Charles Sturt University (CSU) reinforced its place as the leading agricultural university in Australia when 10 students from CSU won the University Teams Award in the second Australian University Crops competition recently held in Temora, NSW. Guided by Dr Sergio Moroni and PhD student Mr Jeff McCormick from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences in Wagga Wagga, competitors were tested on crop seed identification, business strategy, weed identification and soil analysis. Five CSU students were placed in the top 10 of 41 competitors from six universities. The top placed CSU student was Mr Andrew Gillet, who was second, while Mr Dwayne Schubert was fifth, Mr James Kanaley (sixth), Mr Victor Clifton (seventh), and Mr James Whitley (ninth).

For those with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background who are interested in attending university, Charles Sturt University (CSU) has launched a new program which will make the university experience more attainable. CSU’s Indigenous Student Services has introduced a new skills assessment program called Darrambal. “Darrambal means ’footmarks’ or ’roadway’ and is used here to represent the lifelong journey of learning we all travel,” explains CSU’s Indigenous Student Services manager, Mr Ray Eldridge. “The program assesses each person’s skills, abilities and potential to succeed in their preferred course of study. Students who successfully the complete Darrambal program may be offered a place at Charles Sturt University to study their chosen course.” Any person who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander may attend. “This is the perfect program for anyone who would like to study at university but are not sure if they satisfy the usual entry requirements.”

The addition of a basketball hoop to encourage recycling in the Dining Room for Charles Sturt University (CSU) students living on campus in Wagga Wagga is proving popular. The brainchild of the Catering team within the University’s Division of Student Services, the students are able to shoot goals using recyclable items. “The students have enthusiastically embraced the concept of using the recycling bin a lot as a result of the new basketball hoop,” Catering Team Leader, Mr Toby Perry, said. “The rate of recycling by the students has increased substantially. So much so, that the Division of Student Services may have to organise an additional recycling pick-up.” Also contributing to the initiative is CSU Green which was established in 2008 to promote sustainable practices at CSU. “As a result of its success in the Dining Hall, it is hoped that the idea will be extended to other student spaces next year including in the Noshpit, the student canteen area in Wagga Wagga, and at the Gums Café at the University’s Thurgoona site,” CSU Green Manager Mr William Adlong said.

Already well known for its locally produced wine, cheese and olive oil, Charles Sturt University (CSU) can add lavender to its repertoire. Known as Riverina James, the lavender was bred by Dr Nigel Urwin, a lecturer in animal genetics and gene technologies at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga. “Riverina James is a garden ornamental bred as a sturdy, fast growing and water-wise plant,” Dr Urwin said. “It emits a strong and pleasant fragrance from its green foliage and is a plant suitable for hedges as well as for cut flowers due to their long vase life.” Riverina James is one of five new lavender varieties bred by Dr Urwin at CSU with four others developed specially for the essential oil industry to be high oil yielding varieties. Riverina James is produced and marketed by Plant Growers Australia and is on sale through Plant Plus in Wagga Wagga and will be available next year from Bunnings as part of their Lavender Patch collection.

As 2010 draws to a close, the lectures and exams are at an end for many students at Charles Sturt University (CSU). However a group of social work students is preparing to embark on a trip to India later this month. “This first trip to India by social work students at Charles Sturt University aims to give the students valuable international field experience working with social workers in villages between the major metropolitan centres of Mumbai and Pune in the country’s south,” said Dr Bill Anscombe, senior lecturer from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga. “The local social workers are very skilled at field work and work in a variety of challenging situations. It is a great opportunity for our students to see and experience international social work. The 19 students from Charles Sturt University will assist the local staff with reporting and monitoring, and experience reality there and learn about development programs.” The itinerary includes field trips to orphanages, mobile health vans, disability services, a leprosy disability institution, as well as providing opportunities to learn about micro-credits and micro-finance programmes, women’s empowerment programmes and child protection programmes. During the trip the students plan to donate to building accommodation at an orphanage in the Malvali-Lonavala district.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is set to host its 33rd annual Vintage Dinner in Wagga Wagga on Friday 12 November. CSU Winemaker, Mr Andrew Drumm, says while the overall quantity of fruit harvested was down due to rain, the fruit is of higher quality, with a lot more hand-harvesting this year. “The harvesting of grapes by hand is a more delicate procedure to mechanical harvesting and therefore leads to a superior product,” Mr Drumm said. Up to 270 guests are expected to attend the Vintage Dinner. Wines from various vintages will be provided including the hand-harvested 2010 Rosé, the award-winning 2007 sparkling wine, and the 2010 Moscato, the first commercial crop off the Muscat vines at CSU in Wagga Wagga. Entertainment will be provided by the Italian-born classical/pop singer Mr Antonio Villano. His performances include The Elder Park Christmas Carols, The Australian Tour Down Under, The Adelaide Carnivale, Italian festivals and charity events. Tickets are on sale for $60 from Ms Karen Jamieson on 02 6933 2221. Pre-dinner drinks will be held from 6.45pm with dinner served in the Convention Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga from 7pm.

Safety-conscious staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will be honoured when the annual Wagga Mutual Credit Union Safety Awareness Awards are presented on Thursday 11 November. Six staff, including a lecturer, a laboratory manager and a security officer, will receive an award during the ceremony from 3.30pm to 5pm in Joyes Hall at CSU in Wagga Wagga. The awards in 2010 have focussed on staff who have used the official hazard reporting system at CSU, or have shown good occupational health and safety practice in offering solutions to potential hazards which range from road safety on campus, lighting and a washing machine with an electrical fault.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Emeritus Professor Ted Wolfe will receive a national medal for his outstanding contributions to agricultural education and research at a ceremony in Canberra this evening, Tuesday 9 November. Awarded by the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, the Australian Medal of Agricultural Science for 2010 will be presented to Professor Wolfe who continues to actively support agricultural research, extension, professional activities and rural communities in the Riverina, and in Eritrea, North East Africa. In 1990, Professor Wolfe was appointed head of the then-School of Agriculture at CSU in Wagga Wagga and coordinated the agriculture degree at CSU until his retirement from the University in 2001.He is a member of the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, a collaborative alliance between CSU and Industry & Investment NSW. Professor Wolfe has experienced another busy period in 2009/10, completing two book chapters, writing a Pasture Profile of Australia for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, and supporting an Australian-funded agricultural project in Eritrea.  Read more about Professor Wolfe’s Australian Medal of Agricultural Science for 2010 here.

Society has been transformed by computing and data transfer technology in the last two decades. The success of Charles Sturt University (CSU), which was established in 1989, owes much to the innovation and capacity of its Division of Information Technology (DIT) which celebrates its 20th anniversary with a staff barbeque on Friday 26 November. DIT Executive Director, Mr Garry Taylor, said, “Charles Sturt University was created as part of the Dawkins-era reform of the Australian higher education sector, and the University’s success is partly due to the early and deliberate priority to develop technology to ensure success. We were one of the first universities in Australia to adopt video conferencing technology, and we now have more than 100 terminals, which is important for teaching, learning and collaboration, as well as reducing the need to travel which is important for the environment. In 1990 Charles Sturt University was one of the first regional universities to connect to the Internet, and at one stage our website had the most ‘hits’ of any website in Australia in 1995-96. We also had a world-first enterprise-wide Online Learning Environment in 1997. We now have the fastest single and direct internal network link in regional Australia and the largest wireless network in the Southern Hemisphere.”