Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are making the battle against obesity and eating disorders personal with a cooking competition to show healthy eating can be cheap as well as nutritious, quick, tasty and good looking. Three student groups – the Nutrition and Dietetics (or Nut) Club, the Social Workers Club and the Health Action Team – are gathering favourite student recipes for a recipe book, with the top 12 recipes entered into a cook-off competition to be held in October on the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus. A panel of local judges will name the winner of a $150 voucher for groceries. President of the Nut Club, Mr Kingsley Vance, hopes that initiatives like this will help the communities within CSU campuses – Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga – to improve their food choices. “University students are often at risk of not eating a nutritious diet, so our competition is all about raising awareness of good nutrition in all our communities,” he said.

A call has gone out for the donation of books to establish a social work and social development library in Nepal ahead of an international conference there later this year. The International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) will hold its Asia-Pacific branch conference in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in November. “We would like practitioners, academics and students to donate one recent and relevant social work, social development or related text,” said ICSD Asia-Pacific president and Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Associate Professor Manohar Pawar.“As part of the Consortium’s commitment to development, education, research and practice in the region, the book project aims to improve access to books for those studying or working in social work and social development. Nepal is one of the least developed land-locked countries in the world. It has three schools of social work and their students would appreciate some concrete assistance.” For further information about the book project contact CSU lecturer Dr Lynelle Osburn losburn@csu.edu.au or Professor Pawar. mpawar@csu.edu.au

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is making recruiting potential officers from all sectors of the community to the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) a little easier with the donation of a high profile vehicle. The eye-catching Holden Rodeo will be used by the NSWPF Recruitment Branch as a mobile advertising tool. It will be formally presented to NSWPF by CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, during a ceremony to swear in the latest probationary constables at the NSW Police College in Goulburn on Friday 29 August. CSU, together with NSWPF, delivers the Associate Degree in Policing Practice, which is the recruit training program for people wanting to join the NSW Police Force. The vehicle will be driven state-wide for career markets, expos and displays. “CSU is delighted to deliver this vehicle to the NSWPF as a symbol of our long-standing and important relationship to educate and train police officers for NSW,” said Professor Chambers. General Manager of NSWPF Recruitment Branch, Inspector Tony Malone, said they wanted a vehicle that would turn heads. “We want to draw attention to NSWPF Recruitment and to our contact details. The Rodeo is proving to be a great marketing tool."

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 Centre for Information Studies at Charles Sturt University (CSU) has announced its newest publication, Exploring Methods in Information Literacy Research, which provides an overview of approaches to help researchers and professionals to undertake research in information literacy. The book, edited by CSU School of Information Studies lecturers Ms Suzanne Lipu, Dr Anne Lloyd and Dr Kirsty Williamson, opens with an  overview of research by Dr  Williamson.  Subsequent chapters  explore the key aspects of a specific research method and explain how it may be applied in practice. The Centre for Information Studies aims to support research, publications and continuing professional development in library and information science, teacher librarianship and Australian literature for young people.

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) staff have given a helping hand to an academic’s work for women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Dr Elaine Dietsch, a lecturer at the CSU School of Midwifery and Nursing in Wagga Wagga, visits the troubled African country each year to use her nursing and midwifery skills to aid the women and children plagued by militias, rebels and malnutrition. Educational designers in the University’s Centre for Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Wagga Wagga were recently awarded $150 in the Wagga Mutual Credit Union Safety Awareness Program. The 12-member team has donated its prize money plus another $20 to support Dr Dietsch’s work in the DRC. “The money will hopefully make a difference to the women of the village Luganda in DRC,” said CSU educational designer Ms Milena Dunn. “These women carry huge loads of up to 50 kilograms of firewood from the village, 18 kilometres to the town of Bukavu. They are paid 30 cents a load and are at constant risk from militia groups and rebels,” said Dr Dietsch. “The donation will be used to establish projects for a small community of women to ensure an alternative means of sustainable employment.”

Services for women with cervical cancer who live in rural Australia could be improved as a result of a study to be carried out by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) psychology student. Ms Melissa Elleray, a fourth year Honours student at the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies, hopes her study of rural women who have had cervical cancer will provide insight into their experiences so that services and funding can be better targeted. “There seems to be little support for or awareness about how rural women experience cervical cancer, and as I have experienced a risk of developing the disease myself, I want to help these women have their stories heard. My research will explore what it was like going through treatment while trying to maintain a normal life,” Ms Elleray said. The research requires confidential face-to-face interviews with up to 12 women in rural NSW and Victoria before the end of 2008. Women interested in participating in the research can contact Ms Elleray on 0409 808 598.

The recent decision by the Federal government to reduce the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) loan repayments for science and mathematics programs offered by Australian universities is a positive message for young Australians, especially those in inland areas, says the Dean of the Faculty of Science at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Nick Klomp. “The move recognises the importance of science for Australia’s future in the knowledge world,” he says. “Although total university enrolments have increased in recent decades, enrolments in science courses have not. This recent federal announcement will help Australia obtain the science graduates it needs to meet the scientific, environmental and technological challenges of the 21st century.” CSU offers science courses in such diverse areas as agricultural, veterinary and wine sciences, dental, biomedical and health sciences, environmental and water sciences, and science teaching.