Charles Sturt University (CSU) will launch a new comprehensive leadership development program for women staff this Monday 6 February. Australian universities record low numbers of women in senior management positions, with national figures showing just 11 per cent of women hold professorial positions. The CSU Leadership Development for Women Program will run throughout 2006 and commences with a week of activities being held from Monday 6 February to Friday 10 February. Guest speakers who will give presentations on their experience of moving into leadership positions include:  Dr Jeane McConachie, Director Division of Teaching and Learning Services, Central Queensland University; Ms Sarah Davies, Vice-President Student Affairs, Swinburne University; and Professor Margaret Sheil, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at University of Wollongong. Associate Professor Marian Tulloch, Director CSU's Centre for Enhancing, Learning and Teaching or CELT will officially launch the program at 2 pm Monday 6 February in the Foundation Rooms, Centre for Professional Development on CSU’s Bathurst Campus.

An outreach program run by Charles Sturt University (CSU) for Indigenous recruits will be proposed by NSW Police. This follows a recommendation from the NSW Ombudsman’s report into Aboriginal policing throughout rural NSW. The proposal has enthusiastic support from the Goulburn Police College as well as significant support from within the Aboriginal community. Regional Commander for the Western Region based at Dubbo, Steve Bradshaw, says Indigenous recruits often find it difficult training at Goulburn because they are so far away from their homes in western NSW. “The recommendation by the Ombudsman suggests that we do some of the police training in an institute close to where the Aboriginal communities are. CSU currently has the contract to conduct police training, and has a campus at Dubbo in the NSW central west, so it seems obvious to approach CSU to develop an outreach program. It has my total support,” he said. CSU Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers says the University welcomes the proposal. “We look forward to working with NSW Police to strengthen Indigenous recruitment,” he said.

“Lazarus with a triple bypass”. The year was 1989, and John Howard had just lost the Opposition leadership. One reporter at the media conference asked him if he felt like a “political corpse”, another if he thought he could ever regain the leadership. How did John Howard go from that moment in political time, to today marking his tenth year in office with four straight election wins, making him Australia’s second-longest serving Prime Minister? Dr Wayne Errington (left), Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is currently writing a biography about John Howard, and will present a paper to a weekend conference looking at Mr Howard’s skill as a politician and his refusal to succumb to political rejection. “He’s grown as a politician, he’s a much more calm person than he was 10 or 15 years ago, he’s much more measured in his policies, he’s prepared to compromise to get things through the senate or to mollify public opinion, and that’s a recipe for a much more successful conservative politician.” Dr Errington’s paper also examines all the elements that have led to John Howard’s remarkable four election wins.

The story of two women living on "a knife's edge" in the Villawood Detention Centre has won an inaugural international broadcasting award for former Charles Sturt University (CSU) student Kirsti Melville. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Programme was presented to Ms Melville by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International at a ceremony in New Delhi. The Radio National documentary is described as "the human story behind the federal government's stance on deporting long-term visa overstayers". Ms Melville, a 1994 graduate with a BA Communication (Broadcast Journalism), says it was a compelling program "because their stories were equally moving and powerful as those of refugees, but they are voices you don't hear very often. I think it was one of the first times I felt like I had had a little bit of an impact. You become very aware of your responsibilities as a journalist and to the people involved." The news that she won came as a surprise, "I was completely gob smacked, and on top of that to find out I was going to India in two weeks to accept the Award was mind-blowing." Kirsti's next documentary is about ageing Holocaust survivors in nursing homes in Sydney.

Charles Sturt University graduate David Ford has won the Great Australian Story Challenge with his short film, A Little Bit of Magic. David graduated this year with a Bachelor of Arts (Television Production), and will now spend three months working with Australian Story at ABC TV. “I have a lot of respect for both the program and the ABC. I feel I have the capacity to make good stories, but it is also knowing how to work within a particular production environment. I don’t know where it will take me or what it will hold but it is looking optimistic.” A Little Bit of Magic tells the story of Cliff Armitage, who had an amazing career change since being involved in the gun control policy formation after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. David says making the film was a challenge “because I was doing the lighting, sound and camera, as well as producing and directing and researching”. Last year David filmed a travelogue documentary about his time spent at an African AIDS orphanage, which airs in July on cable TV in Australia, and later in New Zealand and Indonesia.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) relationship with South Korea’s Hannam University will be celebrated and expanded during a visit to the Bathurst Campus on Tuesday 8 August. Professor Lee Sang-Yoon, President of Hannam University, and Dr. Whan Koo Kang, Director of the Institute for Academia-Industry Cooperation, will sign third and fourth subsequent agreements to an already existing Memorandum of Understanding. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers says the agreements already in place involve student exchange and web based learning, while one of the new agreements will see CSU and Hannam jointly teaching Theology and Ministry doctoral degrees. “The other is an agreement which will enable students from Hannam University to complete a science degree at CSU. So what we bring to the table is strength in applied science, while Hannam University is strong on general science,” said Professor Chambers. Vice-Chancellor of CSU, Professor Ian Goulter, says CSU’s relationship with Hannam University is an important one which could greatly benefit CSU students. “It is a university with about 15 000 full time students, with Faculties in Commerce, Science and Education, very similar to us in a way, strong in Teacher Education, strong in Science, strong in Business. They also have the Linton Academy for international students. We are really keen for our students to go off-shore for a semester and experience other cultures in an English speaking context. That is why the student exchange agreement is a good one.”

Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia will inspect the Wagga Wagga Campus of Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Thursday 12 October. He will be accompanied by a large delegation from Cambodia, a country in Southeast Asia with a population of more than 13 million. Head of the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus Professor David Green says the Prime Minister is visiting Wagga Wagga as part of his official visit to Australia. “The Cambodian Prime Minister expressed an interest in seeing Australian agricultural facilities, hence the visit to our Campus.” Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter said “it is very clear that our model of collaboration with government agencies and with industry, as demonstrated with the E H Graham Centre and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, is a model for other countries to use.”  The Cambodian delegation will be briefed on current collaborations between the NSW Department of Primary Industry and Cambodian research institutions before a luncheon hosted by CSU. Professor Deirdre Lemerle, Director of the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, a joint research venture between CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries, says the visit is a “tremendous opportunity to showcase our excellent research capacity in agriculture, and further develop our collaborative links with Cambodia to create profitable and sustainable agricultural systems.”

According to a report published in March of this year, the well-documented nursing workforce shortage is an international problem. Nurse resignation rates in the USA are around 12-15 per cent per annum, while the annual attrition rates in New South Wales are closer to 20 per cent. Susan Bragg, a PhD student with the School of Health Science, is hoping to explore the reasons why NSW rural registered nurses resign from hospitals by interviewing nurses who resigned from a NSW rural hospital for reasons other than maternity, retirement or geographic relocation. “The idea came to me after I left the hospital system, and then we kept hearing about the nurse shortage. I wondered why no one was listening to the nurses who had resigned. I strongly believe that the nurses who have left the system hold the reason why. I think there are quite a few issues impacting on why nurses leave and hopefully I can summarise those in my thesis and then the system may pay attention.”

“I feel very confident in promoting the University as a great place to work.” Karen Kime is Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) new Indigenous Employment Coordinator. Although she only started in the position in June, already she has held cross cultural training workshops and Indigenous staff forums. “The workshops were about the different communication styles that many of our people have. Things such as eye contact, and women and men’s 'business', are sensitive issues. Silences are often used to show respect. Body language is very different. The forums meanwhile are a fantastic way for our people to be able to get together, to network, learn University processes, and to get some training which is specifically targeted for their needs.” Next up will be the introduction of pathways between TAFE, schools and CSU and the development of a mentoring scheme “to encourage people to see CSU as a potential and relevant employer - where one could have a career. In addition, our people contribute to an interesting and dynamic workforce; one that reflects the cultural makeup of the region it serves.”