Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Ms Stephanie Frazer has won a national award for her services to a student rural health club. Ms Frazer, who is president of the CSU Multidisciplinary Albury Rural Health Society (MARHS), was awarded $1 000 by the National Rural Health Students Network (NRHSN). The Network recognised her significant involvement in helping build MARHS into a strong and active club, particularly in relation to mental health in regional Australia. “Improving awareness about mental health is important as almost half of all Australians will experience mental illness in their lifetime. We can make a difference by encouraging understanding and improving support. I feel humbled to be recognised by my fellow students and to work with such great people at Charles Sturt University,” Ms Frazer said. Ms Frazer, who is a third year physiotherapy student with the School of Community Health based at Thurgoona, received her award in Alice Springs in July during the Network’s national conference of 29 student rural health clubs. MARHS vice-president and second year occupational therapy student Mr Alan Dyason also won a prize at the conference for his contribution to increasing awareness and action in Indigenous health issues.

It’s a far cry from studying platypus on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River to Army Reserve training in the jungles of Malaysia, but a Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer is about to get a taste of what her environmental science (Honours) student has been experiencing in his training with the Army Reserve. Senior lecturer in veterinary microbiology, Dr Joanne Connolly, from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, will leave on Monday 15 December to spend five days with Rifle Company Butterworth, near Penang in northern Malaysia, at the invitation of the Defence Reserves Support.  Dr Connolly, who researches disease in platypus, will experience life as a soldier in the field, including weapons handling and finding food from the jungle, to gain insight into the Army Reserve. It’s an activity Dr Connolly didn’t know was on the horizon when she became Mr Tom Claridge’s supervisor for his Honours degree.  However, the academic is excited and a bit nervous about the challenge. “We’ve roughed it in streams late at night netting the nocturnal platypus across the Murrumbidgee catchment as part of the current research project, but this will certainly be a bit different. Tom has to write his thesis when he gets back from his three months service, so I’ll gently remind him about that when I see him in Malaysia,” Dr Connolly said.  

Globally, the rate of loss of freshwater wetlands exceeds that of any other ecosystem and predicted climate change will greatly exacerbate the trend in the future. According to Charles Sturt University (CSU) vertebrate ecologist Dr Iain Taylor, wetlands provide invaluable ecosystem services to humans throughout the world and are essential habitats for an amazing diversity of flora and fauna. “Many species of water birds are in serious decline and the on-going drought in southeast Australia has caused a massive and probably irreversible decline in most of the larger water birds such as egrets, ibises and spoonbills,” he said. Dr Taylor is the convener of the international conference, Wetlands and Waterbirds: Managing for Resilience in Leeton in the Riverina region of NSW from Monday 9 November. Also presenting at the conference is CSU wetland ecologist Professor Max Finlayson who said climate change will place many wetlands and species under further pressure from rising temperatures and changes to their water regimes as rainfall patterns change. “If anything we should be constructing or restoring more wetlands, not degrading those that are left. They are valuable and have been under stress for far too long,” said Professor Finlayson, Director of CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society.

The Chancellor of Charles Sturt University (CSU) Mr Lawrie Willett AO will praise the academic achievements of almost 70 graduates who are eligible to receive their awards at a ceremony in Hong Kong on Saturday 7 November. The graduates will receive their postgraduate and undergraduate awards from the University’s Faculties of Arts, Business, Education and Science from 10.30am in the Langham Place Hotel in Hong Kong. The occasional address will be delivered at the graduation ceremony by Mr Steve O’Conner, the Librarian at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Mr O’Conner has worked in Higher Education for most of his career and has researched, published, spoken, consulted and taught very extensively in the areas of change, organisational management, information delivery, scenario and strategic planning, as well as the wider library and information environment. Graduates have completed a range of courses at CSU in areas such as theology, business, information technology, hotel management, arts, primary education, library and information management, medical imaging and clinical nursing.  

Staff and students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) successfully flew the flag at the inaugural cycling race Tour de Timor held recently in Timor Leste (East Timor). CSU student Mr Neil Van der Pleog from Mount Beauty in Victoria won the 450-kilometre race around the country. CSU students and staff also provided extensive physiotherapy services for competitors throughout the tough event. Started by President Dr Jose Ramos-Horta in the capital Dili, the five day event took cyclists through the nine regions of Timor before returning to Dili.  At the hilliest stage of the race, riders climbed to 1 850 metres. Two third year Bachelor of Physiotherapy students Mr Tom Bidstrup and Ms Rachael McLeod and physiotherapy lecturer Mr Tim Retchford from the School of Community Health at CSU at Albury-Wodonga provided physiotherapy services for the 350 competitors. Many of the riders were international participants who were attracted to Timor Leste for the gruelling US$75 000 event. “The Tour de Timor coincided with the celebration of the 10 years since East Timor's independence vote,” said Mr Retchford. “Locals lined Dili’s streets up to 10 deep to cheer the riders as they crossed the finish line.”

An artist and Charles Sturt University (CSU) student has been named as a finalist in Australia’s richest design prize. PhD student Mr Rohan Nicol from Wagga Wagga is one of 10 finalists in the prestigious Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award. With his entry, Peppered Sunlight Mr Nicol will compete for the first prize of a $30 000 grant and a trip to Milan to attend the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in April 2010. The prize is dedicated to recognising and rewarding excellence in design, improving and promoting awareness of design and improving the commercial success of talented Australians. Peppered Sunlight is a large pendant light inspired by ‘dappled light that filters through trees’. Through the School of Visual and Performing Arts at CSU at Wagga Wagga, Mr Nichol is researching a financially sustainable model of studio-based craft and design practice by engaging with the Australian manufacturing industry in regional Australia. Read more here.

A consortium led by Charles Sturt University (CSU) based in Australia, has developed the nation's first framework for early child education and care services for the Australian federal government. Sub Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, Professor Jennifer Sumsion will discuss Belonging, Being and Becoming - Early Years Learning Framework at a public lecture to be presented at 4.30pm on Wednesday 9 September at CSU’s Burlington site. “Since late 2008 and for over six months we consulted with teachers, parents and various private and government agencies on how the framework could best support the learning of young pre-school children and enhance the professional practice and status or early childhood educators,” Professor Sumsion said. Read more about the Early Years Learning Framework here.

One of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) most senior academics is among those honoured for his years of service to CSU and its predecessor institutions. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers is one of 13 staff eligible to receive 20 and 30 year service medals during a ceremony on Friday 11 September in the Convention Centre at CSU at Wagga Wagga from 12.30pm. Professor Chambers joined the Riverina College of Advanced Education (RCAE) in 1979 as an Associate Lecturer in history and politics after studies at the University of Sydney and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London.  He was appointed a Principal Lecturer at RCAE in 1987.  Following the creation of CSU in 1989, Professor Chambers was appointed Head of the School of Humanities and Social Science and in 1992 the Dean of the Faculty of Arts.  In 2002 he was appointed to his current position as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). “It has been a great privilege to be part of the development of Charles Sturt University and to work with the community of staff and students at the University,” said Professor Chambers. “I have especially appreciated being part of an organisation with a strong commitment to the values of equity in access and participation and of service to its communities.”

In a world saturated with advertising and media using sex to sell, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has warned of the long-term risks for children. Dr Emma Rush, Associate Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences says companies are increasingly marketing their products to children to capture the children’s allegiance to their brands. However she says some products, like padded bras for eight-year-old girls, are completely inappropriate.”Big companies make products to make money, but the clothing, magazines, toys and games are becoming increasingly sexualised,” said Dr Rush. The CSU academic is a contributing author to a new book, Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls. The book deals with the sexualisation and objectification of girls and women in the media, popular culture and society. “Experts are seeing psychological damage in younger and younger children and a rise in behaviours such as low self-esteem, depression, self-harms and eating disorders. The children should be out in the world having fun. They should be constructing themselves, rather than squashing into a narrow stereotype,” said Dr Rush. “As adults we have responsibilities for children’s health and development. It is wrong to think of premature sexualisation as simply a matter of taste; the fact is that it has risks for children.”