Leading Australian energy supplier Country Energy has sponsored the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Remote Telescope by installing a dedicated high speed fibre optic line stretching 1.5 kilometres to enable students around the world to study the universe as seen from the Southern Hemisphere. The initiator and administrator of the CSU Remote Telescope, Associate Professor David McKinnon, from the School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said the generous offer by Country Energy ensures the viability of the long-running project by providing up-to-date technological links to the Internet. “Country Energy has taken the ‘long view’ to assist starry-eyed school students everywhere. I’m over the moon! The in-kind support consists of plant labour and parts, which is mainly an optical fibre cable backbone link and termination devices. This will ensure faster and more secure download times and viewing opportunities for students,” Professor McKinnon said.

Innovative thinking and action to foster positive attitudes to mental health problems and linking individual struggles and social justice are promoted in NSW by a joint initiative between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the University of Western Sydney (UWS). Professor David Fryer, Professor of Community Critical Psychology at CSU’s newly established School of Psychology in Bathurst, and UWS Professor of Women’s Health Psychology, Professor Jane Ussher, will convene a half-day workshop - Freeing up our minds: critical alternatives to drug-focused approaches to mental health – at UWS on Thursday 22 April. Professor Fryer will describe and illustrate his work with ‘artivists’, self-styled ‘survivors of psychiatry’ who use artistic media in community settings to uncover and contest mental health-related oppression. “We have taken advantage of the visit to Australia by Dr Rufus May, a groundbreaking British clinical psychologist, mental health activist and media personality, to convene a workshop for those interested in socially-just alternatives to pharmacological and medical approaches to mental health,” Professor Fryer said. More information on the workshop is available from Professor David Fryer on (02) 6338 4450 or send an email.

Students in NSW and the ACT will have the opportunity to win cash prizes and donate money their favourite charity when entries open for Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) 2010 Making a Difference competition. CSU’s Making a Difference (MaD) Social Justice Innovation Award is open to all students in NSW and ACT in Year 10, 11 or 12 at high school or a student aged 15 to 21 years at TAFE. “The competition gives young people the opportunity to have an input into the challenging issues such as homelessness, teen suicide, drugs, poverty and crime,” said competition coordinator Mr Bill Anscombe, a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU. “This competition offers young people the platform to tell their story.” Students were asked to write a story, poem or script that addresses any issue of social justice for the chance to win $250 cash and to select a charity of their choice which CSU would then make a $250 donation to on their behalf.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Dental and Oral Health Clinic in Orange is now open to the public with the Rural Dental Action Group’s Ms Marj Bollinger the first to open wide for qualified dentist Dr Ying Shi Chang. Providing general and specialist dentistry services to the Central West, the CSU Dental and Oral Health Clinic, featuring state-of-the-art equipment, aims to service the oral hygiene needs of the local community while providing valuable clinical experience for the University’s dentistry students. Dr Chang, a qualified dentist from Sri Lanka, recently moved to Orange to work in the new Dental and Oral Health Clinic. “By the end of 2010, patients will have the opportunity to have simple procedures completed by CSU dentistry students if they choose to do so,” said Dr Sabrina Manickam, senior lecturer at the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences. To make an appointment at the CSU Dental and Oral Health Clinic in Orange call 1300 278 642.

A leading climate change researcher with Charles Sturt University (CSU) believes delaying the emissions trading scheme (ETS) will cost every Australian in the long run. Professor Kevin Parton, a lead researcher with CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society, said the Federal government’s decision to delay the introduction of the scheme until after 2012 to wait and see what the rest of the world will do on carbon emissions was no reason to delay. “The three biggest polluters are USA, China and Europe. China is developing green technologies, and Europe already has an ETS. They are going to be way ahead of Australia,” Professor Parton said. “The media has greatly exaggerated the cost of an ETS to the public, leading to falling public support for the scheme. And the government doesn’t want to take the scheme to its first election.” Professor Parton said under ‘business as usual’ without an ETS, Australia can expect to double its average level of income by 2050. “But with the ETS this income doubling would be delayed only one year.”

Local science enthusiasts are over the moon to hear the newest branch of Australia’s oldest scientific society will hold its inaugural free public lecture on how Australian radio-astronomy will solve the origin of the galaxies. The Royal Society of NSW was the first scientific society formed in the colony of NSW in June 1821. Initially named the Philosophical Society of Australasia, “with a view to enquiring into the various branches of physical science of this vast continent (Australia) and its adjacent regions”, the Royal Society of NSW now has a Central West branch. “A program of meetings, guest speakers and other activities is being compiled,” says local branch president and Head of Campus at Charles Sturt University in Orange, Professor Kevin Parton. “Essentially the Society exists for the promotion of science, art, literature and philosophy. Many local scientists and researchers have already joined the Central West branch but more are expected to do so once regular meetings begin. We welcome anyone with an interest in science to attend the first public lecture.”

The challenge in managing an organisation’s development alongside its environmental footprint is demonstrated in Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) 2009 Environmental Scorecard. The document is prepared by CSU Green to critically assess the University’s progress in meeting its sustainability targets for 2011 and 2015. “There was a large amount of development and construction at Charles Sturt University, with a 16 per cent increase in gross floor space since 2006, the baseline year,” said CSU Green Manager Mr William Adlong. “Despite this construction, greenhouse gas emissions from energy use increased by only 1.3 per cent between 2006 and 2009. This reflects the greater energy efficiency of new buildings, improvements in the plant and equipment in existing buildings and staff efforts to reduce energy use in their work areas,” Mr Adlong said. The 2009 Environmental Scorecard also shows mains water consumption across the University fell by more than 32 per cent since 2006, electricity consumption rose by 5.2 per cent from 2006, and emissions from travel increased 4.5 per cent from 2008. Read the full 2009 Environmental Scorecard here.

There will be a special graduation ceremony for one Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate due to his inability to attend the ceremonies in Wagga Wagga last month. Mr Simon Stanbouli is an inmate at the Wellington Correctional Centre in central west NSW. While in custody he completed a Bachelor of Business (Business Management) with Distinction. “A number of obstacles faced this student during his distance education studies including no access to the internet, the need to submit handwritten assignments and his inability to speak directly with his lecturer,” said Dr Padma Nathan from the School of Business at CSU in Wagga Wagga. “It is no mean task to score a High Distinction or a Distinction in any subject, and yet Simon managed these grades in virtually every subject at Charles Sturt University. Credit is also due to all the academic and administrative staff who have acknowledged the difficulties Simon faced and endeavoured to go out of their way to help him.”

Interest in the 7th annual Australian International Animation Festival has reached unprecedented levels with more than 2 200 submissions received from 40 countries for the event in regional NSW. Hosted by the Animation and Visual Effects program at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, the Festival will be held from Friday 14 May to Sunday 16 May at the Forum 6 Cinema in Wagga Wagga. The program includes international films, digital animation, stop motion and Australian made films. Young children are catered for in the Festival line-up as well as a ‘Late Night Bizarre’ show. There will also be free talks and workshops from local and international filmmakers. The full program can be found here.