Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will put local food on show at a Sustainable Food Day to be held on Wednesday 5 September at its Thurgoona site. The event has resulted from their participation in the national 2007 Students of Sustainability Conference held recently in Perth, where as their coordinator Peter Barrett says, “We ate vegan food all week and it was pretty good!”.  The Sustainable Food Day will run from 12noon at the Gums Café on the University’s Thurgoona site and is part of the activities that the students have held since they returned from the Perth conference. “As much of the food as possible comes from local sources, making every dish as sustainable as possible. We will also have recipes and information for CSU students and staff and the public to take with them and make delicious sustainable food at home,” Mr Barrett said.

Lessons from agriculture in the Middle Ages could today help farms in Australia become more sustainable. Back in that era, farmers didn’t hold individual titles over land but farmed collectively on common property or "commons". A modern day adaptation of this concept is cross-boundary farming, where farmers agree to pool their land resource and manage it as a whole. A free one day forum on cross-boundary farming will be hosted by the Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga Campus, on Friday 7 September. The forum will consider the opportunities and pitfalls of cross-boundary farming, the environmental benefits, property rights, relationships between and within farming families as well as workloads. There will be two panel sessions presenting various practical and political points of view on the practice.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is contributing to the health of inland Australia through the development and funding of an Asthma Alert webpage, which will send asthma sufferers email or SMS alerts when environmental conditions pose a significantly increased risk of triggering an asthma attack. The webpage will be unveiled when the Wagga Asthma Collaboration Committee launches its 2007 Spring Thunderstorm Asthma Campaign at 10am on Wednesday 5 September at the CSU staff club, Wagga Wagga Campus. Committee Chair, Dr Bruce Graham, a lecturer at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences, says this year’s campaign theme is Research, Education and Asthma. Professor Deidre Lemerle, Director of the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, CSU and NSW DPI Research, will outline asthma research links at CSU. Rebecca Turnbull, CSU medical science & biotechnology student, will also detail research about pollens in asthma. Australian Bureau of Statistic figures show 318 Australians died from asthma in 2005.

The most recent Department of Primary Industries (DPI) figures suggest that, in NSW, there are 835 horses infected with Equine Influenza on 119 confirmed properties. An additional suspect 2900 horses on 319 locations are also in quarantine. Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior lecturer in equine medicine, Dr Sharanne Raidal says most importantly, the NSW Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer reports that every one of these cases has been traced from known contact with affected horses. This means that, to date, the disease has not escaped surveillance measures. Dr Raidal warns that only by containing the virus within a small proportion of the total horse population, and allowing the disease to "burn itself out", will "we succeeded in eradicating EI". Continued careful attention to quarantine restrictions and prompt identification of new cases is required for this to happen. A number of horses with high temperatures, but no known risk of disease, have been tested negative. It is important that all such horses are examined as part of routine, ongoing surveillance for spread of the disease.

The art of Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in Art and Design Julie Montgarrett is part of on-going research into themes of transition and chance, fragility and flux, using drawing and embroidery. Otherwise: images from another place, an exhibition at the HR Gallop Gallery on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, begins with a sense of deliberation to explore a specific preoccupation. But as the process unfolds, chance occurrences and new elements change the emphasis and shifting meanings arise that are often modified, consolidated or overturned. The drawings and embroideries evolve erratically, relying on particular material encounters or hybrid images suspended or floating in ambiguous, improbable spaces. Both processes emphasise fragility and impermanence. The exhibition runs until Friday 15 September.

Artist and Charles Sturt University (CSU) post graduate masters student Ann-Maree Turner provides an insight into her own essence and spirit and encourages others to explore their own personal boundaries and space in her first solo show in the Riverina. The exhibition, titled  Transpersonal Unity Consciousness and on display in CSU’s HR Gallop Gallery, is more than just paintings on canvas and linen. Turner delved deep into the landscape of her own mind using the philosophies of Carl G Jung to create what she describes as “absolute truth from art”. Her series of work Dogs on Boards represents fears, persona and projections. Archetypes for Wendy and Space Painting no 3 are two digital art pieces. Her work Boundaries Fences and… is also displayed at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus library. Transpersonal Unity Consciousness runs until 23 March.

Charles Sturt University ’s (CSU) claim to theatrical excellence has again been enhanced with the University Theatre Ensemble’s production of The Five O’clock Wave winning three categories at the recent Canberra Area Theatre Awards.. The University Theatre Ensemble picked up the award for Best Production, while Wagga Wagga based script writer Stephen Vagg was honoured with an award for Best Original Work. CSU senior lecturer at the School of Performing Arts David Wicks was recognised as Best Director. The play showcased the talents of ten actors from CSU’s BA Acting for Screen and Stage. The Five O’clock Wave was up against seventy other productions from across the ACT and central and southern NSW.  

Registered nurses are training to become registered midwives in their local communities and hospitals through a Charles Sturt University (CSU) distance education course which aims to keep midwives in inland Australia. The students will gather at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus this week for their bi-annual residential school, where they supplement distance education with face-to-face teaching. Lecturer in nursing and midwifery, Ms Pam Shackleton, says the student midwives remain a valuable asset for the community by working at their local hospitals across Australia while completing the year-long course. “The sixty five nurses who will finish their midwifery training at the end of this year will be warmly welcomed and will go a long way to addressing the Australia-wide shortage of more than 600 midwives,” she said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has acknowledged the important contribution made to its establishment by Sir Charles Cutler who has died aged 88. Sir Charles was the leader of the NSW Country Party (now the NSW Nationals) from 1959 to 1975 and Deputy Premier in the government of Sir Robert Askin from 1965 to 1975. In his role as MLA for Orange (1947-75) and as Minister for Education and Science (1965-72), he was instrumental in the setting up of Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), which eventually became the Bathurst Campus of Charles Sturt University. CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter expressed condolences on behalf of the University. “Sir Charles made an enormous contribution to education in New South Wales, not least as the Minister who oversaw the foundation and early growth of MCAE.” Sir Charles was born at Forbes in 1918, served in World War II and was elected to the NSW Parliament in 1947.