Studying for a career in social work in the Riverina is a lot easier thanks to a new agreement that comes into force from Tuesday 1 September. A state-wide agreement between TAFE NSW and Charles Sturt University (CSU) will enable local people interested in a career in social welfare to more easily articulate from TAFE to university studies. The agreement provides Riverina students with a seamless progression between a range of Diploma of Community Services courses at TAFE NSW Riverina Institute and the Bachelor of Social Science (Social Welfare) at CSU. Charles Sturt University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Goulter said, “I welcome this example of Charles Sturt University working more closely with the TAFE sector as an important step in helping increase opportunities for higher education, particularly for people who live in rural and regional Australia. Riverina Institute’s relieving Director Ms Joy Stocker says the agreement is a very positive step toward addressing shortages of qualified community services staff in rural NSW.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is proud to reveal its latest buildings at Orange. More than a library, the new Learning Commons at CSU at Orange is a student-centred space equipped with a range of learning and social areas. The new facility caters for a range of study options from group study pods through to quiet individual study areas.  A mix of computing and multimedia equipment supports group and individual learning.  As well as the new Learning Commons at CSU at Orange, a brand new lecture theatre featuring video conferencing facilities has been built. New student accommodation is currently under construction as the University prepares for more students at Orange in 2010.  

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic is taking her wide knowledge of the management of invasive weeds to an audience of government and business representatives, academics and volunteers. Professor Leslie Weston is the keynote speaker at the NSW Weeds Conference 2009 on Tuesday 15 September in Narrabri, NSW. Professor Weston will earlier outline her research into the management of invasive weeds and development of natural plant products as pesticides, fungicides, herbicides or insecticides at a seminar at the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 3 September. The EH Graham Centre is a collaborative alliance between CSU and the NSW Department of Industry and Investment. ‘Factors involved in the establishment of invasive weed species - is allelopathy involved?’ is the topic of her seminar at the EH Graham Centre. Professor Weston joined CSU in 2008 as the Strategic Research Professor of Plant Biology.  She is based at the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga.  

When 19 Year Five primary school students and their teachers from St Laurence’s Catholic School at Dubbo made a three-hour excursion to Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Dubbo on Friday 28 August, they did scientific observations that provided practical insights into the work of scientists in the field and in the laboratory. Dr Patricia Logan, a lecturer with the School of Biomedical Science at CSU says the University is committed to nurturing the region’s future young scientists through its support of the CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program. “The CSIRO program is a system that pairs schools with an institutional scientist, such as university science lecturers like me, so that schools and school children can gain access to working scientists,” Dr Logan said. “The children collected water and plant samples from the reserve area below the campus and brought them back to the laboratory where they had a chance to look at their samples under the microscopes. They also had the opportunity to look closely at some plant, shell and coral fossils, as well as a trilobite from the Forbes area.”  

In the 1950s, artists and designer Ann Gillmore Rees moved with her husband from London to Woorooma West station at Moulamein in the Riverina. Her career as a designer and teacher began in England in the 1920s and concluded in rural Australia in the 1970s. Despite living in the bush from 1939, Rees continued her professional pursuits and contributed to the cultural life of Australia in many ways. A public lecture in Deniliquin by Dr Sue Wood from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga will follow Rees’ life and work, focussing particularly on her life in Australia. It will also explore some of the research strategies used in reconstructing her story and reflect on the importance of local museums and family history groups in preserving Australia’s cultural history. The lecture, ‘London to the Bush - The Life and Work of Ann Gillmore Rees’ will be held on Wednesday 2 September from 6pm in the Deniliquin Council Chambers, Civic Place, Deniliquin. Dr Wood is a practising visual artist who has exhibited in Australia and overseas. Read more here.

Final year podiatry students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) are preparing to enter the workforce as they near completion of their four year course on the Albury-Wodonga Campus, ready to become independent practitioners. By the time they finish their studies in three months, the students will have done over 1 000 hours of clinical practice in addition to theory work. The clinical education has taken place at the CSU Allied Health Clinic in Albury, and in professional placements in regional, rural and metropolitan areas. “This experience helps us manage the patients better,” said Honours student Ms Kate Carroll, who received a number of job offers from prestigious clinics before recently accepting a graduate position with Hunter New England Health in regional NSW. Ms Carroll said the course was certainly demanding but, “when you see yourself on placement, compared to students from other universities, you know you are competent. Our supervisors loved having students from CSU, because we have such a good name. They knew they could put us in a room with a patient and we could manage that patient’s entire treatment”. Kate has had experience in Caulfield (Vic), Newcastle and Canberra over the past four years, winning a CSU scholarship which helped with her placement costs.

In a world saturated with advertising and media using sex to sell, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has warned of the long-term risks for children. Dr Emma Rush, Associate Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences says companies are increasingly marketing their products to children to capture the children’s allegiance to their brands. However she says some products, like padded bras for eight-year-old girls, are completely inappropriate.”Big companies make products to make money, but the clothing, magazines, toys and games are becoming increasingly sexualised,” said Dr Rush. The CSU academic is a contributing author to a new book, Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls. The book deals with the sexualisation and objectification of girls and women in the media, popular culture and society. “Experts are seeing psychological damage in younger and younger children and a rise in behaviours such as low self-esteem, depression, self-harms and eating disorders. The children should be out in the world having fun. They should be constructing themselves, rather than squashing into a narrow stereotype,” said Dr Rush. “As adults we have responsibilities for children’s health and development. It is wrong to think of premature sexualisation as simply a matter of taste; the fact is that it has risks for children.”

A new book by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic explores the need for and path towards successful community development in both developed and developing countries in the Asia Pacific region. Community Development in Asia and the Pacific by Associate Professor Manohar Pawar, from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wagga Wagga, delves into the challenges and impediments for successful community development programs. "Both developed and developing countries have been re-emphasising the importance of community development but really need to address issues such as entrenched community power structures, unstable political systems and authoritarian leadership styles which play a big part in obstructing community development," Associate Professor Pawar said. ”The four key principles needed to put development into practice include respect for human rights, self reliance, self determination and participation,” he said. "This book examines the latest community trends in the Asia Pacific region. It makes a case for adopting values- and principles-based practice; for altering current leadership styles and developing new leaders; for retaining diversity and learning from it; for practicing what is preached; and for having a local level comprehensive social development perspective.”

A new facility to further research into the experiences that people have with new computer technologies will be unveiled at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 26 August. The new laboratory in the University library aims to allow researchers to ensure that the needs and practices of computer users are reflected in future software applications and information technologies. The equipment in the new Digital Library Usability Laboratory includes three high-end desktop PCs running on Windows XP, equipped with microphones, headset and Webcam; Morae (version 3) software which allows software and website usability testing for market research; two rooms to accommodate researcher and research participants; and a one-way mirror between rooms to facilitate observation.