Current and future professionals in accounting, business management and computing can continue to receive their degree qualifications on the Border with the establishment of three new schools in Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Faculty of Business. After a recent faculty restructure, the three new schools, which encompass CSU’s five main campuses, will have staff on the Albury-Wodonga Campus and will continue to offer business and computing courses on campus. Head of the School of Business, Associate Professor Grant O’Neill, said the faculty was strengthening existing programs in accounting, finance, marketing, management, and information technology. “We also saw our first group of South Korean students start our Bachelor of Business program and fully expect to see this cohort substantially increase in 2010. We will also offer our Master of Business and Master of Business Administration programs on campus in Albury next year,” Professor O’Neill said. The new Associate Dean (Administration) based at Thurgoona, Associate Professor John Atkinson, said the expansion demonstrated the commitment by the Faculty of Business to provide high quality teaching and research opportunities to students and the Albury-Wodonga community.

A leading public intellectual and author will be in Wagga Wagga on Tuesday 22 September to pose probing questions about climate change and economic growth. The free public lecture by Professor Clive Hamilton, AM, Charles Sturt University Vice-Chancellor’s Chair and Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE)  will examine Australia’s pre-occupation with economic growth and question whether the need to halt climate change will be sacrificed for short term prosperity. Professor Hamilton founded ‘think-tank’ The Australia Institute and was its executive director for 14 years until 2008. He has published widely, including books Growth Fetish (2003), Scorcher: The Dirty Politics Of Climate Change (2007) and more recently, The Freedom Paradox (2008), a look at the meaning of freedom and morality in the modern world. In 2009, Professor Hamilton was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for services to public debate and policy development, particularly in the fields of climate change, sustainability and societal trends. Professor Hamilton’s public lecture, ‘Growth Fetishism and the Climate Crisis’ is hosted by Charles Sturt University and Wagga Wagga City Council.

September has seen the start of a new course at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Ontario, Canada, that aims to increase access to early childhood specialist degrees in Ontario. Twenty-three students were welcomed into the new Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies at the Burlington campus, which was developed in partnership with faculty from Sheridan and Mohawk Colleges. The program director, Dr Pat Dickinson, says, “The students, who have completed a two-year Early Childhood Diploma at an Ontario college with a B average, can now complete the four year Honours Bachelor’s degree with two years of full-time study with CSU. As with the existing Bachelor of Primary Education Studies already offered at CSU in Ontario, this course has both Australian and Canadian faculty offering broad experiences to these students.” The course is one of only a few available in Ontario which provide early childhood educators with full credit for their two year diploma. CSU will accept more students into this program in January 2010.

Staff and students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) successfully flew the flag at the inaugural cycling race Tour de Timor held recently in Timor Leste (East Timor). CSU student Mr Neil Van der Pleog from Mount Beauty in Victoria won the 450-kilometre race around the country. CSU students and staff also provided extensive physiotherapy services for competitors throughout the tough event. Started by President Dr Jose Ramos-Horta in the capital Dili, the five day event took cyclists through the nine regions of Timor before returning to Dili.  At the hilliest stage of the race, riders climbed to 1 850 metres. Two third year Bachelor of Physiotherapy students Mr Tom Bidstrup and Ms Rachael McLeod and physiotherapy lecturer Mr Tim Retchford from the School of Community Health at CSU at Albury-Wodonga provided physiotherapy services for the 350 competitors. Many of the riders were international participants who were attracted to Timor Leste for the gruelling US$75 000 event. “The Tour de Timor coincided with the celebration of the 10 years since East Timor's independence vote,” said Mr Retchford. “Locals lined Dili’s streets up to 10 deep to cheer the riders as they crossed the finish line.”

An artist and Charles Sturt University (CSU) student has been named as a finalist in Australia’s richest design prize. PhD student Mr Rohan Nicol from Wagga Wagga is one of 10 finalists in the prestigious Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award. With his entry, Peppered Sunlight Mr Nicol will compete for the first prize of a $30 000 grant and a trip to Milan to attend the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in April 2010. The prize is dedicated to recognising and rewarding excellence in design, improving and promoting awareness of design and improving the commercial success of talented Australians. Peppered Sunlight is a large pendant light inspired by ‘dappled light that filters through trees’. Through the School of Visual and Performing Arts at CSU at Wagga Wagga, Mr Nichol is researching a financially sustainable model of studio-based craft and design practice by engaging with the Australian manufacturing industry in regional Australia. Read more here.

A consortium led by Charles Sturt University (CSU) based in Australia, has developed the nation's first framework for early child education and care services for the Australian federal government. Sub Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, Professor Jennifer Sumsion will discuss Belonging, Being and Becoming - Early Years Learning Framework at a public lecture to be presented at 4.30pm on Wednesday 9 September at CSU’s Burlington site. “Since late 2008 and for over six months we consulted with teachers, parents and various private and government agencies on how the framework could best support the learning of young pre-school children and enhance the professional practice and status or early childhood educators,” Professor Sumsion said. Read more about the Early Years Learning Framework here.

The commercial radio course at Charles Sturt University (CSU) has propelled two recent graduates and a current student into the ranks of finalists of the 2009 Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRA). Mr Brett Van Heekeren, lecturer and course coordinator of the commercial radio course in the School of Communication at CSU at Bathurst says graduates of the commercial radio course have won at least one of these industry awards every year for the last four years. “One of this year’s finalists, Mr Nicholas Day, is a full-time first-year student in the course, and is nominated in the Best Music Director category for his work at B ROCK FM in Bathurst. For Nicholas to reach the finals is a wonderful effort,” Mr Van Heekeren said. The recent CSU graduate finalists are Mr Brendan Beale, now working at 2DAY FM in Sydney and nominated in the Best New Talent Off-Air category, and Mr Cameron Williams, who is nominated in the Best Program Director category for his work at SNOW FM in Cooma.

The National Council on Intellectual Disability (NCID) will provide further support to Charles Sturt University (CSU) to assist children with disabilities. The Council is contributing $3 000 to a special library collection. The ‘Wings Away Collection’, which is housed and managed by the Library at CSU at Albury-Wodonga, has an emphasis on developmental disabilities in young children and support for families of children with disabilities. ‘Wings Away’ is an association of former TAA, Australian Airlines and Qantas flight attendants who work together to help children with disabilities and research into the causes of their disabilities. The NCID contribution will be presented to the CSU Library in Thurgoona at 4pm on Friday 11 September.

One of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) most senior academics is among those honoured for his years of service to CSU and its predecessor institutions. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers is one of 13 staff eligible to receive 20 and 30 year service medals during a ceremony on Friday 11 September in the Convention Centre at CSU at Wagga Wagga from 12.30pm. Professor Chambers joined the Riverina College of Advanced Education (RCAE) in 1979 as an Associate Lecturer in history and politics after studies at the University of Sydney and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London.  He was appointed a Principal Lecturer at RCAE in 1987.  Following the creation of CSU in 1989, Professor Chambers was appointed Head of the School of Humanities and Social Science and in 1992 the Dean of the Faculty of Arts.  In 2002 he was appointed to his current position as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). “It has been a great privilege to be part of the development of Charles Sturt University and to work with the community of staff and students at the University,” said Professor Chambers. “I have especially appreciated being part of an organisation with a strong commitment to the values of equity in access and participation and of service to its communities.”