Associate Professor Peter O'Meara has been nominated as an 'expert of international standing' by the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts. He will now help assess Discovery Projects scheme proposals. Dr O’Meara describes the nomination as “a great vote of confidence. It’s an interesting educational process because we all put in applications and get reviews by anonymous reviewers. To be on the other side of the fence is good as you can become pretty sensitive about your applications when people don’t understand what you propose. It makes me want to respond in a responsible but sensitive way”. The ARC says its Expert Assessors of International Standing are chosen for specialist knowledge and high research reputation.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic hopes the latest research into the youth labour market will put to rest the mistaken belief that young Australians are prone to unemployment and there is a need for drastic action and policy change to avoid youth joblessness. Associate Professor Erica Smith from CSU’s Faculty of Education said a recent study released by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) challenges reports of a “crisis” in the youth labour market and supports her own national research conducted over the past eight years. “Young people are not deficient or victims when it comes to entering the labour market. My studies and now other national research shows that they can confidently navigate the transition from school to work,” said Professor Smith. “The risks of the myth that young people are disadvantaged when entering the job market from school is that the school curriculum is constantly being challenged and sometimes amended to mould young people when the changes are unnecessary,” said the vocational education and training specialist.

As Australia’s population ages, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic is warning that Australia is not ready or prepared for the impending changes. Rhonda Shaw from the CSU School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies wants to establish a community-based group to think about what is happening in older people’s lives now and in the future. The Ageing Issues Interest Group (AIIG) would then identify these issues, and consider ways of preventing, or at least decreasing, the impact on older people’s lives. “They could be health, public transport or social isolation issues. A big problem with older people, especially those who live on their own, is malnutrition,” said the CSU associate lecturer. Ms Shaw is concentrating on the central western city of Bathurst, but says if the AIIG is successful, it could branch out into other areas. She is hoping that the Group will attract interest from those who work with the aged, researchers interested in ageing issues, aged carers, and of course, older people themselves.

“Water is life and central to Charles Sturt University’s (CSU’s) research plan for the future,” said Professor Paul Burnett, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Graduate Training as he turned on the tap last Friday (19 May) to commission CSU’s new Irrigation and Horticulture Research and Demonstration Area. The new facility at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus will be used for research on irrigation systems and testing their performance on a field scale with all the required monitoring facilities. Before the area was developed there was no facility available at CSU and most irrigated agriculture research had to be done on farmer’s fields with limited control environments. Professor Paul Burnett said it was appropriate to be commissioning the new research facility during Water Week at CSU which brought together key international delegates to develop a cooperative approach to agriculture and water management. “CSU is enriched by sharing research projects and infrastructure and this new facility will boost CSU’s competitiveness in bidding for specialist research projects and funding on irrigated crops,” Professor Burnett said. The area will also be used for research projects by students in the School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences. Richard Burbury, 19, of Tasmania, a first-year student in CSU’s Bachelor of Irrigation Science degree, was presented with the $10,000 three-year Irrigation Initiative Scholarship to pursue his studies in irrigation.

English language teacher Shana Gelin has taken her Charles Sturt University (CSU) education to the Indonesian island of Sumatra where she is now Director of Studies at a private school in Jambi province. The CSU graduate teaches children as young as four, local doctors, school and university students, as well as environmentalists and lawyers working to preserve the jungles of Sumatra from illegal logging activities. “A lot of it is hard work but the return on that is working with really interesting people. If I didn’t have the TESOL Diploma, I wouldn’t have got this job,” said Ms Gelin. She began her two years of study for a graduate certificate, then a graduate diploma of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from CSU, while working in the impoverished public school system in South Africa. Living in mud huts with no running water or electricity her main focus was trying to get rid of corporal punishment in the schools. “I did see some change but it was slow and very hard work. It wasn’t just the school system and the living conditions but the impact of HIV/ Aids is horrifying," Ms Gelin said.

The Nine Television Network has requested its annual scholarship to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) communications student be renamed the Richard Carleton Memorial Scholarship. The veteran Nine Network journalist died while covering the rescue of the Beaconsfield gold miners in Tasmania. “One of the attributes that the School of Communication journalism course instils in its students is the need to ask the hard questions and to probe beyond the obvious facts of news,” said the Head of the CSU School of Communication, Associate Professor Tom Watson. “Richard Carleton was a master of this skill and unlocked many major stories, so the School welcomes the decision by Channel Nine to rename its scholarship for journalism students after one of Australia’s leading investigative journalists. It further cements a long and very productive relationship between Channel Nine and the School of Communication,” Associate Professor Watson said.  

A senior NSW ambulance officer and a member of the Beaconsfield rescue team believes an “amazing strength of mind” help keep the two trapped gold miners alive for a fortnight, almost one kilometre underground. Dominic Morgan, a Superintendent with the Ambulance Service of NSW, was one of six members of the Service’s Special Casualty Access Team (SCAT) to work in the large rescue effort in Tasmania’s northeast. Working in 12 hour shifts with his SCAT colleagues, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate was mainly responsible for maintaining the mental health of Todd Russell and Brant Webb. Communicating through an 87 millimetre PVC pipe, Superintendent Morgan said his team had to “buoy their spirits” and keep the miners “relaxed and confident as possible”. He said the mine rescue posed a “whole new set of challenges” from normal paramedic work due to its sustained nature. The ambulance officer reflected that the two trapped miners showed how “strong the human mind can be” and displayed “incredible support for each other”.  CSU was the first university to offer pre-hospital care education in Australia with graduates employed as ambulance officers in paramedic and emergency care settings in Australia and overseas.  

Pharmacy students at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Orange and Wagga Wagga Campuses will have the opportunity to meet and talk with the head of the peak employer organisation, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Kos Sclavos, during his visit to CSU on Tuesday 23 May. A Brisbane-based community pharmacist, Mr Sclavos took up the post as National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia in November 2005. During his visit to the Wagga Wagga Campus, Kos Sclavos will meet with students in Orange via video-conference as well as hold face to face meetings with students and CSU academics, including Head of the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences, Associate Professor Lyn Angel on the Wagga Wagga Campus. With the Pharmacy Guild representing 4 500 pharmacy owners across Australia, Mr Sclavos is the recipient of a number of industry awards including Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Young Pharmacist of the Year 1999 and Australian Institute of Pharmacy Management’s Pharmacy Manager of the Year 1993.  

The seven Charles Sturt University (CSU) Ontario students currently in Wagga Wagga and Dubbo are now in their last week of practicum teaching in the Australian bush. Three are at North Wagga Public School, two at Peak Hill Central School and two at Macquarie Anglican Grammar School in Dubbo. The Peak Hill and Dubbo prac. teachers Crystal Napasney, Laura Lande, Mandy Greenspoon and Erin McAlister spent Saturday night at Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo having close encounters with various wildlife. Crystal describes Peak Hill as “very rural and very flat. It’s not desert but there’s not much green. It’s brown and dusty.” Laura says this overseas practicum “will be like the icing on the teacher's college cake. I’ve definitely gained an international perspective. The training I’ve received means I could teach anywhere in the world.” Read more about CSU in Ontario here.