Charles Sturt University ( CSU ) winery has enhanced its reputation as an innovative producer of fine wines. The CSU Winery, based at the Wagga Wagga Campus, was awarded one silver medal and four bronze medals at the recent Royal Melbourne Wine Show. The 2004 Shiraz was awarded a silver medal, with this wine also earning four Bronze Medals at other major Australian wine shows. Bronze medals were awarded to CSU ’s 2005 Shiraz , the follow up vintage to the silver medal winning 2004 Shiraz , the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, the 2005 Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and the 2004 Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. The Melbourne Wine Show is one of the major wine shows in and is very highly regarded worldwide. CSU Winery Mark eting Manager Richard Lawson says “there were over 3 600 entries from around , so it is a great achievement”.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher is off on a trip offering “excitement of a life-time”. The trip to a remote Alaskan island is to gather an inventory of guns left behind by Japanese military forces after World War II. Archaeologist and principal researcher with CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS), Associate Professor Dirk Spennemann has been contracted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to inspect and document the guns on Kiska Island in the Bering Strait and to assess their state of conservation. He is one of a party of five who will spend five days on the island. Professor Spenneman says “This research fits into my interest in modern heritage and the planning problems. We can’t plan for the island’s volcano erupting but at least if we can document what we have now, then we can plan for future management and how we might stop these guns rusting away or being stolen.”

An innovative experimental winery is set to enhance Australia’s reputation for producing a quality product from the fruit of the vine. The new winery, to be launched on Tuesday 30 January, will be built next to the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, the result of a partnership between CSU, NSW Wine Industry Association and NSW Department of Primary Industries. Director of the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, CSU’s Professor Geoff Scollary says “This year 120 different wines will be produced at the CSU Winery. The expansion will allow production to increase to 150 for the 2008 vintage and provide grape growers and wine producers with strong scientific and practical information to ensure the Australian wine industry remains sustainable and profitable”. Professor Scollary believes the expansion “will further establish CSU as one of the nation’s leading wine extension and research centres”.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU’s) emphasis on professional experience as an integral part of CSU courses is being put into practice in the University’s Careers Service – with practical success. This year for the first time, CSU’s Careers Service offered two paid, internships for final-year students to give them valuable work experience opportunities. Final-year Bachelor of Commerce student, Casandra Barnes, of Cumnock, NSW, has just completed her six-month internship as a marketing assistant in the CSU Careers Service and begins her first career job with Liverpool Plains Shire Council based in Quirindi this week. “The hands-on experience working at the Careers Service was fantastic and taught me so much about what’s involved in a professional job,” Casandra said. “I’m sure it made the difference when I applied for my first professional position.” During her internship Casandra was responsible for marketing the Careers Service to first-year students; coordinating and promoting careers events; running online student forums and producing an online careers newsletter. Casandra, 23, starts her new job as a Community Economic Development Officer with the Liverpool Plains Shire Council in Quirindi this week. She will complete her final two subjects towards her degree by distance education. Paul Worsfold, Senior Career Development Officer with the Careers Service said practicum experience was a high priority for CSU as it strives to be a national leader in producing ‘job ready’ graduates. “The Careers Service understands the importance of professional experience which is why it promotes vacation work opportunities to students. We are also seeking to involve students who want complementary work experiences and career development activities outside of formal teaching requirements,” Mr Worsfold said.

The lack of doctors and dentists in rural areas has often overshadowed the fact that regional hospitals also desperately need Registered Nurses. To help overcome this shortage, Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Greater Southern and Western Area Health Services have collaborated in creating workshops and outreach programs aimed at encouraging and supporting Enrolled Nurses to upgrade their skills through study to become registered nurses. Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Health Science at CSU, Heather Latham who has been involved in the workshops since they began in Dubbo in 2003, says enrolled nurses who attend the workshops come away with a greater understanding of what will be required of them to succeed at university. “Some are unsure, others are unrealistically confident and others have been out of school for a long time and need assistance to develop their literacy skills.”  Enrolled nurses who have been chosen to participate in the program by the Area Health Service do not have to travel to residential schools at Bathurst CSU because Ms Latham and her colleagues take the residential schools to them. Some of the first attendees at the workshops are now almost ready to graduate. “We are confident they will go back to their local community and get jobs. It is work we feel passionate about because we see the importance of supporting people in rural and regional areas who are educationally disadvantaged,” Ms Latham said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) last week farewelled its inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, Professor Jim Pratley who was also CSU’s longest serving Dean. Professor Pratley began his career as a lecturer in Plant Science at the then Wagga Wagga Agricultural College in 1972 and later became lecturer in Agronomy at the former Riverina Murray Institute of Higher Education in 1976. He was appointed CSU’s inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture in 1990 and achieved a series of milestones for the University including the introduction of Australia’s first regional Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree.  In recognition of Professor Pratley’s outstanding service to CSU and his commitment to agricultural research, he has been awarded the title Emeritus Professor, only the fifth such appointment in CSU’s history. Professor Pratley will continue his association with CSU as a part-time Professor of Agriculture, a role that will see him building links with key international agricultural universities. CSU has already established links with South China Agricultural University as well as universities in Pakistan and Malaysia and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. Professor Pratley’s secretary, May Crawford who joined the staff of Wagga Agricultural College in 1976, will continue to work with Professor Pratley in his new ‘home’ in the Farrer building at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus. As the past vice president of the International Allelopathy Society, Professor Pratley plans to continue his research into natural herbicides and weed management.

“The news that the Federal Government has provided 40 new places to the Bachelor of Clinical Sciences degree at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is a strong recognition of CSU’s role in education and recruitment of rural health practitioners,” said Professor Mark Burton, CSU’s Dean of the Faculty of Health Studies. He was responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement late last week that CSU has been successful in its bid for additional university places in health-related disciplines in 2007. The new Bachelor of Clinical Sciences degree will stream rural and regional students into guaranteed places at Sydney University’s dental and medical degrees. “CSU has a strong track record of working to solve issues in regional communities. Our pharmacy graduates have already shown their commitment to stay and work in our regions and CSU’s collaborative arrangements with health agencies including the Greater Area Health Services has improved the critical shortage of Registered Nurses in rural and regional areas,” Professor Burton said. The Federal Government also announced 10 additional Clinical Psychology places at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus. Professor Ben Bradley, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts, said the new places will allow CSU to extend its flexible delivery of clinical training for psychologists who prefer to study at a distance. “They are already working in rural and remote Australia where there is an urgent need for psychological expertise to deal with the nation's growing burden of mental illness” Professor Bradley added.

Nosey neighbours are usually frowned upon but in the Macquarie Valley looking over the fence is giving cotton farmers a better understanding of pest management, thanks to research conducted by Charles Sturt University. Funded by the Cotton Catchment Communities Co-operative Research Centre (CRC), the project investigates ecologically-based pest management for Macquarie region cotton production. CSU Associate Professor of Applied Ecology, Geoff Gurr and PhD student David Perovic are working with growers in Trangie and the wider Macquarie Valley area to better understand how pest problems in cotton crops are influenced by neighbouring farms. “We’re conducting surveys on various types of non-crop vegetation such as native bushland and monitoring the movement of beneficial insects from there to the crops at different times of year,” Professor Gurr explained.

One of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) first graduates in wine science is the new President of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). Peter Hayes is the first Australian to head up the peak international wine body which has grown from an organisation formed in 1924 by six old world producers and now comprises 42 consumer and producer countries. “In 1975 CSU was the only place you could study wine science externally. I took on the CSU course because I wanted to broaden my options. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all held wine trading licenses whereas I was interested in the viticulture,” Mr Hayes said from Spain. The OIV recently resolved the issue of oak chips in wine-making and is now working towards consistent labelling. Mr Hayes says crucial issues include sustainability and the world wine surplus which currently sits around four times Australia’s total production. “That’s one of the challenges we have. How do you assist member countries to adapt their production capacity to the consumers?” Mr Hayes was previously Director of Viticulture at Rosemount Estate, National Viticulturist and Industry Relations Manager at Southcorp Wines, and President of the OIV’s Viticulture Commission from 2003 to 2006.