Acting students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) have expressed their gratitude to Regional Express (Rex) Airlines which has demonstrated its commitment to regional communities. The airline has donated four return flights between Sydney and Wagga Wagga in support of the final year students’ Agents’ Day Showcase. The annual showcase is organised and largely funded by Bachelor of Arts (Acting for Screen and Stage) students. Major casting agents from Sydney are invited to CSU at Wagga Wagga to view short performances by the acting students. “The cost of staging the showcase has risen due to increasing interest from agents wishing to attend the event,” said CSU acting student Ms Hannah Smith. “Despite our late request to Rex, the airline generously responded by donating the flights. This contribution will go a long way to ensuring the continuing success of the showcase.”

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) 2007 Shiraz has been nominated for the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the 2008 Royal Melbourne Wine Show, Australia largest wine show. Fifteen wines were selected in October by a panel of international and national judges. The award for the best red wine of the 2007 vintage is one of the most sought after trophies of the 21 awards available at the show. The CSU 2007 Shiraz is produced with grapes from the University’s vineyard in Orange and is the only NSW wine to be nominated for this year’s Trophy. The wine has already been awarded bronze medals at the Orange Wine Show in October and the Riverina Wine Show in September. CSU Shiraz 2007 will be released at the University’s Cellar Door at Wagga Wagga in mid-November. The winner of the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy will be announced at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show presentation dinner on Thursday 13 November at the Hilton on the Park in Melbourne.

Students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) secured two awards at a popular short film festival held in Wagga Wagga on Saturday 25 October. Over 600 people filled the amphitheatre at Wollundry Lagoon at the annual Reel is Real film festival. A varied program of 16 short-listed films from all over Australia was screened. The Best Animation award went to first year graphic design and multi-media student Mr Aleksei Fateev for his animated film, ‘Alien Life Cycle’.  The Best Film went to second year television production student, Mr Jackson Bauer for his film, ‘The Paperboy’.

Two Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduates have come up trumps in the National Contemporary Jewellery Awards held on Thursday 24 October at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery. Ms Emily Snadden from Wagga Wagga, was highly commended for ‘best innovative contemporary jewellery design’. Ms Snadden, who graduated with the Bachelor of Arts (Jewellery) in 2006, works in the CSU School of Visual and Performing Arts. Her design entitled The Bends continued her exploration into the potential plasticity and malleability of metal. “My works are unashamedly quirky and conceptual works which aim to demonstrate a material plasticity normally uncharacteristic to metal,” said Ms Snadden. Ms Emma Kidson, also from Wagga Wagga, won the ‘best innovative contemporary jewellery design submitted by an artist under 26 years of age’. Ms Kidson owns a jewellery design business in Wagga Wagga and graduated from CSU in 2007. Entitled Origami Box Ring 1, Ms Kidson submitted a sterling silver ring.

As part of its mission to develop productive and efficient agricultural systems, the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation,  an alliance between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Department of Primary Industries, is holding a working breakfast about genetically modified (GM) crops and their projected impact. Organiser and CSU post-doctoral fellow, Dr Rex Stanton, says the event is targeted at farmers, advisors and consultants and will feature two speakers who will share their international knowledge of GM crops. “Suzanne Warwick is a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, who researches weed and crop evolution and is studying the environmental impact of commercially released GM modified canola crops,” he said. “Culcairn farmer and 2007 Nuffield Scholar, Mr Murray Scholz, will explain his recent study of the implications of herbicide tolerant GM crops on weed management in North America, Europe and South America.”  

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Murray School of Education will celebrate ten years of providing Indigenous educational experiences for its early childhood education students in Lavington on Wednesday 12 November. The CSU students will provide 400 primary school students from Albury and Wodonga with a bush-tucker barbeque, face painting, boomerang making, clap-stick and bandana painting, cave construction, dance, music and storytelling, all based on Indigenous cultures. Wiradjuri spokesperson and CSU education lecturer, Yalmambirra, said the subject gave many students their first hands-on experiences of Indigenous cultures and that these were important for educating future teachers. The Indigenous cultural education day will be held between 9am and 2.30pm at Mirrambeena Community Centre, Martha Mews, Lavington (opposite the North Albury swimming pool).

The tapping sound of typing is replacing the rustle of paper and scratching of pens across lecture theatres in regional Australia as students purchase laptop computers though Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) rebate scheme. CSU is offering a $300 rebate to on campus undergraduate students who purchase a laptop for their studies. Lecturers welcome the rebate scheme. Head of CSU at Dubbo, Mr Gary Shipp, said “The scheme is designed to encourage and assist students make the most of accessing university online systems when visiting and studying on campus. Distance students can take advantage of the scheme when required to attend compulsory residential schools on campus. I hope it will make note taking and assessment writing easier for our students."

An initial survey of NSW households by a Charles Sturt University researcher has found most householders are looking at ways to become more energy efficient by using less electricity. However, while environmental concern is one reason people aim to reduce their usage, according to CSU postgraduate student Ms Jodie Kleinschafer it is the “larger than expected electricity bill” that is the more immediate motivator. “When ‘average’ householders get larger than expected electricity bills, they start to look for ways to reduce the electricity they use,” said Mrs Kleinschafer, who is undertaking a three year, $100 000 research project funded by Country Energy. So far, Mrs Kleinschafer has surveyed 80 households, and in conjunction with Country Energy will survey a further 4 000 regional NSW households in the next two months. She said the findings of her research would enable electricity retailers to manage increasing electricity demand in a way that still satisfies the needs of residential electricity consumers.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Veterinary Science Clinical Building at Wagga Wagga has received two awards this month for its construction and innovative design. Joss Constructions won the Master Builders Association of NSW ‘Excellence in Construction Award’ in the Tertiary Buildings category valued under $10 million. The Australian Steel Institute of NSW and ACT awarded a high recommendation in the ‘Architectural Steel Design Award’ to Merat Architects, Wood and Grieve Engineers, Joss Constructions and Southern Central Engineering. The clinic includes modern surgical facilities for large and small animals, diagnostic imaging and reproduction services for horses. Fourth year veterinary science students are the first CSU students to benefit from the clinic which was officially opened in July 2008.