Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will be one of the highlights of a visit to the city by civic and political leaders from sister city, Kunming in the Yunnan Province of China. The 10 member delegation, including the Mayor of Kunming Municipal People’s Government, Mr Zhang Zulin, has been invited to the city by Wagga Wagga Mayor, Councillor Kerry Pascoe. The Head of Campus of CSU in Wagga Wagga, Mr Adrian Lindner, will welcome the group to the University at 9.30am on Tuesday 24 August before leading a tour of the campus. At 10am, the delegation will meet with researchers from the University’s International Centre of Water for Food Security. A lunch will be held in the Convention Centre at CSU from 12midday for the delegation, staff from the University and Wagga Wagga City Council.

A social worker and Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate Ms Michelle Knight from Wagga Wagga will fulfil a commitment made earlier this year to donate her academic prize to a local charity. During her graduation with a Bachelor of Social Work last April, Ms Michelle Knight was awarded the Lila Kirilik Memorial Social Justice Award by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga. At 2.30pm on Wednesday 18 August, Ms Knight will donate her $500 prize to The Edel Quinn Shelter, a homeless support service for men in Wagga Wagga. The shelter will receive a further $500 from CSU as Ms Knight’s nominated social justice organisation. She was awarded the annual social justice award for her project, SHINE - Squalor and Hoarding Integrated Networking Enterprise, a directory of services in Wagga Wagga useful during cases of squalor or hoarding. The project was compiled while Ms Knight was doing her social work practicum in 2008 at aged care facility The Forrest Centre in Wagga Wagga.  

The red carpet was rolled out for three environmental science students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga as they travelled to Wagga Wagga to hand deliver their PhDs on Thursday 5 August. Ms Alison Matthews from Albury, Ms Janet Cohn from Wodonga and Ms Eloise Seymour from Wahgunyah shared the trip to present their years of research to the University’s Centre for Research and Graduate Training for examination. Visibly excited and relieved at the conclusion to their doctorates, the women work for CSU, the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, and the Victorian Department of Primary Industries. The three PhDs covered topics such as the common wombat, climate change and natural resource management. In accepting the PhDs, Ms Kim Stone from the University’s Centre for Research and Graduate Training congratulated the students and noted how unusual it was to receive three theses at one time.

International students and academic staff from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Study Centre in Melbourne will get a taste of a regional city when they take on a local cricket side near Wagga Wagga on Saturday 21 August. On Federal Election Day and almost two months ahead of the start of the local cricket season, the CSU Study Centre team known as the Yarra Dragons will take on the Kooringal Colts Cricket Club from Wagga Wagga at the Borambola Sport and Recreation Centre. The CSU Study Centres in Melbourne and Sydney are operated in conjunction with Study Group Australia (SGA), a leader in education and training for international students. The cricket match has been in the pipeline for some time as an opportunity to give the students studying in Melbourne a taste of a regional campus and community.  The inaugural cricket match between the CSU Study Centre in Melbourne and the Kooringal Colts will be held from 9am to 3pm when a new perpetual trophy will be presented to the winning side.

Research students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) involved in a wide-range of projects for the future of farming will gather in Wagga Wagga next week. The Future Farming Industries Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) will host the postgraduate conference at CSU in Wagga Wagga from Tuesday 17 August to Thursday 18 August.  The students will present their research to expert panels for their feedback and questions. On Wednesday 18 August from 10.45am to 12.30pm, Chief Executive Officer of the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, Mr Tony Peacock will explore the use of Web 2.0 technology and the reading of community perceptions in making the conduct of research more relevant while also providing greater impact. From 1.15pm to 3pm  Co-Director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of NSW, Professor Andy Pitman will report on the core science of Climate Change as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.   Attending the postgraduate conference will be CSU students with the Future Farming Industries CRC: Mr John Broster from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences. His PhD is titled, Shelter belts and lamb survival rates’ Ms Felicity Cox’s PhD is Understanding sheep grazing of complex native pastures to better manage natural resources and production outcomes Ms Lauren Howard’s PhD is Relationships between agricultural extension service providers and sustainable agricultural systems Mr Matthew Gardner’s PhD is How does Chicory affect the nitrogen cycling of pasture systems? Ms Catherine Gulliver’s PhD is Improving reproductive efficiency in ewes: manipulating maternal nutrition to increase ovulation rate and alter the sex ratio of offspring Ms Felicity Gummer’s PhD is Relationship between earliness and vigour across a range of cereal species Mr Tim Hutchings’ PhD is Managing financial risk on Australian farms Gina Lennox’s PhD is Absentee ownership of rural land: trends, modes and implications Meredith Mitchell’s PhD is The ecology of Microlaena stipoides in grazing systems Ms Susan Orgill’s PhD is Investigations into the role of perennial pastures in building soil carbon (C) in phase farming systems Eloise Seymour’s PhD is Consideration of community values in regional natural resource decision making Mr David Waters’ PhD is Mechanisms of nutrient retention in biochar-amended soils of south-east NSW Ms Bree Wilson from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences is doing a post doctorate on biocontrol of aphids.

Two Charles Sturt University (CSU) students in Wagga Wagga are doing their bit to promote a healthier environment and community through a bicycle recycling project. Ms Alyssa Ng and Mr David Bate initiated the project which gives a second chance for abandoned bikes.  “About 20 old bikes abandoned at Kurrajong Recyclers in Wagga Wagga were donated to Charles Sturt University in 2009,” Ms Ng said. “With the assistance of students and staff from TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, the bikes have been repaired and repainted.” Facilitated and resourced by Riverina Institute’s Outreach Service, the bikes were repaired in the Riverina Institute’s automotive workshops by automotive and panel and paint pre-apprentice students. The bikes will be available free of charge for CSU students to use around the campus from the start of 2011. “We want this project to provide an environmentally friendly alternative form of transport for students, promote healthy lifestyles and encourage recycling.” The bikes will be handed over from Riverina Institute to CSU students from 11am on Friday 13 August near the Student Administration building.

Accessibility and human rights, instead of rigid funding models, should be the priorities when planning health care services for rural and remote Australia says Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor of Rural and Remote Pharmacy Patrick Ball. “A model of health care funding for rural and remote Australia should be developed based on fundamental human rights and access to services rather than ‘bricks and mortar’,” Professor Patrick Ball said. The CSU academic studied two communities in central west NSW between 2006 and 2008 as part of his examination of the provision of health services outside metropolitan Australia. “The two communities were similar and only a short distance apart but had very different health care needs due to transport links and proximity to a city. We have the evidence to show that what is needed by rural and remote areas is more flexibility in allowing individual communities to meet their health needs and more emphasis on access to services rather than what hospital and which health facilities are located where.” Professor Patrick Ball will present a free public lecture on his research, What Health Services Should Rural Australia Have? from 6pm at the Deniliquin Council Chambers in Civic Place in Deniliquin on Wednesday 18 August. Read more here.

Five Charles Sturt University (CSU) students have been named among the eight winners of the NSW Farmers’ Association Tertiary Scholarship Awards. The winners all share a passion for rural and regional NSW and the opportunities it provides. NSW Farmers’ Association President Mr Charles Armstrong says the judging panel is confident that the future of rural NSW is in good hands, following the high calibre of entrants. “All the winners plan to use their talents and skills back in the bush and many of them are currently doing so already, showing their level of keenness and ambition,” Mr Armstrong said. The CSU winners include Bachelor of Agricultural Science student Mr Josh Peffer from Molong; Bachelor of Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science Ms Melissa Sullivan from Orange; Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) student Mr Tom Webb from Wodonga who was awarded the E. L. O’Brien Scholarship for a student in agriculture; Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) student Ms Tracey Johnston of Weethalle; and Bachelor of Education student Ms Jessica Wythes from Wagga Wagga. They each received $5 000 at the Association’s Annual Conference held in Sydney from Tuesday 20 July to Thursday 22 July.

Nguluway, the Wiradjuri word for ‘Meeting with Each Other’, is the title under which Indigenous staff from across Charles Sturt University (CSU) will meet this week for their annual conference. About 30 Indigenous staff are expected to attend the two-day event at the Convention Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga from Wednesday 11 August to Thursday 12 August. Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Flo Grant will give the Welcome to Country from 9.20am on Wednesday 11 August. CSU Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Ian Goulter will address Nguluway at 9.30am and the Indigenous dance group from Wagga Wagga Maliyaa, will perform at 10am. Indigenous Elders and community members will join CSU staff for these sessions of Nguluway. The University’s Australian Indigenous Employment Strategy aims to increase the proportion of Indigenous staff in continuing positions and boost the overall representation of Indigenous staff to three per cent. Read more about the strategy here.