The Importance of Irrigated Agriculture to Global Food Security is the title of a free seminar in Wagga Wagga by world-leading research agronomist, Professor Kenneth G Cassman. The public lecture will be held from 8.30am on Wednesday 27 July at the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute. Professor Cassman is being brought to Wagga Wagga by the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (AIAST) in association with the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation – an alliance of Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the NSW DPI. Strategic Research Professor at CSU, Len Wade said, “Professor Cassman is a leading agronomist from the USA, a strong advocate of, and very influential in, the field of crop agronomy research. He has published widely and is eminently qualified to discuss the vital challenge facing the world, global food security.”  As a Professor of Agronomy at the University of Nebraska, Professor Cassman is also the chairman of the standing panel of international scientific experts known as the Independent Science and Partnership Council of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research.  

The Equine Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will take centre stage during a tour on Friday 24 June. At the invitation of the Head of Wagga Wagga Campus Mr Adrian Lindner, a number of Wagga Wagga City Councillors and Council staff will tour the University’s equine science facilities from 12.30pm. The tour will be led by equine lecturer with the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU, Mr Hunter Doughty from 12.30pm at the 3 000 square metre indoor arena, one of the largest facility of its type in the southern hemisphere. Mr Lindner said, “We welcome the opportunity to showcase our first class equine and veterinary science facilities at Charles Sturt University to our local government representatives. It is also an opportunity to again highlight a plan for an equine precinct adjacent to those existing facilities and to foster the collaborative and economic development relationship between Charles Sturt University and Council.”

Several hundred Riverina teenagers will immerse themselves in English literature in all its forms during the Higher School Certificate (HSC) English Study Day at Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Friday 17 June. The annual event is designed to provide local high school students with information, scholarship and strategies on some of the HSC English texts and topics for this year’s HSC exam. Organised by the English Teachers’ Association and staff in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, the program provides lectures, workshops and panel discussions on both Advanced and Standard English. Presenters include regional high school teachers, CSU staff, and students undertaking degrees towards high school teaching. Mr David Gilbey, adjunct senior lecturer in English from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, said, “It’ll be a full day, with up to 800 students due to attend the event. I am hoping the students will also enjoy their glimpse of Charles Sturt University’s facilities and our learning environment.”

The latest research for the Australian wine industry will be on display when the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga holds an Industry Showcase on Thursday 16 June. President of the NSW Wine Industry Association, Mr David Lowe will open the event at 9.15am before a range of research topics are discussed. They include: grapevine carbohydrate balance; grapevine carbohydrate reserves; young vine decline; heat stress; yield predictions from the air and on ground; consumer preferred wine styles; climate change and impacts in NSW regions; and pest and disease recognition. The day will also involve a tour of the NWGIC facilities. A full program can be found here. “Our Industry Showcase is an important event for Australian grape-growers and winemakers by offering them a one-spot shop for the current research findings across a range of topics,” said NWGIC Director Professor Jim Hardie.

Deserving students will receive a total of 68 scholarships worth nearly $245 000 at a special luncheon ceremony for donors and recipients at the CD Blake Auditorium at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Friday 27 May. The annual CSU Foundation scholarship presentation ceremony will be hosted by CSU Head of Campus in Bathurst, Mr Col Sharp, and the Chancellor of CSU, Mr Lawrie Willett, AO, will be present. A notable scholarship to be presented is the inaugural Peter Andren Memorial Scholarship, which aims to encourage true investigative journalism by providing funding for a project or proposal that explores a significant topic within our community or on a worldwide scale. The Peter Andren Memorial Scholarship will be presented by his son, Mr Josh Andren. The Omya Australia Pty Ltd scholarship to a long-term resident of the Bathurst region, valued at $4 000, will be awarded to communication student Mr Angus Thompson.General information about CSU scholarships can be found here. Information about scholarships specific to CSU in Bathurst can be found here.

Two French university students will give an international flavour to the local Farmers’ Markets in Wagga Wagga on Saturday 14 May at the CSU Cheese Factory stall. The women, Ms Aurelie Feunteun, from Brittany, and Ms Audrey Thomas, from Reunion Island, will offer tastings of the cheese they have developed during their internships at the CSU Cheese Factory. CSU Cheese Maker Mr Barry Lillywhite said, “The two cheese styles on offer at the popular weekend markets are very different from any cheese Charles Sturt University has done before. Aurelie is doing a smear-ripened cheese similar to a French style called Livarot. Audrey is doing a fresh cheese with herbs and spices called Boursin.” The products are being developed by the students with the assistance of Mr Lillywhite. The tastings will be offered at the Farmers’ Markets near the Civic Theatre, Baylis Street in Wagga Wagga.

The newly-operational dental clinics at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst and Dubbo will be officially opened by The Hon. Simon Crean, MP, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development, Local Government, and Minister for the Arts, on Friday 13 May. CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, said the dental clinics will be used to provide training for CSU’s dental and oral health students and to provide sorely needed dental services to the community. “The opening of the dental clinics by Minister Crean demonstrates the importance to sustainable regional development of educating the future professional workforce for rural and regional Australia in rural and regional Australia,” Professor Goulter said. The opening ceremony in Bathurst will commence at 10am and Mr Crean will be available to speak to the media at 10.45am. He will then travel to Dubbo to open the CSU dental clinic there at 1pm.

An innovative program to encourage a new generation of rural nurses will literally take to the streets of Wagga Wagga. Six students studying their Higher School Certificate (HSC) at Coolamon Central School, Kildare Catholic College, Mount Austin and Wagga Wagga high schools are also enrolled in Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) nursing program. During their two-week clinical placement at CSU in Wagga Wagga, the teenagers will navigate a wheelchair through the Marketplace between 10am and 2pm on Friday 15 April and then be available to take blood pressures between 10am and 2pm in the Marketplace on Thursday 21 April. The program allows HSC students to study two, first year Bachelor of Nursing subjects while still at school. They are then given credit for the subjects when they formally start the degree at CSU. “The aim of the HSC Nursing program is to attract more people into nursing in rural and remote areas to meet the health needs of these communities,” said nursing lecturer at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Ms Krishna Lambert.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic who was due to travel to disaster stricken Japan next week has instead organised a Uniting Church service in Bathurst on Wednesday 23 March for victims and survivors. Professor Sharynne McLeod, from CSU’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education, was to accompany a tour by Bathurst High School students to Bathurst’s sister city, Okuma, the site of the Fukushima Dai-ichi (No.1) nuclear power plant. “I am organising this service in response to my connection with the children of the world through my professional role with Charles Sturt University and my Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship,” Professor McLeod said. “Bathurst students visit the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant each year on their visit to Okuma, and this year’s group were scheduled to visit it in the coming weeks. As well as sending students to visit Okuma annually, Bathurst High School was to have 11 students from Okuma visit Bathurst this week, arriving 20 March. Of the 11 students to visit, seven have fathers who work at the power plant. It is a very tragic situation.” Ms Joyce Voerman, a staff member at the School of Teacher Education who recently returned from teaching English in Okuma for two years, will speak at the service with other people who have had a close association with Japan.