Artwork by the contemporary painter and printmaker David Serisier, who was born in Orange in 1958, has now entered the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Art Collection and is on permanent display at CSU’s Orange Campus. Produced in 2001, the two large images are formed by layers of rectangles glued on on paper and stacked like ”Quisenaire” rods. The works were chosen to display the great range of his colour palate – one very dark and the other light. “We’re thrilled to have the paintings hanging in our main administration building,” Head of Campus Professor Kevin Parton said. “They certainly have provoked a great deal of conversation amongst staff and visitors to the campus.”

Six Charles Sturt University (CSU) early childhood education students will undertake a community project in Dubbo that will focus on the importance of transition to primary school for small children. Titled Working Together for Children: Strengthening Transition Pathways, the project will highlight the importance of a positive transition experience to ensure children move into the school environment successfully. The Working Together for Children project aims to help the community recognise that the early years are the most important of a child’s life and their early experiences can influence their learning in following years. “Positive relationships between early childhood professionals, families, carers and schools are an integral aspect of supporting transition from the home or early childhood setting into the school,” said project representative Corina Windsor.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism graduate, Courtney Trenwith has won the Minister’s Award for Excellence at the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) Excellence in Education Journalism Awards. Ms Trenwith received $3 000, as well as high praise for her work. Chair of the ACDE, CSU’s Associate Professor Jo-anne Reid, said Ms Trenwith’s submission was “absolutely outstanding. I was especially impressed that Courtney looked at the human side of education, not just the big issues”. Ms Trenwith says she arrived at the Awards ceremony in Canberra expecting to receive the News category, and was stunned to receive the overall excellence award. She says she loves her work at the Illawarra Mercury newspaper, saying “education was the only round I ever wanted to do”.

To celebrate the launch of Charles Sturt University’s Pharmacy course in Orange, an ornate piece of local history has returned to the city after spending several years in Wagga Wagga. Two ornate carboys the large traditional glass vessels that are a recognised symbol of pharmacy were originally donated by Max McCarthy, the previous long time proprietor of McCarthy’s Pharmacy in Orange, to the Pharmacy course at CSU Wagga Wagga Campus in recognition of the establishment of the first pharmacy course offered in inland Australia. In the 18th & 19th centuries the carboy was used to show customers a sample or 'specie' of the drugs they would use in compounding medicines. One of these ornately decorated 50-centimetre tall jars has been returned to Orange to mark the introduction of CSU’s Pharmacy course at the Orange Campus. Mr McCarthy and Malcolm Rosborough, the current owner of McCarthy Pharmacy and a governor of the CSU Pharmacy Foundation will visit CSU Orange Campus to place the carboy on permanent display at the Pharmacy laboratory.

As the Orange Campus celebrates new beginnings with Charles Sturt University, spring is also being celebrated on the Campus with the birth of the first CSU Orange foal for 2006. The black colt was delivered in the early hours of Saturday morning 16 September. The colt has joined the greatly expanded equine course at CSU, with extensive facilties at Orange joining those on the Wagga Wagga Campus. “The colt’s grandsire is a renowned European dressage stallion, so he is quite a ‘special little man’ and he seems to know that already,” says Equine Centre Manager Cheryl Gander.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is expanding the number of student Accommodation Residences as a major initiative in response to demand from prospective students and their families. CSU’s acting Executive Director of Student Services, Andrew Callander said the University is planning to substantially increase the number of beds available for students and to increase the variety and type of accommodation available. Initially CSU will add around 170 beds by 2009 on all its major campuses: Albury-Wodonga Campus: 48 new beds to come onto the Thurgoona site; Bathurst Campus: Four eight-bed cottages to open by February 2007; Dubbo Campus: Fully commissioning of new student accommodation totalling 62 places; Orange Campus: Converted cottages for 20 students on the CSU Orange Campus; Wagga Wagga Campus: Two eight-bed cottages to come on stream by February each year from 2007 to 2009. A 20-bed complex using funds from a bequest to the University will be built in 2007. “We are also planning for a large scale project to add 600 new beds to meet increasing demand for on-campus accommodation on our Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga campuses,” Mr Callander said. The project will expand the range of accommodation offered and take the total beds available for students on campus at CSU to around 3 000.

A forum hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will review Australia’s position within the Asian trade arena, especially Japan and China. Expert speakers, including keynote speaker and Australia’s Japanese Consul General Tsukasa Kawada, will provide up-to-date assessments of economic developments and trade opportunities in Asia. Head of CSU Orange Campus, Professor Kevin Parton, believes the forum encapsulates the University’s strong relationship with Asia. “The Asia Today forum highlights our continuing research and tour visits to Asia and provides a great opportunity for companies and entrepreneurs to review Australia’s trade performance with Asia with the intention of trading with the region.” Issues to be covered will range from a consideration of the general growth prospects in Japan and China through to detailed case studies on how to get started in exporting. The Asia Today forum runs from 9am to 2pm on Friday 22 September. The Orange forum complements an international academic business conference also hosted by CSU that focuses on trade with China, being held on 21 and 22 September in the NSW Blue Mountains > see more.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has acknowledged the important contribution made to its establishment by Sir Charles Cutler who has died aged 88. Sir Charles was the leader of the NSW Country Party (now the NSW Nationals) from 1959 to 1975 and Deputy Premier in the government of Sir Robert Askin from 1965 to 1975. In his role as MLA for Orange (1947-75) and as Minister for Education and Science (1965-72), he was instrumental in the setting up of Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), which eventually became the Bathurst Campus of Charles Sturt University. CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter expressed condolences on behalf of the University. “Sir Charles made an enormous contribution to education in New South Wales, not least as the Minister who oversaw the foundation and early growth of MCAE.” Sir Charles was born at Forbes in 1918, served in World War II and was elected to the NSW Parliament in 1947.

Child protection, genocide, substance abuse, the justice system and the delivery of mental health services to Aboriginal people are among topics to be presented by mental health degree students this week at a conference at Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga Campus on Wednesday 27 September. The conference, titled Footprints: Many Nations on One Journey, is being organised by the students as part of their studies into the professional issues in Aboriginal mental health and will also bring together several guest speakers from State and Commonwealth authorities. Guest speakers are the Manager Clinical Partnerships, NSW Centre for Mental Health; Robyn Murray; Director of Social Health in the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Kate Gilbert; and Acting Director Adolescent Health, NSW Health, Catherine Lynch. CSU mental health course coordinator Jane Havelka said the student presentations and written reports will provide a valuable contribution to the published material on the issues in Aboriginal mental health.