Community support is growing for Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Inland Health initiative, which was established in response to the existing lack of information and realistic solutions to meet the health needs of inland Australian communities. Riverina identity and past president of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) Ms Elaine Armstrong congratulated CSU for the initiative to present the health symposium, Planning Together for the Future and the launch of the Centre on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 December. “The workshops offered are of special interest to women and their families in this region as they cover areas such as lung health, muscle, bone and joint health, life with cancer, health workforce and services, heart health, ageing and health and mental health,” said Ms Armstrong. “Of special interest is the symposium on mental health, because of the extended drought conditions which are causing stress and anxiety for families. Anxiety in younger farmers is another major issue, with statistics showing that men aged 30 to 45 years and living in rural and remote areas, are at risk of mental breakdowns and suicides.”  

One of the country’s great thinkers, Dr Barry Jones, AO, will look at the role of the public intellectual in Australia when he visits Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus on Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 December.  The writer, broadcaster and former politician will address a dinner of senior CSU staff from 6.30pm on Monday in a speech entitled, What is the role of the public intellectual in Australia? Dr Jones will travel to CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus on Tuesday 4 December to present the keynote address at the CSU Community Engagement Forum. Dr Jones served in Federal Parliament from 1977 to 1998 and was Australia’s longest serving Science Minister from 1983 to 1990. He was the ALP National President from 1992 to 2000 and again in 2005. Dr Jones is the only person to be elected as a Fellow to all four Australian Academies. He has written three books; Sleepers, Wake!: Technology and the Future of Work (1982), Dictionary of World Biography (1994) and his 2006 autobiography, A Thinking Reed.

The potential of a new generation of web technologies, collectively known as Web 2.0, has attracted keen interest in a seminar being organised by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Information Studies and the National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra on Tuesday 27 November. About 150 people, representing libraries, cultural institutions as well as commercial organisations, are expected at the seminar entitled, Web 2.0 and its potential for the library community. “This seminar will explore very significant issues in terms of how organisations such as libraries can make interaction online much easier and user-friendly,” said Mr Jake Wallis, a lecturer in CSU’s School of Information Studies. Due to the high level of interest in the event from across Australia, staff from the CSU School of Information Studies plan to broadcast the series of talks via the Internet. The seminar will be held in the NLA theatre in Canberra at 8.45am on Tuesday 27 November.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) education expert believes greater investment in quality early childhood education and care would reduce the need to invest in gaols. Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, Professor Toni Downes has welcomed both Coalition and Labor policies which she says are trying to make early childhood education and care more affordable for Australian families. Professor Downes welcomes Labor’s pledge to create an entitlement for all four year olds to have at least 15 hours of early childhood education and care. Professor Downes says “While these initiatives are wonderful, they don’t go far enough. I would argue it should be the entitlement of all three and four year olds in Australia to have at least 15 hours of quality early education. In pushing for this additional investment in early childhood education, I contend that there are significant long term economic and social returns for the country. I firmly believe the more we invest in early childhood education the less we would need to invest in prisons,” Professor Downes said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will honour a woman from inland NSW whose influence is felt across Australia and North America. Dr Jill Ker Conway will be conferred with a Doctor of Arts (honoris causa) in recognition of her achievements in educational leadership in Northern America, for her contribution to Australian society and business, and as a champion of social justice and women’s rights in a ceremony to be held in Wagga Wagga this evening, Tuesday 20 November. Dr Conway has served on the boards of numerous companies, including Nike, Colgate Palmolive and Merrill Lynch, and as Chair of Lend Lease Corporation. She was born in 1934 in the small township of Hillston and spent the early part of her childhood on the family property “Coorain”, located on the far western plains of NSW. The honorary doctorate will be awarded to Dr Conway at the Convention Centre on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, starting at 6.30pm.

The National Council on Intellectual Disability (NCID) has given Charles Sturt University (CSU) the ‘thumbs up’ for its management of the NCID’s Wings Away library collection on intellectual disability. This relationship is set to continue with a new agreement to be signed at the Albury-Wodonga Campus Library in Albury on Thursday 22 November at 1.30pm.  The agreement covers the ongoing hosting of the NCID Wings Away collection by CSU, continued free interlibrary loans for NCID and an annual donation of $1 500 to further develop the collection. The Wings Away collection, named after the group of former Australian flight attendants who set up the collection, was transferred from NCID to CSU in mid 1997.  The collection consisted of over 3 000 books and journals on intellectual disability and benefits students in CSU’s habilitation and other allied health courses. Representative from CSU, NCID and Wings Away will attend the signing ceremony.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders will have the chance to “test drive” university life later this month when the annual Koori Admissions Program (KAP) is held at Charles Sturt University (CSU). The program will be run at the Dubbo Campus from Monday 26 until Thursday 29 November and offers potential Aboriginal students the opportunity to experience university life while being assessed on their skills. Participants can also meet with staff at the University’s Indigenous Support Units, which offer academic and personal support to Indigenous students. The Units are located at the Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Goulburn and Wagga Wagga campuses. “This program, which is an alternate entry to CSU, gives potential Aboriginal students the chance to see if university life is for them in a supportive and caring environment,” said Mr Ray Eldridge, Manager of the Indigenous Support Units at CSU. Current Indigenous students will also discuss how CSU has met their needs and aspirations with CSU’s KAP staff.

A newly appointed Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer with the School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences in Wagga Wagga has received accolades from a prestigious international veterinary publication. Mr Jan Lievaart, now based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, has won the annual award for the best scientific article published in the Journal of the Royal Dutch Veterinary Association, the equivalent of the Australian Veterinary Association. The paper, Transvaginal aspiration as the primary treatment of follicular cysts in dairy cattle, was published in 2006 and is a result of research collaboration between veterinarians in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Director of Veterinary Science, Professor Kym Abbott says the award reflects the high standard of research Mr Lievaart will undertake while at CSU. Mr Lievaart is a lecturer in veterinary epidemiology and his research interests are lameness and mastitis in dairy cattle and herd health programs related to general food safety.  

The medical fraternity of inland NSW has a rare opportunity to hear from a world leader in cardiac research when the Medical Director of the Cardiac Health Institute in Sydney, Professor Hosen Kiat visits the Riverina this week. Professor Kiat will be at the Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus on Friday 9 November to present a seminar to CSU staff entitled Preventing Heart Attacks without Prescription. The Professor of Cardiology will also attend a Nuclear Medicine scientific conference at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 November. Professor Kiat, who is also a specialist in nuclear medicine, has over 200 scientific publications and several books including The Eastwest Medical Makeover, which provides a blueprint for longevity and a robust life style, based on his long term passion in the eastern philosophy and his profound knowledge in western medicine. Professor Kiat believes “it’s not about life expectancy, but a greater expectancy for life”.