The Mitchell Student Guild of Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst will host the annual Kids Day Out charity fundraiser on Sunday 2 September. 2012 Kids Day Out Director, Ms Alyce Woods, said, “After being postponed earlier in the year due to wet weather, the new date gives children of all ages a great way to celebrate Fathers Day with their dads. This year’s event promises to be a jam-packed day with appearances by Dora the Explorer and Diego, Toy Story’s Buzz and Woody, and  Tinkerbell. This year we’ll also have some great rides for the little kids and ‘big kids’ at heart. All proceeds will go to the Bathurst Base Hospital Paediatric Ward, and the local Riding for the Disabled.” The event will feature carnival rides, kids’ craft making stalls, an animal petting zoo, jumping castles, barbeque and food stalls, candy and show bags, a community stage with local musicians and performers, raffles, roving performers, face painting, an ambulance on display, and a special look at local emergency services.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) dentistry student Mr Mike Azer will travel to the Northern Territory in his holidays to provide dental care in Indigenous communities. A qualified dental therapist, and in his second year of his Bachelor of Dentistry degree at CSU, Mr Azer will spend six weeks working with an assistant to help ease the pain of patients. “It’s a great way to get some life experience and also assist those who normally don’t see a dentist in their community,” Mr Azer said. When he visited the same region last year, Mr Azar experienced life in a remote area. “I see people who are in a lot of pain so I do what I can to help them and try to educate them to take better care of their oral health.” Mr Azar plans to provide similar dental care when he travels to East Timor with a group of CSU dentistry students in 2011.

Students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange are preparing for a two-week tour of New Zealand as part of their Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management. The course is one of only a handful offered in Australia and has been designed to prepare students to meet the critical shortage of skilled managers in the agricultural sector. The University’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences academic Ms Shevahn Telfser said graduates were in demand from agribusiness companies and major banks seeking employees with technical agricultural training and skills in business, management and finance. “The New Zealand visit will include tours of agricultural and commercial properties, and is part of our focus on ensuring graduates are work-ready and prepared for an international workplace,” she said. “Agricultural business management graduates are sought after and most of our students have secured jobs even before they complete their degree.” Students studying via distance education will join students studying at CSU in Orange for the tour, which is scheduled for early October.

With an asteroid named after him, Professor Fred Watson, AM, is a master of the universe whose passion for astronomy will excite those who attend his public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange on Friday 12 November. Astronomer-in-charge of the Australian Astronomical Observatory at Siding Spring near Coonabarabran, NSW, Professor Watson’s main scientific interest is gathering information on very large numbers of stars and galaxies. He is well-known for his astronomy discussions on ABC Radio, has been a guest speaker at venues ranging from Parliament House and the Australian Museum, to Science in the Pub, and is in demand among science educators. Professor Watson is a frequent guest on ABC TV’s weekly science program, Catalyst, and writes regularly for several publications, including Australian Geographic and the annual Yearbook of Astronomy. To find out more about the universe and the asteroid 5691 Fredwatson, the Central West Branch of the Royal Society of NSW invites the public to attend Professor Watson’s public lecture, An alien like you, at 6pm Friday 12 November at Lecture Theatre 3, CSU in Orange. Tickets are $3 for Royal Society members, $5 for non-members.

Construction has begun on the $7.7 million allied health development at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange. The development includes a new Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Science teaching facility for the School of Community Health along with restructured access roads and a new alternative entrance allowing easier access to campus accommodation. With the Bachelor of Physiotherapy course established at CSU in Orange  this year, the University is continuing its development of the campus with a new purpose-built facility which will include academic offices, a rehabilitation gym and a practice clinic. Until the facility is completed, students will continue to use state-of-the-art rooms in the Experiential Learning Centre and Dentistry building, and attend lectures in one of the three lecture theatres on the campus. “Both the students and academics are very excited about the new facilities,” said Associate Professor Julia Coyle, Head of the School of Community Health. The building is due to be completed by mid-2011.

More than 130 Charles Sturt University (CSU) administrative staff will converge on CSU in Orange to attend the University’s biennial conference, Admin Focus - Diversity @ one university on Wednesday 17 November. Every two years administrative staff from six CSU campuses gather to attend a program of professional and social activities and this is the first time the conference has been held at CSU in Orange. “Charles Sturt University values the significant contribution of administrative staff in office and support positions,” said Ms Jenna Sharp, chairperson of the Admin Focus organising committee. “Admin Focus gives staff the opportunity to increase their understanding of relevant professional development topics, and it fosters a sense of community among administrative staff who normally would only be interacting between campuses via phone and email.” The two-day conference will include talks by professional educator and director of Keys to Success, Ms Mary Brell, and the Deputy Chancellor of the CSU Council, Ms Kathryn Pitkin.

The use of virtual reality is pivotal to training future police officers in NSW, according to Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic, Ms Amanda Davies, course director of the Associate Degree in Policing Practice at the School of Policing Studies. Ms Davies will explain how simulation and virtual reality is used in teaching policing studies in a case study titled ‘The Role of Virtual Reality in Connecting Students to their Profession’ to be presented at the National Curriculum Innovation and Quality Forum 2010 in December. “Our students use virtual reality to practice management of events that could happen as part of their policing duties,” Ms Davies said. “The way this course is delivered is a good example of how virtual reality can assist in the practical learning and training involved with certain professions, and I look forward to sharing that knowledge with my colleagues at this conference.” The National Curriculum Innovation and Quality Forum 2010 aims to develop and strategies for education and training providers.

School children in Orange will get hands-on experience in the world of science at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange next Monday 29 November. Around 75 students in Year 5 at St Joseph’s Primary School will divide into small groups to conduct experiments which include the search for the elusive sea monkey, how trees breathe, building a home-made battery, and extracting DNA from fruit. Academics from the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Agriculture and Wine Sciences will spend the morning with the students in the University’s science laboratories. The aim of the workshop is to inspire children to enjoy the world of science. “We want to show the children how fun and fascinating science can be,” science lecturer Mr Gregg Maynard said. “It’s an opportunity to pass on knowledge and introduce children to the University campus.” This workshop builds on previous workshops offered to Borenore Public School and Orange Christian School in 2008 and 2009. With the success of these workshops it is hoped that the program will extend to local high schools in 2011.

Society has been transformed by computing and data transfer technology in the last two decades. The success of Charles Sturt University (CSU), which was established in 1989, owes much to the innovation and capacity of its Division of Information Technology (DIT) which celebrates its 20th anniversary with a staff barbeque on Friday 26 November. DIT Executive Director, Mr Garry Taylor, said, “Charles Sturt University was created as part of the Dawkins-era reform of the Australian higher education sector, and the University’s success is partly due to the early and deliberate priority to develop technology to ensure success. We were one of the first universities in Australia to adopt video conferencing technology, and we now have more than 100 terminals, which is important for teaching, learning and collaboration, as well as reducing the need to travel which is important for the environment. In 1990 Charles Sturt University was one of the first regional universities to connect to the Internet, and at one stage our website had the most ‘hits’ of any website in Australia in 1995-96. We also had a world-first enterprise-wide Online Learning Environment in 1997. We now have the fastest single and direct internal network link in regional Australia and the largest wireless network in the Southern Hemisphere.”