Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Warren Somerville has been recognised in the 2007 Australia Day honours for his life-long fascination with collecting rocks, minerals and fossils. He was made a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to natural history and the community. “I was very surprized at this unexpected award, but I feel it is recognition of the valuable contribution that the collection makes to education generally and the Bathurst community in particular,” Professor Somerville said. In 2000 Professor Somerville donated what is now known as The Somerville Collection, which is valued between $6 million to $12 million, to the Australian Mineral and Fossil Museum in Bathurst.

Tennis lovers rejoiced yesterday when the Australian Open got underway in Melbourne. The Open marks the beginning of the tournament year for tennis players, so for the past eight weeks, they have been concentrating on reaching peak fitness, according to Dr Rob Duffield, lecturer in the School of Human Movement at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Once the frenetic pace of the tournament year gets underway, “It becomes quite difficult to find time for physical conditioning, so a lot of tennis coaches and tennis players do their fitness work on court using practice drills. The problem with these drills is that you don’t really know what’s going on,” said Dr Duffield, who spent part of last year quantifying the physical responses to popular tennis drills. His results will be published soon, and will be beneficial to tennis coaches. “Coaches can say well, this kind of drill is very aerobic and will improve physical fitness, while that kind of drill will increase shot velocity and shot accuracy,” he said.

Building relationships with local and international industry and institutions is the focus for new director of Charles Sturt University’s Asian Agribusiness Research Centre Dr Claus Deblitz. “I am convinced that investing in partnerships with experts and institutions pays off,” says Dr Deblitz. With 18 years experience in livestock and beef economics and conducting agricultural benchmarking in countries such as Argentina, China and New Zealand, Dr Claus has brought his wife and two girls from their home country of Germany to start a new life in Australia. “We like Orange. The people are so friendly and welcoming.” Dr Claus is keen to hold small workshops with farmers and businesses to develop ideas for future research aimed at farmers’ needs. “I will then know what research requirements are needed to make a contribution to Australian agribusiness.”

Do you have recent experience in giving birth in rural or remote NSW? The Charles Sturt University (CSU) midwifery research team is looking to interview women who usually live at least an hour’s travel by road from their nearest maternity unit and who, in the last two years, needed to move from their local community to give birth. Dr Elaine Dietsch, senior lecturer in Midwifery at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, says that in less than a generation, many hospital maternity units in rural and remote NSW have temporarily or permanently closed, with many women no longer able to give birth closer to home. “We are keen to hear about the experiences of the women who are most affected by the closures of maternity units, because their experiences need to be understood to inform midwifery practice and influence health policy in rural and remote NSW, ” Dr Dietsch said. To contribute your experiences to this research, please contact Elaine Dietsch on 02 6933 2782 or send an email.

Are we riding the rails of success or running off the track? That answer could be found at The Future Frameworks for Regional Rail symposium, hosted by the Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA). To be held on Thursday 1 February 2007 at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, the symposium will examine what can be done to rejuvenate regional rail transport. CSU’s Associate Professor Ian Gray and speakers from Canada and across Australia will address representatives of the rail industry, regional communities, industry and government, sharing ideas on how to keep rail networks viable and on track in regional areas. CSU’s Professor Ian Gray says, “trains offer a huge carrying capacity, trucks offer flexibility, so it makes sense to combine the benefits of both”. Professor Gray believes, “rail could make a comeback by combining with road transport to create an integrated system, if planning and management was done at a regional level”.

“This course will help solve the issues surrounding the rural health crisis,” says Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bachelor of Clinical Sciences course coordinator Dr Deborah Burton. Dr Burton is looking forward to the first week of university study on Monday 26 February when the Clinical Sciences course begins. The Bachelor of Clinical Science is offered from the Orange Campus of CSU and has been established in collaboration with the University of Sydney's Faculty of Dentistry and Faculty of Medicine. “It’s the only course of its kind that provides a specific education pathway from the undergraduate CSU degree into the University of Sydney graduate entry programs for eligible graduates.” The Bachelor of Clinical Science has been developed with curriculum specifically designed to meet the expectations of graduate entry dentistry, medicine and other health programs across Australia. Places are still available for 2007 enrolments. For more information contact CSU on 1800 334 733 or visit www.csu.edu.au 

The problem of child sex tourism will be discussed at a workshop at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury on Monday 12 February. “The purpose of the workshop is to achieve some consensus on what Australia is doing to respond to this problem in the Asia-Pacific region, and how strategies and responses can be better focused and improved”, said CSU lecturer in tourism and workshop convenor Dr Sallie Yea. Invited speakers include representatives from the Australian Federal Police, AusAID, Australian Institute of Criminology, University of Technology Sydney, ChildWise, and CSU. The workshop will be held in the Administration Building boardroom at the CSU Thurgoona Campus in Albury between 9.30 am - 4.30 pm. The morning sessions of the workshop will be open to CSU staff and the general public, at a cost of $20 to cover catering, but places are limited. For more information please contact Dr Sallie Yea, Lecturer in the School of Business and Information Technology, on 0419 530 058 or (02) 6051 9921.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is set to play an increasingly important role in easing the chronic lack of registered nurses in rural Australia.   Sixty enrolled nurses (ENs) will attend residential schools on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus over the next two weeks to begin study in the Bachelor of Nursing by distance education course.   The program is part of a partnership between CSU, the Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) and Victoria’s Hume Health.   Those sixty nurses will be officially welcomed at 10am tomorrow, Tuesday 6 February, by Head of CSU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, Professor Elaine Duffy and the GSAHS Area Director of Nursing, Ms Moira Lewis in the Wal Fife theatre, Wagga Wagga Campus.   Nursing course coordinator Heather Latham says “This is a significant partnership and initiative to address the shortage of registered nurses in rural Australia”.

Late last month, the Seven Network confirmed the signing of its US Bureau Chief, Anna Coren, to host the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane editions of Today Tonight, Seven’s flagship prime time current affairs program. Ms Coren is yet another CSU alumnus to appear on national daily television. Breakfast TV rivals Melissa Doyle (Sunrise) and Jessica Rowe (Today) are also graduates of CSU’s Communication degree, as is Chris Bath, who presents Seven Late News Updates. Acting Head of the School of Communication, Bill Blaikie said, “The high profile of CSU’s Communication graduates is testimony to the quality of the people and the learning drawn to these degrees.  For every highly visible graduate there are at least another 100 working just as successfully in their chosen field.  Congratulations to every one of them”.