It is important that these experiences be documented and that emotions and feelings being experienced by those with first hand experience of the centres is acknowledged,” added Professor Alston.

One of the inaugural veterinary science students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, Erin Davis, has been named this year’s recipient of the Frank Mansell Award for Agriculture by the Big Brother Movement (BBM). Receiving the award at a recent ceremony at State Parliament in Sydney, Ms Davis was honoured for her academic achievements and work in her chosen field. The CSU student, from Orange, will use the $7 000 scholarship to fund a trip to the United Kingdom next year to work with veterinarians and on sheep and cattle studs. The BBM provides annual scholarships to young Australians to fund travel to the UK. “Erin’s award is a tribute to her hard work and strong interest in animal production and her well-deserved success is a demonstration of the attributes we value so highly in our veterinary students at this University,” said Professor Kym Abbott, Director of Veterinary Science at CSU.

Australian artist Euan Heng has made a generous gift to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Art Collection with the donation of 20 of his prints valued at more than $10 000. A former lecturer in drawing and printmaking at one of CSU’s predecessors, the Riverina College of Advanced Education, Euan Heng has exhibited his distinctive work across Australia and internationally. His art also features in the public collections of the National Gallery of Australia and the state galleries in Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland as well as many regional galleries. “This represents a substantial and very generous gift and a donation which will further enhance the University’s Art Collection,” said CSU Art Curator Thomas Middlemost. Boasting 1 700 pieces, the CSU Art Collection has a focus on print-making. The works are hung in public spaces throughout the University.

As political and economic forces continue to impact upon and shape rural Australia it’s becoming increasingly important for people to develop the capacity to influence the direction of change in local businesses and communities. Recognising this, Charles Sturt University (CSU) has designed a new course, the Bachelor of Rural Studies, to fill a demand in rural communities where understanding of rural society leads to more effectively managed businesses and organisations. The course will be launched at the Australian National Field Days, Orange, by The Hon. Ian McDonald, NSW Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. Beginning at 10.40am, on Tuesday 18 October, the Minister will be joined by Federal Member for Calare, Mr Peter Andren at the CSU Exhibition Site (site 5), located on the corner of Central Avenue and J Streets, between the Information and Function Centres at the Australian National Field Days, Orange.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Communication (Theatre/Media) graduate, Brendan Cowell has won The 2005 Philip Parsons Young Playwright's Award. Announced in Sydney on Sunday 9 October, Mr Cowell, 28, received a $10,000 mentoring commission from Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre Company B. He won the award for his treatment for Ruben Guthrie, a tale of male depression, addiction and the pressures of success. In order to qualify for the award, playwrights under 35 must submit a play that has already been performed in Australia by a professional theatre company. But the award is unlike other Australian playwright awards as it is given on the basis of a treatment for a potential new work and to the playwright rather than for the play. This recent success for Mr Cowell follows other awards including the 2003 Griffin Award for Rabbit, the 2002 Patrick White Award for Bed and the Gloria Payten-Gloria Dawn Foundation Young Artist Award for his work as an individual.

The launch of a book of theological studies will precede the commencement ceremony at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Theology in Canberra on Monday 23 February. The book, Embracing Grace: The Theologian’s Task, is a collection of essays in honour of Reverend Canon Dr Graeme Garrett, a Professorial Associate and longstanding member of the School of Theology who has had a formative influence on St Mark’s National Theological Centre. Embracing Grace is a collection of studies written by academic staff members of the School of Theology and other longstanding friends or colleagues of Canon Garrett, and was edited by Dr Heather Thomson, lecturer in theology at the School, who completed her own doctoral studies under his supervision. Following the launch of the book, Canon Garrett will deliver the Commencement Address at St Mark’s.

While 2009 provides Charles Sturt University (CSU) with an opportunity to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the year is also a time to honour the 114-year tradition of excellence and innovation in teaching, learning and research. The University was established when the Charles Sturt University Act was passed by the NSW Parliament in July 1989, however the institution’s history can be traced back to the Bathurst Experimental Farm, established in 1895.The official opening ceremony for the University’s 20th anniversary will be held from 11am, Thursday 12 March, in Joyes Hall at CSU at Wagga Wagga. Read more here.