The CSU Media team welcomes you to 2010. We hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday season, and that the year ahead is a healthy one.

Starting school can be exciting and, perhaps, a little scary – and that’s just for parents. Two senior education researchers at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have developed guidelines to help parents, teachers and children as they start school. “Starting school is an important milestone in the lives of children and families. If children have a successful start to school, they are likely to stay connected to school and regard it as a positive place to be,” says Professor Bob Perry from CSU. Drawing on over 15 years of research, Professor Perry and Professor Sue Dockett, who research and teach at the University’s Murray School of Education, have led the way for parents and teachers on how to help all involved feel competent and confident when children start school.

While managers put much energy into improving business performance by investing in innovation, increasing product and service quality or through expansion, little effort is given to improving the culture which is the backbone of every organisation’s operation. A Swiss graduate from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Doctor of Business Administration program says carefully managing organisational culture can positively influence the company’s bottom line. Dr Patric Maerki is the first graduate to complete his studies through a partnership with CSU and the University of Applied Science in Bern, Switzerland. He devised a way to help manage the aspects of corporate culture influencing business performance. “My research into companies in five different industries showed that corporate culture values such as freedom, risk taking, open and shared communication, and respecting employees can be used to enhance operational performance in innovation, organisational alignment and customer orientation, and to increase profits,” said Dr Maerki. CSU’s distance education program attracted Dr Maerki as he could balance his business commitments with the demands of completing a doctorate while receiving support from a Swiss supervisor.

Primary and secondary school teachers and pupils from schools across the NSW Central West will gather at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Monday 15 February for training to help them compete in the regional RoboCup Junior Challenge to be held at the University in June. Mr Allen Benter, a PhD student and researcher at the Centre for Research in Complex Systems (CRiCS) in Bathurst and coordinator of the RoboCup Junior Challenge, said, “This workshop for teachers and pupils will assist them through the process of constructing and programming a robot to compete in one of three events at the competition in June: Dance, Rescue or Soccer. The winners of the regional competition will then advance to the NSW competition. About 45 teachers and students will attend in groups of one teacher and two students from schools in Bathurst, Orange, Wellington, Oberon, Hampton and O’Connell. During the training day they will construct a robot using Lego and write programming on computers.” CSU is the official sponsor of the regional RoboCup Junior Challenge in the NSW Central West.

Celebrating Your Future is the theme of Orientation 2010 at Charles Sturt University (CSU) from Tuesday 23 to Friday 26 February. In distinctive yellow t-shirts, student coordinator and leaders will welcome the new arrivals at CSU in Dubbo as part of the week-long introduction to university life. Orientation 2010 activities include academic information sessions, campus and library tours and a cocktail party welcoming news students and their families at the Western Plains Cultural Centre hosted by the Dubbo City Council. The Head of CSU in Dubbo, Doctor Beverley Moriarty will officially welcome the new students and their families at 1pm on Tuesday 23 February. The Orientation 2010 program, which is coordinated by the Division of Student Services at CSU, can be found here. The University expects to enrol about 2 800 new on campus students in 2010, with 80 based in Dubbo.

New figures released by Charles Sturt University (CSU) show significant savings for the environment in the management of its vehicle fleet. The data prepared by CSU’s Division of Finance reveals that although the distance travelled by CSU vehicles on official business rose last year by eight per cent, from 6.3 million kilometres in 2008 to 6.8 million, the amount of fuel consumed dropped from 664 000 litres in 2008 to 580 000 in 2009, a decline of 84 000 litres or over 12 per cent. “The carbon emissions saved through the greater efficiency of the University’s vehicle fleet is about 380 tonnes of carbon - the equivalent of taking 88 cars off the road for 2009,” said CSU Green Manager, Mr William Adlong. CSU vehicles are used to support staff on official University business including travelling between campuses in five major NSW regional centres as well as in Canberra, Goulburn and Sydney. “We hope to improve these figures with staff encouraged to consider using practical alternatives to travelling between campuses, such as video-conferencing, or sharing vehicles.” Over 60 per cent of CSU’s transport fleet are lower emission vehicles, such as four cylinder petrol, gas, diesel or hybrid.

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile on Sunday 28 February are reminders of the harshness of nature and the need for governments, emergency services and relief agencies to plan for natural disasters, says an expert in disaster management from Charles Sturt University (CSU). Mr Ian Manock, lecturer in emergency management at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing, said that with a burgeoning world population and in spite of increasing technology, research shows that the incidence of damage to facilities and harm to people from the impact of natural and technological hazards is increasing exponentially. He said the disaster will no doubt have emergency service agencies in Chile pushed beyond their limits and the international community will be called on to assist.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be one of three universities to provide senior high school students in Dubbo with the chance to discover more about university life and potential career paths when the Regional University Road Show comes to town on Thursday 4 March. Dubbo Senior College will host one of the road show events, which career advisor, Mrs Denise Latta, describes as a wonderful opportunity for local students. “A large percentage of Dubbo school graduates complete their tertiary education at regional universities and this is a chance to hear from three different universities in the one session. This enables them to consider a number of options for future study,” Mrs Latta said. “Often regional students have difficulty attending university open days, so here the universities come to the students. The sessions are very informative and give lots of time for questions about both the study options and the admissions process."

The newly-appointed Professor of Paramedic Practice and Leadership at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Biomedical Sciences in Bathurst, Professor Peter O’Meara, has returned from teaching a one week course for paramedics from several states centred around the  US state of Illinois. “They have a very different system in the US to ours in Australia,” Professor O’Meara explained. “The professional practice and management issues are similar, however they have 17 000 ambulance service providers compared to eight in Australia. Services range from very small to moderately sized organisations serving a city or regional community and there are no state-wide services. Many are run by the fire brigade, others by city councils, hospitals and private companies, some for profit and others not-for-profit. In Australia we are well advanced in the education and training of paramedics and ambulance service managers. However, we can learn from experiences in the US where they face challenges over a very large and diverse country. I see potentially great opportunities for the University to extend into the US paramedic education market in partnership with professional associations and other universities involved in paramedic education. I am also pursuing opportunities for CSU paramedic students to undertake clinical placements in the US.”