A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has called on the mediation community to consider that it now deserves the title of ‘a profession’. Associate Professor Anne Ardagh addressed the question ‘Is Mediation now a Profession?’ during her recent address to a dinner in Canberra to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Conflict Resolution Service (CRS) in the ACT. “Even though there is no one recognised path to becoming a mediator, mediators are becoming more educated through university and TAFE qualifications, and perhaps on quality assurance grounds the mediation community should embrace the idea that it now deserves the status of a profession,” said Professor Ardagh. The CSU academic believes mediation is at a stage that perhaps psychology or social work or counselling was at not so long ago.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is making recruiting potential officers from all sectors of the community to the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) a little easier with the donation of a high profile vehicle. The eye-catching Holden Rodeo will be used by the NSWPF Recruitment Branch as a mobile advertising tool. It will be formally presented to NSWPF by CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, during a ceremony to swear in the latest probationary constables at the NSW Police College in Goulburn on Friday 29 August. CSU, together with NSWPF, delivers the Associate Degree in Policing Practice, which is the recruit training program for people wanting to join the NSW Police Force. The vehicle will be driven state-wide for career markets, expos and displays. “CSU is delighted to deliver this vehicle to the NSWPF as a symbol of our long-standing and important relationship to educate and train police officers for NSW,” said Professor Chambers. General Manager of NSWPF Recruitment Branch, Inspector Tony Malone, said they wanted a vehicle that would turn heads. “We want to draw attention to NSWPF Recruitment and to our contact details. The Rodeo is proving to be a great marketing tool."

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.

One of the few women to research and write on the dynamics between the media and the military, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Lyn Gorman, will speak at the Chief of Army’s annual Military History Conference in Canberra on Thursday 9 October. Professor Gorman, has a special interest in the Cold War. She will present a paper entitled The Cold War: An Australian Perspective in which she argues that, contrary to the view that the Korean War was ‘the forgotten war‘, Australian media did provide coverage of this 1950s conflict, and in the case of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, they provided more critical and thorough coverage of the war and Australian involvement in it than has been generally believed. “My research found considerable critical and careful reporting of both wars, which goes against the common assumption that the wars were either largely ignored or that the coverage lacked independence,” Professor Gorman says. “New technologies such as video phones and YouTube, have continued to change the way that war is reported.”

An international conference in Canberra this week will explore how the Christian message speaks in public and civic life in Australia and globally. The Christian Mission in the Public Square conference will be held at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) from Thursday 2 October to Sunday 5 October. About 80 participants from across Australia, Asia and New Zealand will attend the conference which is co-sponsored by the Australian Association for Mission Studies (AAMS) and CSU’s strategic research centre, Public and Contextual Theology (PACT). Director of the ACC&C and Chairman of the Global Network for Public Theology (GNPT), the Reverend Professor James Haire, AM, said “This conference will discuss the history, theology and practice of the Christian mission, and public theology in word and action. For example, some could argue that there is a contradiction between the Christian mission and public theology, while others might assert that public theology is the most legitimate way of engaging civil society with the claims of Christianity in our time.” The conference’s keynote speaker, South African theologian Professor Nico Koopman, will discuss the Christian mission in the public arena of South Africa, and its implications internationally.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) veterinary students will be given practical guidance on leadership, team-work, communication, emotional intelligence and conflict management tomorrow Wednesday 7 March as part of a veterinary leadership experience (VLE) workshop on CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. CSU lecturer in dairy cattle practice Natasha Lees said, “The VLE is a chance for students to further develop their skills enabling them to successfully make the transition from the lecture hall to the workplace”. Ms Lees believes the workshops will help CSU produce graduates that meet the needs of its regional, national and international communities. First year students in CSU’s School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences will be addressed during the workshop by Professor Rick Debowes and psychologist Kathy Ruby, both from Washington State University, USA.

A national award promoting religious harmony and acceptance within Australian society has been bestowed on Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in theology, Associate Professor Clive Pearson. The principal of the United Theological College (UTC) in Sydney, within the CSU School of Theology, received an Australian Affinity Award in September. The award recognised Professor Pearson’s significant contributions in the study of religion, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and the ‘facilitating' by CSU in this dialogue. Associate Professor Pearson was particularly recognised for his work on the public theology of issues of diversity in Sydney, including analysis of the riots in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla in December 2005. “The United Theological College has been working with Affinity and Sydney’s Islamic community firstly out of concern for the neighbour, for the stranger in our midst and a concern for social cohesion,” said Associate Professor Pearson. “We have attended and presented at each other's conferences because we believe that it is important for a Christian theology to be done these days in the presence of the religious other as well as the secular.”

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Indigenous Employment Program is proving an effective vehicle for positive change and equity. Melanie Shea is one shining light to emerge from the program that offers ten traineeships a year in the University. She is now employed at the CSU Learning Materials Centre (LMC) as a full-time despatch assistant and has gained invaluable workplace experience with the full support of the CSU Indigenous Employment Coordinator, Karen Kime. Mel began a twelve month traineeship in Transport and Distribution at the LMC just one week after completing her Higher School Certificate. “I believe on-the-job training is a great door opener for people to gain confidence, knowledge and qualifications. The new skills can then be applied in any workplace. I am so pleased to have been a part of the program,” Melanie said.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) expert in the management and restoration of aquatic ecosystems has been appointed to advise the Rudd government on the use of water purchased to restore the rivers and wetlands of the Murray Darling Basin. Associate Professor Robyn Watts is one of a panel of scientific experts appointed to the Environmental Water Scientific Advisory Committee by the federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong. The committee will provide advice on setting environmental watering priorities, monitoring the benefits of environmental flows, and identifying knowledge gaps. Associate Professor Watts is a Principal Researcher in the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society where she researches biodiversity and connectivity in aquatic ecosystems and the ecological responses to flow regimes in regulated rivers. She also teaches river ecology and restoration at CSU at Albury-Wodonga.