International collaboration in research and teaching is the aim of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed by Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (PNGUT) tomorrow, Tuesday 11 May in Wagga Wagga. The MoU will be signed from 11am by CSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, and Professor Misty Baloiloi, Vice-Chancellor of PNGUT, which is based in Lae, New Guinea. CSU’s Professor of Agricultural Innovation and director of the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Deirdre Lemerle, said the MoU aims to develop strong links between the two institutions, with CSU helping UniTech expand its research and development allowing it to play a leadership role in South East Asia. “The agreement will also encourage staff and students from Charles Sturt University and PNGUT to integrate overseas experience in their research, teaching and study. We will work together on research into sustainable food production, environmental protection and increasing people skills in agriculture,” Professor Lemerle said.

The smell of exotic foods and the sights and sounds of dancing will headline Harmony Day being celebrated at Charles Sturt University (CSU) today, Tuesday 4 May. International student support officer Ms Lyn Furze has advised visitors to “throw away the vegemite sandwiches and try different food cooked by CSU’s international students”. CSU in Albury-Wodonga currently has international students from South Korea, Indonesia, China, Bhutan, Japan, the Solomon Islands and the United States. The event, which will include food stalls, dancing and martial arts demonstrations, will be held between 11am and 1pm at The Gums Café, off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona.

International Water Week 2010 will bring together more than 70 high school students from throughout the region at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. A Riverina High Schools Student Science Day will be held on Friday 23 April from 9.30am to 3pm. Organised by the University’s International Centre of Water for Food Security (IC Water), the event will cover topics ranging from weather stations and unmanned aerial vehicles to wastewater recycling and re-use. The students attending the event will also have a rare chance to question an academic panel involving Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sue Thomas, IC Water Director Associate Professor Mohsin Hafeez and visiting academics from China and Pakistan. International Water Week 2010, which is being run in conjunction with the United Nations World Water Day, began at CSU with the official opening on Monday 19 April of new facilities for IC Water. Read more here.

The generosity of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students to those in need within the local community is demonstrated in the latest fundraising event at CSU in Wagga Wagga. The students will hand over 451 cans of food to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society on Monday 29 March. The cans were collected during the weekly student bar night. Organised by the Residential Student Advisors (RAs), the students were asked to donate a tin of food or a gold coin on entry into the University’s Crow Bar on Wednesday 24 March. “We also raised $902 from the gold coin donations and this will be donated to the Red Frogs university support network,” said Head Resident at South Campus and final year Bachelor of Education (Primary) student, Mr Jason Stuart. The RAs are part of the University’s Residential Support Scheme for students living on-campus. “The Residential Advisors regularly conduct fundraising activities throughout the year at student events such as Wednesday’s ‘Traffic Light Night’. Despite their own financial needs while studying, the students are very willing to donate to help other people in the community,” Mr Stuart said. Mr Stuart and other members of the RA Event’s Committee will hand over the donated food to a representative of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society from 1.30pm, Monday 29 March at the Division of Student Services, building 20 (near the Uni Co-Op bookshop) at CSU in Wagga Wagga. Manager of Residential Operations at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Mr Peter Bell will also be in attendance.

Staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst expect to enrol approximately 1 000 new students when Orientation Week begins on Monday 22 February. Students will be formally welcomed to the University by Mr Col Sharp, Head of Campus at CSU in Bathurst, at the Commencement Ceremony on Monday. Mr Sharp said, “The University welcomes its new students to the campus and to the city of Bathurst at this defining point in their lives. For them, this is a time of great change – the transition to higher education, perhaps the first time away from family and established friends, a change in climate, a change of lifestyle, different and unfamiliar surroundings. I urge and challenge each of them to make the most of the opportunity, to strive for academic excellence, for personal and professional growth and for happiness and fulfilment.” A team of 50 current returning students, who will wear distinctive yellow T-shirts throughout the week, will lead new students through the orientation process and activities:   Monday 22 – new students arrive, receive welcoming instructions, Student ID cards, room keys and check into their accommodation; 2pm Commencement Ceremony at CD Blake Auditorium; socialise at the Rafters Bar on campus to DJ Aston Shuffle that night.   Tuesday 23 – Schools Day, new students are orientated to the location of their particular School, its related facilities and staff.   Wednesday 24 – a campus-wide scavenger hunt, and the ‘Fresher Cup’, a sports and fun day to familiarise new students with each other and the sport and recreation amenities available on campus.   Thursday 25 – Market Day on the CSU library lawn, followed by socialising to the band Jelly Bean Jam at the Rafters Bar on campus that night.   Friday 26 – Recovery Day; no formal sessions after a week of fun-filled orientation.

It’s a far cry from studying platypus on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River to Army Reserve training in the jungles of Malaysia, but a Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer is about to get a taste of what her environmental science (Honours) student has been experiencing in his training with the Army Reserve. Senior lecturer in veterinary microbiology, Dr Joanne Connolly, from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, will leave on Monday 15 December to spend five days with Rifle Company Butterworth, near Penang in northern Malaysia, at the invitation of the Defence Reserves Support.  Dr Connolly, who researches disease in platypus, will experience life as a soldier in the field, including weapons handling and finding food from the jungle, to gain insight into the Army Reserve. It’s an activity Dr Connolly didn’t know was on the horizon when she became Mr Tom Claridge’s supervisor for his Honours degree.  However, the academic is excited and a bit nervous about the challenge. “We’ve roughed it in streams late at night netting the nocturnal platypus across the Murrumbidgee catchment as part of the current research project, but this will certainly be a bit different. Tom has to write his thesis when he gets back from his three months service, so I’ll gently remind him about that when I see him in Malaysia,” Dr Connolly said.  

The world’s best caviar are eggs from the endangered sturgeon found in the Caspian Sea. These fish spawn in the Lower Volga wetlands of Russia, which are under threat from damage caused by the construction of hydro-electric dams, pollution, unorganised tourism, agriculture and expansion of the oil industry. Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga will host a delegation on Tuesday 8 December from the Russian region, which is visiting Australia as part of a study tour that is inspecting Australian wetlands and water management systems. The 12 visitors, involved with a five year project funded by the United Nations Development Program, will discuss the ongoing restoration of CSU’s wetlands on its Thurgoona site and relevant water ecology and management research projects with researchers from the University’s Institute of Land, Water and Society. They will also meet with the University’s new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Sue Thomas.

Threats to inland frog species and conservation strategies will be on the agenda when the Declining Frog Working Group meets at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga on Monday 23 November. The independent advisory body is made up of policy makers, managers and scientists including CSU’s Dr Skye Wassens. The group meets three times a year to plan for the conservation and long-term management of Australia’s threatened frog fauna. Ecologist with CSU’s Institute of Land, Water and Society and meeting convenor, Dr Skye Wassens is currently looking at the breeding responses of frogs following changes in wetland flooding regimes along the Murray River. “Inland frogs are vulnerable to factors including habitat loss and degradation, exotic species, disease and climate change,” Dr Wassens said. “Coupled with these factors comes difficulty in finding frogs to actually study. Some species have very erratic activity patterns or live in remote areas or in large wetland systems which are difficult to survey. Cooperation between agencies like the Catchment Management Authorities, state government departments and scientists is vital to pool our expertise and resources,” she said. Read more about Dr Wassens research here.

Early childhood services on the Border can start planning for 2010 with a national perspective at the 2009 Building Bridges Regional Early Years Conference to be held on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 November in Albury and Wodonga. The keynote address for the conference will be delivered by the lead author of the recently released Early Years Learning Framework, Professor Jennifer Sumsion from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Teacher Education, who will talk about the new national framework and what will be expected of children’s services in 2010. Organised by Wodonga City Council, Wodonga Institute of TAFE and CSU, the Thursday sessions on the new vision for children’s learning will be held at Wodonga TAFE. On Friday, education experts from around Australia will discuss how the national framework will be integrated into local services. The presentations around this theme will take place at the new Learning Hub on CSU’s Thurgoona site, off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona.