Carbon emissions trading is a great idea waiting to happen, according to Charles Sturt University’s environment economist Mark Morrison. Dr Morrison says he agrees with Prime Minister John Howard, who said at the APEC summit late last week that any carbon trading system would have to be global to suceed. “The global effort is going to be ineffective unless everyone is going to involved,” said Dr Morrison. “Very few countries are meeting their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Australia is going to be one of the most severely affected countries. The ability of agricultural land in Australia to produce the way it has historically is very unlikely, if you believe the global warming forecasts and I do.”

Policies aimed at increasing the pace of developing renewable energies could accelerate global warming, according to Dr Rod Duncan, a lecturer in economics at Charles Sturt University. It wouldn’t be the first time regulations have had the opposite of the desired effect. When US Congress introduced the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, Detroit car makers responded by producing petrol-guzzling SUVs. And when Mexico City implemented no-drive days where a car could only be used every other day, the citizens reacted by buying a second car. “Air quality in Mexico City got worse, because the second car tended to be an old bomb,” said Dr Duncan. And what does all this have to do with alternative energies? “If cheaper alternatives are being developed, oil producers will have an incentive to pump oil faster and sell it cheaper. The renewables could be worth it in the long run, but at least temporarily, you may actually make the global warming problem worse.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has partnered with The Project Management Institute (PMI) Sydney Chapter to offer a world-first industry-based qualification for project managers. Participants will gain international recognition as a PMI Project Management Professional as part of the course. Scholarship applications are now invited for the Graduate Diploma of Project Management. Dean of CSU’s Commerce Faculty Professor John Hicks believes education in project management is a rapidly developing field in the tertiary education sector. “CSU is pleased to be participating with industry experts in the development of subjects and courses to meet the educational needs of the profession.” Enrolment applications are new being accepted by CSU and scholarships have been donated by PMI to support the launch of the new qualification.

Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga Campus will host Australia’s first International Millinery Forum early next year. Co-ordinator Linda Tillman said the response so far has been overwhelming. “I already have over 100 registrations from every state in Australia, as well as New Zealand, America, London, Scotland, and today I received an email from Spain.” The five day event includes a series of seminars, hands-on workshops and a trade expo. “The people who are registering are so passionate about hat making. They can come and learn new things and share their different tricks of the trade.” Milliners who will showcase their techniques include Germany’s Constance Willems, Austria’s Christine Rohr-Bernard, and Eia Radosavljevic and Jan Wutkowski from the USA. “Australia’s millinery community has never seen an event like this before,” said Ms Tillman.

CSU is holding a Change of Preference Information Day in Sydney on 3 and 4 January 2007. Market Development Manager Cheryl Howell said the information session is mainly aimed at Sydney school leavers.“It doesn’t have to be a traumatic time. We will have Prospective Student Advisors (PSA) there to talk to them about their options. For students at or near CSU Campus towns we have open day every day, so if they want to come and talk to PSAs at any time they can do that.” CSU’s Contact Centre is extending its opening hours from 8.30am through to 5.30pm for the whole of January. January 4 2007 is the last day for NSW university applicants to change their course preferences for the main round of offers due out later that month.

The stories of two Labor icons are currently playing on Sydney stages: Keating! The Musical at Belvior Street, and A Local Man, the Ben Chifley one-man show at the Ensemble in Kirribilli. Co-written by historian and CSU adjunct senior lecturer Dr Rob McLachlan with Bob Ellis, A Local Man is described by the Ensemble as “a poignant portrayal of a flawed hero”. Tony Barry is reprising the role he played in the original Bathurst CSU production in 2004, which was directed by Bill Blaikie. Dr McLachlan says this new production is a “bonus all around. The Ensemble is one of the hallmark theatres in Sydney for Australian drama. It has a very sympathetic artistic director, Sandra Bates, and there is an impressive CSU ex-theatre media presence there”. A 2007 tour of Canberra and regional NSW and Victoria will be produced by Jennifer Barry, a CSU theatre media graduate.

Embers - the first exhibition by graduating students from the new fine art degree offered jointly by Charles Sturt University (CSU) and TAFE NSW Riverina Institute - opens in Wagga Wagga this evening Tuesday 28 November. “This is a great opportunity for the public to see a large number of works by students specialising in painting and drawing,” said Head Teacher, Arts and Design School, TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, Steve Williams. “The drawings and paintings explore a diversity of themes and media. Teachers Denis O’Connor and Errol Fielder have pushed the students to interrogate and question themselves and their environment.” The exhibition will be opened by CSU’s Head of the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Associate Professor Andrew Keen, tonight at 6pm.

Vice-Chancellor Ian Goulter last week announced the academic promotions round for 2006. Professor Goulter singled out Associate Professor Geoffrey Gurr from the School of Rural Management and Dr Lexin Wang from the School of Biomedical Sciences who have both been promoted to Professor Level E. “I congratulate these academic staff members on their achievements and contribution to the success of Charles Sturt University,” he said. CSU researcher and academic cardiologist Dr Wang is also an Honorary Professor of Cardiology at Taishan Medical College in China. “I’m really pleased, but there are more challenges ahead. We are still conducting a number of very high-profile studies on heart disease and my research group has had some major impact in the field of cardiovascular medicine. At CSU we are running a very strong pharmacology discipline which has been expanded quite substantially in the last eight years or so, and I think that is another major achievement.”

One of Australia’s largest banks Westpac will announce an agreement with Charles Sturt University (CSU) to produce regular agribusinesses reports for all Australia’s regions. CSU’s Western Research Institute will produce quarterly reports for Westpac on the health of farming and related businesses in all Australia’s States and territories, starting in 2007. This will be the first such report on each and all regions of the nation.The official announcement will be made during a Business and Community Reception to be hosted by CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter. The reception will start at 5pm on Thursday 7 December on the University’s Albury-Wodonga Campus at Thurgoona.