Director of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Inland Health, Dr Rod Pope, will participate in the annual community forum to be held this week by the Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS).  The forum, hosted by the Area Health Advisory Council, will be held at the Gemini Motor Inn in Griffith’s Banna Avenue from 10am to 12.30pm on Wednesday 3 September. Dr Pope will address the forum from 10.40am on the topic, ‘What does health mean to the community?’ The Centre for Inland Health was established in 2007, and its mission is  to play a leading role in improving the health and longevity of the people of inland Australia. It brings together health educators, researchers, service providers and local communities to identify, examine and solve priority health concerns of inland communities.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will next year celebrate 20 years of strategic higher education and applied research that is making a difference nationally and internationally. Celebrations involving students, staff, academics, graduates and the University’s research partners and institutions will be held at all campuses. CSU is extending a warm invitation to all communities in its footprint to become involved in the celebrations that will highlight its rapid growth and achievements during the past two decades. The first meeting of the 20th Anniversary Committee, chaired by CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, was held on Wednesday 25 June, to commence planning for what is a significant year in the history of the University of inland Australia. Proclaimed in July 1989, CSU has evolved as one of Australia's largest universities, operating across inland New South Wales and delivering education and degree qualifications in many countries around the world.

The less commonly known oilseed crop, safflower, will be in the spotlight when world experts descend on Wagga Wagga for the 7th International Safflower Conference to be held from Monday 3 to Thursday 6 November. Conference convenor Ms Sue Knights said safflower offers enormous potential in drought conditions and the conference will feature a visit to trial crops at Coleambally to demonstrate its suitability to the Riverina. “The conference is themed ’Safflower: unexploited potential and world adaptability’ and will encompass growers, marketers and researchers as an opportunity to undertake critical industry development on this underutilized crop,” she said. Hosted by the Australian Oilseeds Federation, the program features speakers from India, USA, Spain and the Charles Sturt University EH Graham Centre’s Dr Rod Mailer who will speak on ‘Quality evaluation of safflower cultivars’.

The task of rehousing dogs from an animal shelter in Wagga Wagga is being made a little easier with the help of veterinary science students at Charles Sturt University (CSU). The students were on hand at the re-opening of Wagga Wagga City Council’s renovated Glenfield Road Animal Shelter in July. There they conducted pre-health checks on the dogs ahead of their transfer by Animal Ambulance to the Veterinary Clinical Centre at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus. Under supervision, the fourth year students will spey the dogs and de-worm and vaccinate them against major infectious diseases on Tuesday 29 July and Wednesday 30 July. “Through this valuable work, the students are being taught the principles of anaesthetics and surgery,” said head of Small Animal Surgery at the CSU Veterinary Clinical Centre, Professor Bruce Christie. “These principles can then be generically understood and applied to other animals during surgery.” The dogs have been or will be rehoused through the Council’s animal shelter.

Some of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) brightest science minds will gather at the Wagga Wagga campus on Thursday 17 July to present their innovative research at the annual Faculty of Science postgraduate seminar day. Of the 200 undertaking Master degrees and PhDs at CSU, 70 will speak before an audience of peers, lecturers and colleagues about the significant research they are undertaking. Convenor and Sub-Dean of Graduate Studies, Professor Patrick Ball, said ”The day encourages students to communicate their research in terms that are easily understood by anyone who does not have an in-depth knowledge of their topic, and it is also an opportunity for students to hear what others are researching. Covering a broad range of areas including irrigation, social impacts, viticulture and advances in animal and plant science, the day is an opportunity for students to present their ‘big ideas’, many of which will contribute to advances in science in Australia,” he said.

Seven sports teams comprised of 70 students from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Albury-Wodonga, Wagga Wagga and Bathurst campuses have performed well at the East Coast Challenge (ECC) - University Games staged in Sydney from Sunday 6 to Wednesday 9 July. CSU entered men’s and women’s hockey teams, two men’s and a women’s water polo teams, a women’s netball team, and a rugby league seven-a-side team. Mr Nik Granger, a CSU student support officer and the Team Manager, said all the CSU teams performed strongly in the eleven-sport one thousand-competitor Games. “The women’s netball team, made up of Bathurst and Albury-Wodonga students who had never played together before, convincingly beat all opposition to win the ECC championship. The hockey teams continued their dominance of the University Games with the CSU women’s hockey team becoming the ECC champions for the third year in a row, while the men’s team won the bronze medal. The men’s number 1 water polo team dominated the competition and was undefeated to win gold, while the men’s number 2 water polo team won the bronze medal. The rugby league ‘sevens’ team of students from Wagga Wagga and Bathurst Campuses won the silver medal. The women’s water polo team was unplaced in their first time in the competition. It is a testament to our students’ attitude to competition against much larger universities that CSU placed fifth overall, and again won the ‘Spirit Award’ as it did at the 2007 Australian University Games,” Mr Granger said.

There was special mention of Australian veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturer Jurox at the official opening of the Veterinary Clinical Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 9 July. Before more than 180 people at the opening, the Head of the CSU School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Professor Kym Abbott, presented Jurox Research and Development Head, Dr Ted Whittem, with a certificate for the company’s early support of veterinary science activities at CSU. Praising the CSU veterinary science program for its “unique” focus on biosecurity, leading equine veterinarian Dr Nigel Nichols said the University “will have a standard of training equal to anywhere in the world”. The former federal Agriculture Minister and Chief Executive Officer of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, Mr Peter McGauran, said CSU had the “best equipped veterinary school in Australia”. He said training professionals for regional and rural Australia “permeates the DNA of CSU”. The new Veterinary Clinical Centre includes large and small animal operating theatres as well as recovery wards. The theatres are supported by the latest in diagnostic imaging and anaesthetic equipment, and the equine reproduction unit provides an outstanding teaching and clinical resource.

A team of Charles Sturt University (CSU) animal science and livestock production students has returned from northern NSW confident in the new meat grading skills they gained while training and participating in the 2008 Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Competition (IMJC) held in Armidale. Competing against university students from across Australia as well as students from Japan and the United States (US) in July, third year agricultural science student Mr Campbell Ross was selected in a group of ten to undertake a national training program with Meat Livestock Australia in Brisbane in November. Mr Ross, from West Gippsland in Victoria, has a chance to be included in the final Australian team to compete in US competitions later this year. CSU Professor of Animal Production, Peter Wynn, said “it was also very exciting for second year animal science student Ms Tiffany Robertson from Camden, NSW, to be named as one of the fifteen finalists in Armidale, as the competition was dominated by third and fourth year university students.”. The CSU team of fifteen students was among the largest participating from any Australian institution. Training at local abattoirs was conducted by fourth year veterinary science student Mr Richard Saunders who was a member of the Australian IMJC team to tour the USA in 2004.

A fortnight after its official opening, the $9 million Veterinary Clinical Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will host an Open Day. The Centre and its experienced clinicians were hailed at the official opening on Wednesday 9 July for their vital role in producing well-rounded professionals committed to inland Australia. The facility, a key part of the CSU veterinary science program, provides  modern surgical facilities for large and small animals, diagnostic imaging and reproduction services for horses. The Centre also offers veterinary services to animal owners across the Riverina. It is staffed by experienced veterinary surgeons, an anaesthetist, radiographers and veterinary nurses as well as specialists in large animal reproduction. Fourth year veterinary science students and veterinary nurses will conduct tours of the new facility from 3pm until 5pm on Wednesday 23 July.  Those interested in participating in a tour of the Veterinary Clinical Centre should send an email.