Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo will hold a MyDay to provide information to prospective students about nursing, social work, teaching, and business courses on Thursday 16 August. Ms Rebecca Morgan, a CSU prospective student adviser, said, “MyDays are an excellent forum for students to experience aspects of the discipline area they are interested in, and to find out what to expect during the course and how to apply for admission. We presently expect about 70 Year 10 and 11 students from nine schools in seven towns around the region to attend.” Schools attending include Dubbo Christian School, Dubbo College Senior Campus, Gilgandra High School, Gulgong High School, Macquarie Anglican Grammar School, Narromine High School, Mudgee High School, Peak Hill Central School, and Wellington High School.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Dr Keith Nesbitt’s research on a design pattern for complex systems has won him a 12-month postdoctoral appointment to the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) in Boston, USA. Dr Nesbitt, a lecturer in Information Technology at CSU, has been working in the relatively new field of science known as complex systems. The study of complex systems is about understanding indirect effects and the problems we find difficult to solve. They have causes and effects that are not obviously related. Examples of complex systems include beehives, ant colonies and even the stockmarket, as well as the human brain. NECSI, where Dr Nesbitt will be based, is an independent non-profit educational and research institution dedicated to advancing the study of complex systems. NECSI was established as a collaboration of faculty from Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Brandeis and other academic institutions. “I’m keen to take my research to the next level. That would be the ultimate goal: to try and understand what they call the theory of the mind”, said Dr Nesbitt.

Following the recent 75th anniversary celebrations to mark the formation of the Dubbo chapter of the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) in 1937, a photographic display of prominent Aboriginal men and women is on show at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo until 17 December. Mr John Nolan, community relations officer with the CSU Centre for Indigenous Studies in Dubbo, said the exhibition is made available to the University by Dubbo City Council and its Aboriginal liaison officer, Mrs Grace Toomey. “The APA was originally formed in Sydney in 1924, and a Dubbo branch was established at a public meeting on 27 June 1937 in a small cottage in Myall Street, Dubbo North, opposite the school,” Mr Nolan said. “Among those present were William Ferguson, Pearl Gibbs and Jack Patten. At that time, Aboriginal people were under stringent controls by the state government, and many were living on Aboriginal Reserves across NSW, including the Talbragar Reserve just outside Dubbo. Ferguson and Gibbs led a group in the western part of the state, while Patten assembled an alliance of activists in the north-east. Both wings of the APA were involved in political organisation, rallies and protests in Aboriginal communities, reserves and major cities like Sydney, to draw attention to the treatment of Aboriginal people and to the conditions in which they lived.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Regional Development Australia (RDA) will co-host a beef industry forum in Bathurst on Thursday 30 August to provide cattle producers with the latest production and market trends and intelligence. Dr Karl Behrendt, Director of Agribusiness Research Group at the CSU Faculty of Science said, “Leading experts in beef production and marketing will speak at the Agribusiness Today Forum ‘Profitable Beef in a Challenging Future’, so local cattle producers can hear firsthand about markets and expected returns for this major rural enterprise. Speakers from Queensland will examine production systems, and one of the state’s largest beef processors, Teys, will give a processor’s view. We’ll see how Australian production fits on the international market, and gain ideas on how to improve the performance of herds here on the NSW central tablelands. Speakers involved with the Australian Lot Feeders Association will showcase the latest research about feedlots overseas, and experts from the NSW Department of Primary Industries will provide tips and tools for producing the right beef from herds. A local butcher will discuss consumer feedback about beef products, and there will also be a focus on bulls’ fertility, as well as about using genetics to gain the best results. Mr Tim McRae from Meat and Livestock Australia will present the latest intelligence from the domestic and international markets.”

The public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Wednesday 5 September by leading Australian medical expert, Emeritus Professor John Dwyer, AO, has received a boost with the release of a report last week by the Senate’s Community Affairs References Committee. The University made a written submission to the Committee, and Professor Dwyer, and the Vice-Chancellor and President of CSU, Professor Andrew Vann, made submissions in person at a public hearing in Albury on Tuesday 5 June. Professor Vann has also responded to the report. Mr Col Sharp, Head of CSU in Bathurst, said, “Professor Dwyer is a leading advocate for structural reform of Australia’s health care delivery system, and he argues that current health outcomes for rural Australians are not acceptable. His public lecture will examine the rationale for and progress with CSU’s bid to establish a new rural medical school to boost the supply of ‘doctors for the bush’, and Professor Dwyer will also reflect on the broad endorsement of the University’s proposed approach to rural medical education in the Senate Committee report.” The Dental Clinic and the new Interdisciplinary Clinical Simulation Centre for nursing and paramedic students at CSU in Bathurst will be open for inspection by the public in the hour prior to the lecture.

Tickets have almost sold out for the biennial Tony McGrane Memorial Scholarship Dinner at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo on Monday 24 September. The late Mr Tony McGrane, OAM, was a Mayor of Dubbo from 1991 to 1999, and was then the Independent NSW Member for Dubbo. The dinner’s guest speaker is the Independent Federal Member for New England, the Hon. Tony Windsor, MP. Mr McGrane and Mr Windsor served together as Independent in the NSW Parliament. Head of CSU in Dubbo Dr Beverley Moriarty said the dinner would raise money for the Tony McGrane Scholarship, which gives students from the Orana region and Dubbo electorate an opportunity to gain a higher education. “It’s fantastic to see the level of support the community has given us and a testament to the lasting impact Tony had on the area,” she said. “Tony was very well-known in the community, he was very much loved and respected and he was instrumental in bringing Charles Sturt University to Dubbo. He passed away in 2004, but everyone you talk to in Dubbo remembers him and gives a little smile whenever they speak about him. They all have a story to tell about him.” Tickets for the Tony McGrane Memorial Scholarship Dinner are on sale for $130 per head. To purchase, contact CSU on (02) 6885 7370.

The importance of education to individuals and communities in regional Australia is the focus of a public lecture by a leading Indigenous academic at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo on Wednesday 24 October. Professor Jeannie Herbert, AM, the Foundation Chair of Indigenous Studies at the Centre for Indigenous Studies, at CSU will reflect on her own research when she delivers her lecture titled Empowering Communities. Professor Herbert has 25 years experience as a teacher in schools and 17 years in tertiary education. Before joining CSU in November 2009, she served in a range of roles at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory, Queensland’s James Cook University and the University of New England in northern NSW. The public lecture is at 6pm on Wednesday 24 October in lecture theatre/room 422 at Charles Sturt University, 8 Tony McGrane Place, Dubbo. Please RSVP to Ms Christine Stewart on (02) 6885 7370 or send an email.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo will host a screening of the Freedom Ride 2011 documentary as part of a meeting of the Wiradjuri Elders Group and visitors from Orange this week. The documentary tells the story of last year’s Freedom Ride re-enactment which visited the University’s Dubbo Campus and Orange on the way from Sydney to Moree. The re-enactment traced the path of Charlie Perkins’ famous Freedom Ride bus trip in 1965, which helped break down segregation laws in Australia. Participants camped at the Dubbo Campus on their 2 300km, two-week trek through 21 regional communities. Community relations officer for CSU’s Centre for Indigenous Studies, Mr John Nolan, said Youth Connections staff from the NSW Central Coast, who organised the re-enactment, would address the meeting and distribute copies of the documentary. “The re-enactment participants met local elders and community members on their way through Dubbo last year and were given a warm welcome by the University, and the event organisers can now tell the local elders and community about their achievements,” Mr Nolan said. “Charles Sturt University’s regular Wiradjuri Elders Group meetings have helped forge a great connection between the University and the local community.”

The cohort of nursing graduates from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo will be farewelled with a luncheon by staff and fellow students from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health on Thursday 11 October. Lecturer in nursing, Ms Cathy Maginnis, said the 17 students graduating from CSU in Dubbo are among 163 students across the University’s five campuses who are graduating from the Bachelor of Nursing in December. “This is the 11th year of internal nursing graduates from Charles Sturt University in Dubbo,” Ms Maginnis said. “The students are primarily mature-age women who have juggled family, employment and study. We also have two males in the group, and students who have travelled each week to attend classes from regional towns such as Coonabarabran, Tooraweenah, and Gilgandra. All have offers of new graduate nursing positions to commence in 2013, so this will be a great boost to our regional registered nurse workforce. They aim to work in a variety of discipline specialisations including medical, surgical, emergency, intensive care, and paediatrics. The majority will take up roles in Dubbo and the surrounding areas of Coonabarabran, Gilgandra and Wellington, and one student will practice in Orange.”