Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will again host educators from Japan during a five-day visit to the Riverina to learn more about the Australian school system. The trip is an initiative of the School of Education at CSU in Wagga Wagga as part of an academic cooperation agreement with Yamagata University (YU). The Japanese delegation will be led by Professor Joe Yamaguchi from the Graduate School of Teacher Training at YU. A reception will be held for the international visitors at 9am on Monday 5 September at the Civic Centre in Baylis Street in Wagga Wagga ahead of a tour of the local botanic gardens and zoo. The delegation will also visit classrooms and meet students at Coolamon Central School on Tuesday 6 September, Wagga Wagga High School on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 September, and South Wagga Wagga Public School on Thursday 8 September.

The largest-ever group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students and staff will provide physiotherapy and first aid services during the 2011 Tour de Timor, which commences from the capital of Timor-Leste, Dili, on Sunday 11 September. Six CSU physiotherapy and three nursing students and three staff will follow the Tour ‘peloton’ for six days around the mountainous, 600 kilometre course, providing medical services for tired, sore or injured riders. The CSU coordinator, Mr Tim Retchford, said the CSU students will gain valuable professional experience “while working in challenging conditions in a beautiful, though undeveloped, country”. This is the third time CSU students have provided these services during the Tour de Timor. The students and staff leave for Dili on Sunday 4 September to prepare themselves and riders for the event, as well as visiting local medical facilities. Meanwhile, PhD student at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Ms Nicola Wunderlich will take leave during her research in East Timor to cycle in the 2011 Tour De Timor. Read more on CSU News here.

Hair, eyebrows and beards were bleached and coloured at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga on Friday 26 August all in the name of raising money for cancer research and patient support. The activities, held at CSU in support of Daffodil Day, raised nearly $2 400 for the NSW Cancer Council. The fundraising was organised by Charles Sturt Campus Services and the Residential Support Scheme at CSU. “There is a competitive streak between staff across the University so we organised a ‘fund-off’ to raise money for the Cancer Council. A total of $510.25 was raised at CSU in Albury-Wodonga, $841.65 in Bathurst and $1 030.70 was raised in Wagga Wagga,” said Ms Vanessa Conlin, a Residential Operations Officer.  In addition to the temporary ‘hair salons’ for the bleaching and colourings, staff also sold daffodils and pins in support of the annual Daffodil Day event.

An educational program designed to help local communities deal with confronting issues for young people will be discussed at a Charles Sturt University (CSU) public lecture in Tumut on Wednesday 14 September. The ‘Putting Youth in the Picture’ program was developed in regional Queensland and uses a series of authentic, confronting movie scenes to show how young people can make poor decisions that will alter their lives. CSU has been granted the first NSW licence to roll out the program to all local government areas across its regions. Manager of Residential Operations at CSU in Albury-Wodonga and Wagga Wagga, Mr Peter Bell, said issues presented include sexual assault, binge and underage drinking, and alcohol-fuelled violence. “This program is about empowering local communities through their local councils, schools or sporting groups to use the program’s resources to hopefully prevent their young people from getting into difficulties,” Mr Bell said.

In a bid to promote health and fitness, Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff will take part in the annual ‘Lake to Lagoon fun run and family cycle’ in Wagga Wagga on Sunday 11 September. Nearly 40 staff and their families will run, walk or cycle the 9.5 kilometres from Lake Albert to the Civic Centre at Wollundry Lagoon. The Occupational Health and Safety Committee for the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus is co-ordinating the CSU team for the event. Committee secretary, Ms Katie Richardson, said the event highlights the University’s commitment to health and safety while supporting the community. “It’s a great opportunity for staff and students to meet outside of work or study,” she said. “It also provides a chance to form networks within the Wagga community.”  CSU encourages staff and students to maintain a healthy lifestyle with gym and pool facilities, influenza vaccination programs and up-to-date health information and advice.

Research focusing on weed and disease management, the importance of diverse crop rotations and water movement within the soil profile will be on show at the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation Annual Field Day on Wednesday 7 September. Researchers from Charles Sturt University (CSU) and NSW Department of Primary Industries will present their trials and results to farmers, natural resource managers and industry representatives. Graham Centre Director Professor Deirdre Lemerle said it’s an opportunity to network and gain valuable information. “Our aim is for the field site to be ‘owned’ by the industry, and we are looking forward to some good discussion and debate, at the field day and in the future, about the constraints and opportunities facing our production systems,” she said.

Supermarket botany, wine tasting, magic microscopes, water and soil testing and the multiplication of kangaroo paws using tissue culture will be on show in the Charles Sturt University (CSU) tent at the Henty Machinery Field Days. Staff and students from CSU will take visitors through hands-on and active displays that highlight various aspects of research and teaching in the University’s Faculty of Science, which is represented on its main campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga. Acting Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Science, Professor Lyn Angel, says, “Charles Sturt University has a strong presence in regional Australia, and the Field Days present a key opportunity to engage with the community, listen to current issues on the land, and show some of our education and training facilities”.

School students from across the Riverina will show their investigative skills at a science competition at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Friday 16 September. The Science Investigation Award is being held by the Primary Industries Centre for Science Education (PICSE) as part of a partnership with CSU and involves up to 100 students from Year 6 and Year 10. The students were asked to pose a scientific question and then put together an investigation or experiment to help answer that question. PICSE Science Education Officer Ms Emma Wordsworth said students will present their scientific reports to the judges. “Students are putting the finishing touches to their investigations in preparation for judging on Friday, where they will be able to showcase their work to members of the scientific and wider community,” she said. PICSE aims to encourage students to study science and go on to careers in food and fibre industries.

"Sometimes the only way to manage the daily percolating drip of fear, the corrosive dread of debt and humiliation, is to embrace another sort of terror, to put oneself in danger." The Booranga Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga is hosting author Ms Kalinda Ashton as its third writer-in-residence for 2011. Her first novel, The Danger Game was published by Sleepers Publishing in 2009. Ms Ashton was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald Young Novelists of the Year in 2010. Her short stories have been published in journals and anthologies including the Sleeper Almanac, Overland, Meanjin and Kill Your Darlings. Ms Ashton will attend a writers’ workshop from 2pm at the Booranga Writers’ Centre, Mc Keown Drive, CSU in Wagga Wagga on Saturday 17 September and a public reading from 5pm on Thursday 22 September at the Wagga Wagga City Library in the Civic Centre, Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga.