Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff and students from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences in Orange are brushing up on their Spanish in preparation for a trip to Argentina at the end of the year. Supported by CSU Global, the trip is a first for CSU, with previous study tours including China, Vietnam and India. Three staff and 27 students are preparing for the trip in October when they will visit different agricultural businesses. “We will visit vineyards and beef and sheep producers as well as intensive horticultural and agricultural businesses,” said lecturer Dr Shevahn Telfser. “The trip is also a great way to build a relationship with the University of Buenos Aires which offers similar degrees in business and agriculture, and  if we want to get the most of the trip, we need to learn the language. Last year, when we went to China, we learnt a little Mandarin so that we could exchange basic greetings and understand some key phrases. The students and staff had a lot of fun with it and it definitely helped with cross cultural relationships.”

Three Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers have investigated what it means for Indigenous children, families, schools and communities to be prepared for schooling. The result is an approach that goes well beyond being concerned only with what children might know or be able to do. CSU Professor of Education with Murray School of Education, Bob Perry says, “We know a few things that do work: having high quality Indigenous staff in the school, good links between school and pre-schools, positive involvement of families and communities in the the transition to school, and top quality pre-school education all contribute to positive experiences. However, we must include Indigenous families and communities in the transition process and show them cultural respect as their children’s first educators. Children, families, communities and schools all have strengths that need to be recognised and celebrated.” The report, titled ‘School readiness: What does it mean for Indigenous children, families, schools and communities?’ will be launched on Tuesday, May 31 at Parliament House in Canberra by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP. The report includes input from local Wiradjuri community member, Ms Leonie McIntosh, as an adviser to the research team.

The nature of human emotions and their relationship with pain will be the focus of a public lecture by Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Dr Andrew Delaney in Griffith on Wednesday 15 June. Dr Delaney is a neuroscientist who recently joined CSU as senior lecturer at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences to start a new electrophysiological research laboratory in Orange. His presentation, ‘The Emotional Brain’, will examine questions that have fascinated psychologists and neuroscientists for more than 100 years; ‘what are emotions?’ and ‘how does the brain generate an emotion?’ He will also talk about advances in tracing the neuronal pathways that are involved in generating an emotional response to pain. “I will highlight the neuroscience research that my colleagues and I will be conducting to address how the emotional circuits of the brain are activated during a painful experience,” he said. “We are also examining how changes in these circuits might contribute to the high rate of depression and anxiety in sufferers of chronic pain, a relationship that has particular relevance to those living with pain in rural communities.”

The 2011 Central West RoboCup Junior Challenge robotics competition will see students from schools across the region build and operate mini robots at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange on Tuesday 21 June. The coordinator of the competition, Mr Allen Benter, a PhD student and researcher at the CSU Centre for Research in Complex Systems (CRiCS) in Bathurst, said, “Charles Sturt University has been the official sponsor of the RoboCup Junior Challenge in the NSW Central West for the past two years with the event successfully taking place in Bathurst last year. Staff at the University have provided technical advice to students and their teachers, have been judges at previous RoboCup events, and in October last year we held a training workshop on campus in Orange for students and teachers. It’s very exciting to now see this developing field so enthusiastically embraced by schools in the region.”

The push for a medical school in Orange continues to gather momentum with Charles Sturt University (CSU) launching the Doctors 4 the Bush  website this Thursday 16 June. CSU recently submitted a detailed proposal to the Federal government to gain support for the establishment of an Integrated Health and Medical Education Precinct. This proposal aims to provide medical and health training for students and boost the number of health professionals for regional Australia to redress the shortage of doctors in the bush. The website has been established to allow supporters of this initiative to keep up-to-date with the latest information on rural doctor shortages and will feature updated information on CSU’s proposal and the opportunity to register support for ‘a fair go for the health of rural Australia’. The website will be officially launched by Medical Program Development Community Consultative Committee member Ms Audrey Hardman, OAM, at CSU in Orange on Thursday.

This Thursday, Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be the venue for a significant public event organised by ActionAid which will see Ugandan mother of 11, Ms Polly Apio speak about her life in Africa. According to ActionAid, one billion people will go to bed hungry tonight. Not because there’s not enough food to go around, but because the food system is broken. Ms Apio offers a solution. She grows crops on a small family plot producing enough for her family and a little extra to sell. Women like Ms Apio grow up to 90 per cent of the food in sub-Saharan Africa and, if they had access to the same support and services that their male counterparts have, could alleviate hunger among the most vulnerable people in the world. At the public discussion Ms Apio will cover food security in sub-Saharan Africa, the role of women farmers and why sustainable small scale agriculture is so important for Australia as well as Africa.

After 10 years in the role, Professor Kevin Parton will step down as Head of Campus at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange at the end of the month, and staff will acknowledge his contribution to the campus at a lunch on Wednesday 29 June. Professor Parton will return to his substantive role as University Professor within the School of Business and his research work with the Institute of Land, Water and Society. “I have enjoyed assisting in the development of individual staff members of the campus in Orange, of the University generally, and people beyond the University,” Professor Parton said. This last 10 years has seen massive change at the Orange Campus in both courses of offer and in infrastructure developments. New courses include pharmacy, dental science, physiotherapy and clinical science, together with a reorganisation in area of agricultural business. The infrastructure changes include new student accommodation, extensions to the learning commons, a new lecture theatre, a cycleway from the city, significant improvements to the sporting facilities, many new teaching classrooms, together with new laboratories, the dentistry complex and physiotherapy building. “Before I left Canada to come to Orange, I was attracted to the role as a leader of change. University planners 10 years ago had foreseen some of the changes that are going on today. Likewise, some of the changes will take another 10 years to unfold and are now on the drawing board,” Professor Parton said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers are asking beef producers to help them find out more information about a condition affecting up to 10 percent of calves. Researchers from the Fred Morley Unit are undertaking one of the first studies of the impact of scours (diarrhoea) in calves in Australian beef herds. It is the most common symptom of illness in young calves reducing growth rates and causing death in a small number of cases. Senior lecturer with the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Dr Jan Lievaart said,  “Most of the research into calf scours in beef cattle has been done in Northern America and this project aims to get hard data for the Australian situation to see if there are any differences”. Surveys have been sent to 1 000 beef producers in the Hume Livestock Health and Pest Authority area and researchers hope to follow up by collecting samples from affected animals to identify the types of pathogens causing the infection. Producers who return their surveys will receive free entry to the EH Graham Centre  Beef Field Day on Thursday 4 August.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) veterinarian said the Hendra virus is very unlikely to pose an immediate risk for horse owners in southern NSW. However, senior lecturer in Equine Medicine with the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences Dr Kris Hughes, said a confirmed case of the Hendra virus at Wollongbar on the north coast does serve as a warning for all horse owners, veterinarians and other individuals dealing with horses in the region to be vigilant. “The risk is very low given our geographical location, but people should be aware of any changes in their horses’ behaviour, neurological signs and respiratory signs,” he said. The Hendra virus is transmitted to horses by flying foxes and is known to emerge only in autumn and winter in Queensland and northern NSW. In rare cases it can be transmitted from horses to humans and four of the seven people ever diagnosed with the virus have died. Dr Hughes hopes a vaccine being developed by the Australian Animal Health Laboratory will be available and widely distributed next year.