The highest academic accolade open to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate will be presented to an Information Technology (IT) specialist from Wagga Wagga. Mr Greg Smythe, Operations Manager for the Riverina Media Group will be awarded the University Medal by the Chancellor Mr Lawrie Willett, AO during a ceremony at CSU in Wagga Wagga on Thursday15 April. Mr Smythe will receive the Medal as he is awarded his Bachelor of Information Technology degree. The CSU graduate manages the operations department of the Riverina Media Group in Wagga Wagga and helps maintain the IT infrastructure for locations across south-western NSW. “I found the information technology course challenging but, thanks to a passion for this area and a very understanding family, I managed to successfully complete this course by distance education,” Mr Smythe said. The University Medal grants special recognition to CSU graduates whose academic performance is ‘superlative’. “Mr Smythe has been outstanding in achieving and maintaining High Distinctions throughout his CSU studies. I am confident that he will continue his exceptional academic performance in the Honours course in which he is now enrolled,” said Courses Manager Dr Tanveer A Zia from the School of Computing and Mathematics at CSU in Wagga Wagga.

Like the mysterious grinning Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, only one aspect of the invisible ‘dark matter’ which dominates the universe is apparent: its gravitational effects. “We live in a universe that is completely dominated by invisible matter whose origin and nature are essentially unknown,” says Dr Allan Ernest, a physics lecturer with the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. In a lecture on Wednesday 28 April, Dr Ernest will examine the latest theories which attempt to answer the vexing questions: “What gravitational effects tell us dark matter exists? If it is really there, what could it possibly be? Are there alternative theories to dark matter?” The talk by Dr Ernest will also present work being conducted at CSU to address the questions surrounding the nature and origin of dark matter.

An Indigenous literary academic and leading writer will explain the vital role of literacy in Indigenous self-determination at the next annual Bob Meyenn Annual Education Lecture, to be held this Thursday 22 April at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Hosted by the University’s Murray School of Education, in Albury-Wodonga, the lecture will be presented by Indigenous Literacy Ambassador, Dr Anita Heiss, who will discuss the key ingredient missing in the education system which could easily ensure a fair and equitable life experience for her people. Dr Heiss is from the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW, born and bred in Sydney. She is an author, poet, social commentator, travel writer and satirist and has published non-fiction, historical fiction, children’s fiction and so-called ‘chicklit’. Dr Heiss will present the third Bob Meyenn Annual Education Lecture titled ‘Indigenous literacy: the key to self-determination’ at 7.30pm in the Nowik Auditorium, Guinea Street, Albury.

The secrets of combining a successful career in the Australian film industry with an academic career at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be unveiled during a seminar on Wednesday 28 April. Mr Damian Candusso is a lecturer in Multimedia and Sound Design in the School of Communication and Creative Industries at CSU in Wagga Wagga. He has over 12 years of industry experience and is a multi-award winning sound designer in film, animation, games and music. Some of his recently released work includes Daybreakers and Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. Not satisfied with this work, the sound designer is enrolled in the Master of Arts Practice at CSU. His research and creative practice explores sound’s relationship with the image, and in particular film. Mr Candusso’s exhibition Nature Man Machine opened on Monday 19 April until Friday 30 April in the HR Gallop Gallery, building 21 near car park 2, Darnell Smith Drive, CSU in Wagga Wagga.

Students in NSW and the ACT will have the opportunity to win cash prizes and donate money their favourite charity when entries open for Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) 2010 Making a Difference competition. CSU’s Making a Difference (MaD) Social Justice Innovation Award is open to all students in NSW and ACT in Year 10, 11 or 12 at high school or a student aged 15 to 21 years at TAFE. “The competition gives young people the opportunity to have an input into the challenging issues such as homelessness, teen suicide, drugs, poverty and crime,” said competition coordinator Mr Bill Anscombe, a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU. “This competition offers young people the platform to tell their story.” Students were asked to write a story, poem or script that addresses any issue of social justice for the chance to win $250 cash and to select a charity of their choice which CSU would then make a $250 donation to on their behalf.

A leading climate change researcher with Charles Sturt University (CSU) believes delaying the emissions trading scheme (ETS) will cost every Australian in the long run. Professor Kevin Parton, a lead researcher with CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society, said the Federal government’s decision to delay the introduction of the scheme until after 2012 to wait and see what the rest of the world will do on carbon emissions was no reason to delay. “The three biggest polluters are USA, China and Europe. China is developing green technologies, and Europe already has an ETS. They are going to be way ahead of Australia,” Professor Parton said. “The media has greatly exaggerated the cost of an ETS to the public, leading to falling public support for the scheme. And the government doesn’t want to take the scheme to its first election.” Professor Parton said under ‘business as usual’ without an ETS, Australia can expect to double its average level of income by 2050. “But with the ETS this income doubling would be delayed only one year.”

'Tragical, Comical, Fantastical, Musical' are the catch-cries for the 2010 season of the University Theatre Ensemble (UTE). The new performance season will be launched from 7pm on Wednesday 5 May at the Riverina Playhouse in Cross Street, Wagga Wagga. Staff and students from the School of Communication and Creative Industries at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will join members of the wider community for the season launch by Director Mr John Saunders. With a strong reputation in providing quality and diverse theatre in Wagga Wagga, UTE productions draw final year students from the Bachelor of Arts (Acting for Screen and Stage), and Bachelor of Arts (Design for Theatre and Television).

The important work of midwives around the globe will be celebrated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) – a key educator of the health professions on International Midwives Day 2010, Wednesday 5 May. At CSU in Wagga Wagga, the day will be celebrated with a meeting of over 100 University midwifery graduates, nursing academics and midwifery practitioners and the launch of the book, No Births on Monday written by Wagga Wagga midwife Dr Mavis Gaff-Smith. Launching the book is one of the key developers of the postgraduate midwifery program at CSU, Dr Joanne Gray. Dr Gray is currently Director of Midwifery Education at the University of Technology Sydney. CSU is celebrating 20 years of educating midwifery students. Through its School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health, the University offers a Postgraduate Diploma of Midwifery by distance education to Registered Nurses in both metropolitan and rural areas.

The challenge in managing an organisation’s development alongside its environmental footprint is demonstrated in Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) 2009 Environmental Scorecard. The document is prepared by CSU Green to critically assess the University’s progress in meeting its sustainability targets for 2011 and 2015. “There was a large amount of development and construction at Charles Sturt University, with a 16 per cent increase in gross floor space since 2006, the baseline year,” said CSU Green Manager Mr William Adlong. “Despite this construction, greenhouse gas emissions from energy use increased by only 1.3 per cent between 2006 and 2009. This reflects the greater energy efficiency of new buildings, improvements in the plant and equipment in existing buildings and staff efforts to reduce energy use in their work areas,” Mr Adlong said. The 2009 Environmental Scorecard also shows mains water consumption across the University fell by more than 32 per cent since 2006, electricity consumption rose by 5.2 per cent from 2006, and emissions from travel increased 4.5 per cent from 2008. Read the full 2009 Environmental Scorecard here.