Students from a range of science degrees at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will graduate at a ceremony on Tuesday 13 December. The Head of Campus at CSU in Orange, Dr Heather Robinson, said, “There are 67 students from allied health, medical sciences, and agricultural sciences graduating from Charles Sturt University in Orange this year, and a large proportion of these students will take up employment in regional NSW, contributing to our workforce and communities.” The Occasional Address will be delivered by Professor Brian Kelly from The University of Newcastle’s School of Medicine and Public Health. The graduation ceremony starts at 9.30am at the Derek Pigott Auditorium, Kinross Wolaroi High School in Orange.

Students from a range of disciplines at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo will graduate at a ceremony on Monday 12 December. The Head of Campus at CSU in Dubbo, Dr Beverley Moriarty, said, “I’m delighted that over 80 students from teaching, nursing, business and social work courses will attend the Charles Sturt University graduation in Dubbo this year. Many of these graduates will take up employment in regional NSW and make a significant contribution to their communities.” The Occasional Address will be delivered by Captain Clyde Thomson, GM, Executive Director of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, South Eastern Section.

More than 1 360 school leavers who successfully applied for courses at Charles Sturt University (CSU) through the Principal’s Report Entry Program (PREP) will be acknowledged during morning tea ceremonies in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange this Friday 9 December. Coordinator of the University’s early entry PREP scheme, Mr Matthew Evans, said the scheme has grown in size and prestige in recent years. “We received almost 2 000 applications for the PREP scheme this year and the standard of the applications continues to increase, meaning we can offer the best students early entry into degrees. The successful applicants can then start preparing for their university education. PREP is an early entry scheme designed to attract academically talented students from high schools and TAFE in non-metropolitan areas in NSW, ACT and Victoria.” This is the first year CSU has formally celebrated the PREP offers with a morning tea ceremony.  

The enigmatic and much maligned mistletoes are native parasitic plants that are the focus of a new exhibition in Albury, starting this Saturday 10 December. “The mistletoes’ bizarre ways of life, variation in form and interactions with animals have inspired artists and scientists alike,” said CSU ecologist and mistletoe researcher Associate Professor David Watson. A recent book written by Professor Watson provides insights into mistletoe's secrets. A botanical artist visiting CSU, Ms Robyn Hulley, has produced watercolour pictures showcasing the mistletoes’ variation in form, their striking flowers, and resemblance to their host plants. The exhibition includes a selection of plates of Ms Hulley’s illustrations, and textile costumes by artist Ms Rebecca Mayo. Ms Mayo has used the mistletoes to explore ideas about women, families and values from a past era. The exhibition, Mistletoe Menace, will continue until Sunday, 12 February 2012 in the Albury LibraryMuseum, Kiewa Street in Albury.

Frogs will be the feature of a dinner being organised by lecturer Dr Cilla Kinross from the School of Agriculture and Wine Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange. During the annual general meeting on Tuesday 6 December of the CSU- supported environmental group, Summer Hill Creek Care Inc, a dinner-with-frogs event will be held. “The frogs will hopefully be calling from a small wetland and Summer Hill Creek,” said Dr Kinross. “While we eat we will listen to the frogs and try and identify them by call. If there is enough interest, we hope to establish a Frogwatch in the district and a regular monitoring program to check on the health of our wetlands and waterways.”  

Bunkers, runways, guns and shells all signify violent events in the Pacific during World War II. An expert on managing war relics from this period, Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Associate Professor Dirk Spennemann has used his photographic talents to show such relics during an exhibition at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. The exhibition, to be opened this Saturday 3 December, shows relics in various locations, from Australia to the cold Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific and tropical Saipan in the western Pacific Ocean. “The Japanese invasion after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and the Allied responses which ended when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945, have shaped the physical and psychological landscape of the region. Many sites and memorials in the Pacific are evocative reminders of a violent period, which are shown in my personal interpretation through the distorted lens of art photography,” Professor Spennemann said. The exhibition, Pacific Reminders, commemorates the sacrifices on all sides of the conflict, including the military and the civilians unwillingly caught up in the events. The exhibition closes on Sunday 15 January 2012.

Staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will be the first to walk through the completed $7.7 million Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Science teaching facility. The new complex boasts academic offices, a rehabilitation gym and practice clinic to ensure physiotherapy students receive the highest standard in theory and practical training. “Charles Sturt University in Orange now has a pedestrian avenue linking the newly constructed student accommodation, past the recently renovated library and lecture theatres to the new physiotherapy building and state-of-the-art dentistry laboratories,” said Division of Facilities Management project officer Mr Mark Adams. The School of Community Health staff and students are excited about moving into the building in the coming months. “Students studying the Bachelor of Physiotherapy will benefit from these new facilities and they’re very excited about working in the new building from first semester in 2012,” said physiotherapy lecturer Ms Kerstin McPherson.

Anson Street School in Orange will benefit from the expertise of three final year Charles Sturt University (CSU) physiotherapy students as they complete their four-week Child and Family Health placement at the public school this week. “Contributing to the local community is an important part of Charles Sturt University,” said physiotherapy lecturer Ms Kay Skinner. “We’re thrilled to establish what we hope will be a long-term partnership with Anson Street School. The School has a good physiotherapy service but with limited hours and we are able to provide additional intensive therapy.” The CSU students have conducted individual therapy sessions with students aged from six to 18 years, as well as group sessions to improve students’ general sporting and gross motor skills.

The full range of the visual arts at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be on display as almost 50 local high school students spend four days at CSU in Wagga Wagga next week. Following its postponement in 2010 due to the floods, the Visual Arts Camp at CSU will be held from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 December with 49 teenagers from Years 8 to 11 staying in University student accommodation during the week. Supported by CSU’s School of Communication and Creative Industries and NSW Department of Education and Communities, the camp has attracted teenagers from schools in Albury, Colleambally, Corowa, Deniliquin, Finley, Tumut, Temora, Oaklands and Urana. The camp’s activities include workshops by CSU academics and visual arts practitioners on jewellery, television production, drawing, painting, photography, costume design and animation. There will be an excursion to the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and also a HSC information session for the senior students. An exhibition of the artwork developed during the camp will be held from 12.30pm on Thursday 8 December. Acting Head of the School of Communication and Creative Students at CSU, Associate Professor Frank Molloy said, “This camp has been almost two years in the planning and is a wonderful opportunity for regional school students to experience the visual arts and life at university.”