A leading Australian theologian will examine the relationship between Christianity and Islam when he delivers a public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst on Tuesday 14 April as part of the University’s 20th anniversary celebrations. Reverend Professor James Haire, AM, whose address will draw on his extensive international and inter-faith experience, is Professor of Theology at CSU, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture and Director of CSU's Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre, based in Canberra. “I will look at the inter-relationships of Christianity and Islam in global perspective, and at the implications for Australia. I will also draw on personal experience in inter-faith dialogue and negotiations,” Reverend Professor Haire said. The lecture will start at 6.30pm on 14 April in the James Hardie Room, Centre for Professional Development, at CSU Bathurst Campus.

Lecturers at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Human Movement Studies have been contracted to provide strength and fitness coaching for elite Indonesian athletes. Dr Stephen Bird and Mr Ben Barrington-Higgs have received a new contract from the Indonesian government’s State Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs, with Dr Bird leading the Indonesian National Top-Tier Athlete Program for 2009. “We are very excited by this development because this is the first time that the Indonesian government has run the Top-Tier Program,” Dr Bird said. “This program supports the top 300 athletes in 45 sports across the broad categories of combat, target, field and water. We have two physical preparation coaches in Indonesia who we oversee, and in April we will travel to Indonesia as part of preparations for the South-East Asian Games in December 2009.” Mr Barrington-Higgs is in charge of the coach and athlete education program.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Charles Sturt University (CSU) will recognise academic excellence among its graduating students and the wider community at Graduation in Dubbo on Wednesday 25 March. Included in the 102 graduates will be Dr Patricia Logan, Dubbo-based lecturer with the CSU School of Biomedical Science, who will be awarded her PhD. “I think finding the balance of time between work, study and family is always difficult, so graduation day is a day of pride for the students who have successfully completed their degree,” said Dr Logan, who will give the vote of thanks on behalf of all Dubbo graduates. As part of the University’s 20th Anniversary celebrations, the Dubbo student residences will be named in honour of people who were instrumental in the development of the Dubbo Campus. The naming ceremony will take place at a graduate luncheon to be held on the Dubbo Campus.

Director of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the former Director of the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, Dr Dawn Casey, PSM, FAHA has been appointed to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Council. Dr Casey is the newest member of the University’s governing body following her appointment by the NSW Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. Verity Firth, MP, on recommendation from the CSU Council. Dr Casey, who is nationally and internationally recognised for her leadership of the Powerhouse Museum, the National Museum and the Western Australian Museum, has been appointed until June 2011. Dr Casey has made a major contribution to Indigenous policies and programs in Australia as well as to Australia’s cultural heritage, including. the establishment of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. She also initiated the joint Commonwealth-State response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as a senior executive in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Dr Casey’s appointment comes as the University celebrates the 20th anniversary of its establishment through the Charles Sturt University Act 1989. Read more here.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) community was saddened to hear of the recent death of Mrs Sheila Swain, AM. Mrs Swain was first appointed to the Council of Mitchell College of Advanced Education, a predecessor institution of CSU, in 1981.  She became Deputy Chair in 1984 and was Chair from 1986 to 1988. The building housing the School of Nursing and Midwifery on the University’s Bathurst Campus was named after Mrs Swain in 2000. Mrs Swain was a councillor on Hunters Hill Municipal Council in Sydney from 1971 to 1991, becoming the first woman elected mayor of the suburb in 1980-82 and was re-elected in 1987-89. She was also active in the Australian Local Government Women's Association - as treasurer, secretary, president of the NSW branch and later national president. In 1986 Mrs Swain was named Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Australian Federation of Business and Professional Women, and in 1987 was appointed a member of the Order of Australia. In 1989 she established and funded four scholarships for female students at CSU suffering financial hardship.

With parents aware of the importance of life skills for children, Charles Sturt University (CSU) is offering its first Equine School to be held in the NSW school holidays in April. CSU will also help school students contemplating a career in the horse industry with a tailored holiday course in horse riding. “The school is also ideal for young or green horses to enable their owners to provide valuable exposure away from familiar surroundings, with horses given sound basics to go on with at home,” course coordinator Ms Cheryl Gander said. “Sharing life with horses is a wonderful tool in learning important life skills, especially for younger children and teenagers. Horses can teach things like responsibility, humility and patience – all important in everyday life.” The school will be run by experienced instructors in a safe, controlled environment at the CSU Equine Centre at Orange.

Recognising the urgent need for adequate Aboriginal oral health in western NSW, Charles Sturt University (CSU), Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) and Bila Muuji Aboriginal Health Service Inc. will join forces, launching two oral health partnerships in Dubbo on Monday 6 April. A Memorandum of Understand (MoU) between CSU and Bila Muuji will be signed to establish a Student Clinical Placement Program for CSU Dentistry and Oral Health Therapy undergraduates at regional Bila Muuji sites and to investigate opportunities of joint research projects. Furthermore, a partnership between Bila Muuji and GWAHS will see the appointment of Oral Health Promotion Coordinator, Ms Kay Jackson. The School of Dentistry and Health Sciences is particularly excited by this partnership. “Bila Muuji clinical activities and CSU’s educational footprint very neatly dovetail across western NSW,” says Professor Ward Massey, Head of School. “The MoU will result in Bila Muuji input into curriculum content and delivery, provision of scholarships for CSU students and patient care at Bila Muuji sites by CSU students and staff.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has contributed in the creation of a new resource to help farmers in the battle against one of Australia’s most noxious weeds, serrated tussock. The Serrated Tussock Best Practice Management Manual and a supporting resource CD was launched today, Tuesday 25 November. “Up-to-date information on the best practices to control and manage the spread of serrated tussock is a key to successful management,” said Mr Scott Chirnside, Chair of the National Serrated Tussock Management Group. The new manual collates information on control and management options. CSU School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences research fellow, Dr Aaron Simmons said, ”Lower wool prices mean people work off farm and have less time to control serrated tussock. This manual will provide farmers with most of the information they need but they do need to consider how the information reflects their individual circumstance.”

Two Australian artists have donated almost 50 prints to the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Art Collection. The artists, Dr Guy Warren from Sydney, and Ms Chayni Henry from Milner near Darwin, donated the prints to the University through the Commonwealth's Committee on Taxation Incentives for the Arts. The works will hang in the 2009 exhibitions, Mono Uno: Monotype mark making within the CSU Art Collection and More Beasties, helping to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of CSU in 2009. Dr Warren donated two traditional 1958 oil monotypes and 14 watercolour monotypes from the early 1980s and seven related prints. Ms Henry has donated the entire Rona Green-curated print portfolio Beasties 2005/6. The portfolio includes the work of printmakers Rosalind Atkins, Milan Milojevic, Rew Hanks, Rebecca Mayo, Stephen Spurrier and Murray Walker. “The gifts, valued at almost $60 000, are a timely contemporary injection to the University’s Art Collection which already holds the minutea print exchange portfolio curated by Ms Green in 2000,” said CSU Art Curator Mr Thomas Middlemost.