Staff from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dubbo Campus will walk together to support Relay for Life this Saturday 31 March. The “Smarties” team, comprising CSU staff and their families, will take to Victoria Park Oval, Dubbo along with 67 other teams to raise funds for cancer research, education, support services and advocacy. “There are a lot of people on our campus who have been affected by cancer in one way or another,” says team coordinator Jenny Greene. Team members have been encouraged by the donations already received from fellow CSU staff and students, with a successful skipping competition raising another $800. “We had so much fun organising the skipping competition and can’t wait until the weekend to raise money again for such a worthy cause.” To make a donation online, visit the “Smarties” website.

A self-described Sydney-centric says Dubbo has been the “best four years” of his life. Darren Oen will graduate with Bachelor of Education (Primary) Honours on Thursday 24 May at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Dubbo Campus. He says he and the Campus have grown up together. “I arrived in February 2003 and had to stay in the caravan park for two weeks because my student residence wasn’t quite ready. I have watched the campus grow - double in size, car parks and new buildings, landscaping and paths.” CSU Dubbo’s Cath Smith says Darren “has made a big impact on the Campus, so seeing him complete his Honours is a proud moment for many of the staff members”. Darren begins teaching at a private school in Sydney city next term. And his advice to high school students considering a move to the country for tertiary study? “I’d definitely recommend it. You learn to see things a little bit differently. My way of looking at life now is more balanced and more just. It’s very personally enriching. You grow up a lot. It was a great experience.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will take over providing all services to its students such as sports clubs, medical, counselling and advisory on Wednesday 4 April. Head of Dubbo Campus Mr Gary Shipp will accept the handover of these services from Matthew Hare, President of the Student Representative Council. “CSU students will not notice any difference in the level of services they receive at the University with the change,” said Jim Hackett, who is overseeing the takeover of all student services by CSU. “CSU has taken the stand that the student services provided by the CSU Student Association were an important part of the whole university experience, so the University has stepped in to continue these services, which are particularly important on our regional campuses.” The move has occurred as the result of the voluntary student unionism legislation passed last year by the Federal Government.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a three day “Coach-the-Coach Conference” at its Bathurst Campus from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 April 2007. According to Dr Stephen Bird, a lecturer with CSU’s School of Human Movement Studies, the conference is booked out and participants will be travelling from around Australia and overseas. “Several lecturers from CSU will be presenting a number of sessions dealing with topics like training techniques, conditioning, and sports psychology and there will also be presentations from some of Australia’s leading Olympic and Commonwealth Games coaches,” Dr Bird said. The conference is being jointly organized by the Western Region Academy of Sport (WRAS) in Bathurst and its western NSW counterpart the Far Western Academy of Sport (FWAS), and is supported by the School of Human Movement Studies.

Students of Australia’s largest inland university Charles Sturt University (CSU) have been awarded seven of the nine Pharmacy Guild of Australia 2007 scholarships as part of the Guild’s Rural Pharmacy Scholarship Scheme. Faculty of Science Dean Professor Mark Burton was “thrilled” with the announcement. “It’s a testament to our health-based courses at CSU that our students receive such positive recognition. The scholarships encourage recipients to seek work in rural and remote areas which ties in with CSU’s commitment to providing trained professionals who will enhance rural communities,” said Professor Burton. To be eligible, Pharmacy students must be from a regional, rural or remote area. The students then make a presentation to the scholarship committee. Each scholarship is worth $40 000 per student over four years.

Kiama High School pupils will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) Dubbo Campus tomorrow to hear about CSU’s innovative Enhanced Training Program for teaching in schools with significant Aboriginal enrolments. Tracey Simpson, senior lecturer and Associate Head of the School of Teacher Education at CSU Dubbo, is the driving force behind the program. She explains that fourth year Bachelor of Teaching students, who participate in the Enhanced Program, take on subjects that explore “Aboriginal history and social justice issues, as well as working within schools and communities where there are Aboriginal families”. Todd Mackie, who attended Kiama High, is currently undertaking the Enhanced Program, which he describes as, “Extremely positive. It is amazing how the learning experiences in the program are starting to connect and help us see the bigger picture - addressing systematic educational inequalities."

In what’s been described as a "U-turn of dramatic proportions", the same study that in 2002 warned menopausal women to abandon Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has now released findings that show HRT risks are not as bad as first thought. The Women's Health Initiative Study (WHIS), a major 15-year research program to address the most common causes of death, disability and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women, last week stated any additional risks may apply only to older women. Charles Sturt University (CSU) biomedical researcher Dr Christopher Scott says he is not surprised by the new findings. “The initial findings were quite scary, but since then they have done a lot more thorough number-crunching. HRT is considered to be beneficial to deal with the symptoms of menopause, but a woman with a strong family history of breast cancer and cardiovascular should not take HRT long term. You have to look at the particular person and what they want to use it for and how long they want to use it.”

The Australian wine industry will benefit from Charles Sturt University (CSU) research to prevent revenue loss for Shiraz growers. A research team, led by senior lecturer in viticulture at the School of Wine and Food Sciences Dr Dennis Greer, is using business intelligence software to investigate water loss from Shiraz grapes. The project has received about $2 million funding from the Australian Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation. Shiraz grapes lose up to 20 per cent of their water content at the end of the growing season which means growers, who are paid on weight, lose up to 20 per cent of their potential revenue. Data including grape bunch weights, carbon dioxide and water vapour emissions is collected every five minutes over several days. According to Dr Greer, "This is relatively new science that has not been done on Shiraz grapes before".

Young people’s access to educational opportunities can be adversely affected by drought, according to new research that will be presented at a national conference soon. Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Margaret Alston and Dr Jenny Kent will present the final report on their research at the conference which will be hosted by the Federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), the Foundation for Regional / Rural Renewal (FRRR) and CSU. Former Deputy Prime Minister and conference convenor Ian Sinclair will join with members of the Myer family, who are the major donors to the FRRR, at the official welcome starting at 2pm on Tuesday 17 April at the Nowik Auditorium, CSU Albury City site, Guinea St, Albury.