Swapping a US winter for the heat of Australia in January is in store for 23 university students when they visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga to learn about local animal production and rural leadership. The students from the University of Delaware will travel to the Riverina from Friday 6 January to Monday, 16 January 2006. The trip will also include visits to the Livestock Marketing Centre in Wagga Wagga, the CSU Winery as well as local farms. “This is the second time CSU has hosted the University of Delaware students and the aim is to give the students an understanding of animal production in Australia, through practical experiences,” said Emeritus Professor Ted Wolfe from CSU's School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences.  Accompanying the students will be Associate Professors Patricia Barber and Bill Saylor from the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.  

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) award-winning student advertising team, Kajulu Communications travelled to Singapore recently to receive an international award for their campaign for the global internet company, Yahoo! The group was named winner of the InterAd World Championship award earlier this year. The seven members of the University’s student advertising agency presented their winning campaign to the International Advertising Association’s World Board in Singapore. “To be proclaimed world champions in an event of the international standing of InterAd and against such strong competition is a real honour,” said CSU’s Advertising course coordinator Rod McCulloch. Kajula Communications has been named world champions in this competition three times since 1999. The Kajulu team members, Julia Heaton, Miranda Ryan, Isaac Wolfson, Adrian McGruther, Candice Berry, Josie Burns and Ben Clare completed their University studies in 2005 and are now working in positions across the advertising and communications industry.

A member of the Charles Sturt University staff in Bathurst has been named the winner of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Performance Excellence, for General Staff 2005. Gail Wotton, Food Services Officer at Café Mitchell on CSU’s Bathurst Campus, has been honoured by Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter for her dedication to her position and the University. Ms Wotton said she couldn’t believe it and offered her thanks to all staff who had supported her. “Everyone in our team is excellent and I’m honoured to be rewarded in this way; it’s the best Christmas present,” added the CSU employee. The Vice-Chancellor's Award for Performance Excellence, for General Staff recognises outstanding contributions by individuals or teams for sustained high level performance. “CSU staff continue to excel in areas such as client service, support for teaching and learning and regional engagement and this award has been established to acknowledge this dedication and commitment of general staff,” said Professor Goulter.

Through one of its leading research centres, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) has formed an alliance with four leading international theological institutions.  CSU”s Public and Contextual Theology Strategic Research Centre or PACT has played a key role in the formation of the Global Network for Public Theology. “The group will encourage research collaboration and connections with key international civil society networks, whilst CSU will take the lead in developing student exchanges and cooperation within the network,” said Director of PACT, Reverend Professor James Haire.  The principal members of the Network include Charles Sturt University; Beyers Naude Centre for Public Theology at South Africa’s University of Stellenbosch; Centre of Theological Inquiry, Princeton University, USA; Centre for Theology and Public Issues at University of Edinburgh and Manchester Centre for Public Theology at the University of Manchester, UK. PACT is an innovative CSU strategic research centre with a focus on issues in contemporary Australian society.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is one of only two teaching institutions in the world to receive scholarships in television production from camera manufacturer, Vinten. Awarded for the fourth time, the $3,000 scholarships for camera pedestal and tripod proficiency went to first year television production student, Joel Stillone from Sydney and second year student Emma Ulm, also from Sydney. “It is important students have high levels of camera skills on Vinten equipment because it provides the industry with skilled operators. Vinten recognise this need and have been willing participants in the areas of equipment and industry achievement,” said lecturer in television production in the University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts in Wagga Wagga, Bruce Gater. 

The respect and affection which staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) hold for retiring Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Bob Meyenn is apparent in their unique choice of retirement gift, a cow and calf. Retiring after 19 years of distinguished service as Dean, a farewell function will be held on Friday, 9 December from 4pm in the James Hardie Dining Room, Centre for Professional Development, CSU, Bathurst. Professor Meyenn will receive a second creative gift from the University at the farewell function. The cow and calf, a gift from Professor Meyenn’s Faculty of Education colleagues, will be delivered to his property in the NSW central west to enjoy during his retirement.

Research into wine anti-oxidants is the subject of the first collaborative doctoral program between Charles Sturt University's (CSU) National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) and the Paris-Grignon National Agronomics Institute in France. French student, Celia Barril has arrived at the NWGIC in Wagga Wagga to undertake eight months of research before returning to France. “This is the first Cotutelle program between Australia and France for wine industry research, which allows PhD students to simultaneously enrol in both a French and foreign institution,” said NWGIC Director Professor Geoff Scollary. Funded by Australia’s Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, the PhD project will focus on the chemistry of ascorbic acid and sulphur dioxide that together are used to protect white wine from spoilage through oxidation. The Paris-Grignon National Agronomics signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CSU in 2005 to promote collaborative education and research programs. 

Mapping of a large cockatoo design in a paddock near Wagga Wagga will start on Thursday 27 October as Charles Sturt University (CSU) students prepare to have the geoglyph photographed from space. Under the guidance of lecturers from CSU's School of Science and Technology, students studying spatial science at the University will spray the outline of the geoglyph or large drawing on earth from 10am, Thursday 27 October in a paddock of Patterson’s Cruse in the village of Oura, near Wagga Wagga. With the cockatoo the work of Wiradjuri artist Allison Wighton, mowers will cut into the paddock on Sunday 30 October to coincide with the local community’s celebration of the Indigenous meaning of Oura – Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.

Three talented CSU acting students will feature in an upcoming University of Montana production in the United States of the classic fairy tale, Peter Pan, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. Students Laura Hughes, Lauren Hopley and Tom Dickins, who have been cast in major roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of Peter Pan, are studying in the USA as part of the CSU International Exchange Program.  The trio have been busy with seven weeks of rehearsal, including fight choreograpy and flying effects. Laura Hughes was cast in the part of Wendy Darling, Lauren Hopley plays her mother Mrs. Darling, and Tom Dickins stars as Peter Pan. Lauren Hopley is completing her second and final semester on exchange. Both Laura Hughes and Tom Dickins are due back from the CSU International Exchange Program in Autumn 2006.