Outstanding Australian and international animated films will be on show this weekend as the sixth Australian International Animation Festival returns to Wagga Wagga. Over 120 animated films, selected from 2 000 world-wide, will feature during the three day festival. There will be sessions for for children, teenagers, international animation and a late night ‘bizarre’ screening Festival organiser and Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Mr Andrew Hagan describes the 2009 program as ‘awe inspiring and unforgettable’. “All of the films selected are exceptional; many have won international awards, some are the most hotly talked about in the global film circuit, and importantly each program is of international standard selected by expert curators.” A feature of the festival is the special children’s program of short animation films which have been carefully selected for appropriateness and entertainment value to appeal to children. “There’ll be premier international screenings and informative seminars, and a surprise screening or two to celebrate this very special art form,” said Mr Hagan.

Outstanding Australian alternative rock outfit Faker will be at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Thurgoona site on Friday 15 May in what has been billed as the biggest concert for Albury in 2009. CSU catering manager in Albury-Wodonga, Mr Tom Hogan said it is hoped the band will attract young people from all over Albury-Wodonga and surrounding districts to the campus off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive for the show, which also includes local Albury band Free Spirits. The support group, which includes students for CSU, will play a lunchtime gig outside the new Learning Commons building on the Thurgoona site at 12noon on Tuesday 12 May, in prepartion for the Faker concert.

The international response to the outbreak of the new virus known as influenza A (H1N1), formerly known as swine flu, reveals the tremendous advances that have been made in monitoring and diagnosis of these new strains of influenza in recent years. “It is very encouraging to see the co-ordinated response to the outbreak by the World Health Organisation and countries around the world, including Australia, to prevent the influenza A (H1N1) becoming a pandemic,” said Dr Heather Cavanagh, a specialist in infectious disease and senior lecturer with the School of Biomedical Sciences at Wagga Wagga. Dr Cavanagh noted that “until we know the exact number of people who have been infected we are unable to determine the exact risk of fatality.  People should not panic at the publicity over this outbreak but should use common sense in avoiding areas where there have been confirmed cases, practice high hygiene standards such as hand-washing and see medical attention if flu-like symptoms persist or appear particularly severe.  This virus is currently responding well to anti-viral drugs, however, there is a need to catch it in time to prevent fatalities.”   Dr Cavanagh says there is nothing unusual in influenza viruses crossing species. “But the concern with this outbreak is due to the unusual combination of species susceptible to it, the fact that it can be passed directly from person-to-person and the potential ability of the virus to further mutate as it passes around the world,”  said Dr Cavanagh.

An excess of supply, extreme weather patterns and increased international competition are some of the current challenges for the Australian wine industry. Professor Emeritus Robert White from the University of Melbourne will examine options that can help growers meet business opportunities facing the wine industry in a seminar on Wednesday 29 April at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) in Wagga Wagga. Professor White will explore what actions can be taken in the vineyard, with a focus on soil and water management. He is an internationally respected soil scientist with a keen interest in viticulture and the wine industry. The Australian launch of Professor White’s latest book Understanding Vineyard Soils, published by Oxford University Press, will follow the seminar. The NWGIC combines research, extension, education and training for the wine industry and is an alliance of CSU, NSW Department of Primary Industries and NSW Wine Industry Association.

Students from Melrose Primary School in Wodonga will be supplied with digital cameras on Wednesday 29 April in the name of becoming better citizens. As part of a collaborative project between Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Murray School of Education, Wodonga City Council, and Wodonga’s early childhood services and primary and high schools, the students will be ferried by bus to iconic sites such as the Wodonga Water Tower, Sumsion Gardens, Felltimber Reserve and Willow Park Skate Bowl to develop a photo display using their own photos to describe what they would like to see Wodonga become. “The list of sites was agreed on by the Year 5 and 6 students, who will take photos of what they think is important in these places,” said CSU education professor and project coordinator, Sue Dockett. “These images will then be used by the children to describe what it is it they value about Wodonga, as well as what they would like to see happen in Wodonga to make it a better place in which to live.”

The Bathurst Alumni Common will be dedicated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) Council on Saturday 18 April as part of the University’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The establishment of the Bathurst Alumni Common, which is bounded by Allen House, the Ponton Theatre, Cunningham House and the Heffron Building, aims to honour the student and staff alumni of the Bathurst Experimental Farm (BEF), Bathurst Teachers College (BTC), Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE) and Charles Sturt University (CSU). The Deputy Chancellor of CSU, Ms Kathryn Pitkin, will preside at the unveiling and proclamation which will also include the official unveiling of the Bathurst Teachers College Commemorative Water Feature, a tree planting in memory of Lionel J Allen, and a tree planting to mark the 25th anniversary of the naming of the Ponton Theatre. Mrs Margaret Allen and family will plant the Lionel J Allen tree, and Ms Sarah Ponton, the daughter of Mr Frank Ponton for whom the Theatre is named, and Mr Bill Blaikie, a former lecturer in drama at the CSU School of Communication, will plant the Ponton Theatre tree.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) graduation season in Wagga Wagga will kick off with the annual Town and Gown Academic Procession along the city’s main street on Tuesday 31 March. In a spectacle of colour and movement featuring academic regalia, the parade involves CSU graduating students, academic and general staff of CSU, TAFE NSW Riverina Institute and the University of NSW Rural Clinical School, and Wagga Wagga City Councillors. Wiradjuri Elder Mrs Isobel Reid will lead the procession. Mrs Reid will be accompanied by her 11 year old grand-daughter Madison Fisher, who will carry the CSU Message Stick for her grandmother.  They will be followed by the Esquire Bedell, Dr Henry Gardiner, carrying the University Mace, the CSU Chancellor Mr Lawrie Willett, AO, and Wagga Wagga Mayor Councillor Kerry Pascoe. The Riverina Concert Band will escort the procession which commences at 4pm at the corner of Morgan and Baylis Streets and ends outside the Civic Theatre. The CSU Chancellor and the Mayor will host a reception from 4.30pm. Over 2 000 students will graduate from CSU during six ceremonies in Wagga Wagga from Wednesday 1 April to Friday 3 April.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) student who has made a ‘tangible difference’ to the delivery of community and health services in rural and remote communities has received the Lila Kirilik Social Action Prize. Ms Lee-Anne Drewery will be presented with the annual social justice award when she receives her Bachelor of Social Work from CSU in Wagga Wagga on Thursday 2 April. Now employed as the Community Projects Officer for the Central Darling Shire Council in Wilcannia, Ms Drewery was selected by staff from the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences for her work while on placement at the council in 2008. “Lee-Anne completed a service mapping project of the towns of Wilcannia, Menindee and Ivanhoe with the hope of improving service delivery to this very disadvantaged region,” said CSU lecturer Dr Juliane Allan.  The Lila Kirilik Social Action Prize was established in 2004 in honour of the late Ms Lila Kirilik, senior lecturer in Social Welfare at CSU.

Art works developed by Charles Sturt University (CSU) education students will be unveiled on Monday 16 March in a new exhibition aimed at highlighting progress in the teaching of Aboriginal history in the classroom. “The exhibition’s evocative images illustrate Australian history recognising colonisation and its impacts on Indigenous people as well as their responses and the great struggle for justice,” said senior education lecturer, Dr Mary O’Dowd. Describing the art as confronting and moving, Head of the School of Education  at Wagga Wagga, Associate Professor Roslin Brennan-Kemmis said, “the exhibition reflects where the Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures interact and where we feel discomfort. It is not easy to face the grief of the Stolen Generations and the role of all Australians in this tragedy.” “The song and imagery in the exhibition unite the two cultures and our shared futures,” said Mr John Muk Muk Burke, a Wiradjuri man and CSU Learning Skills Adviser. During the opening, a six year old non-Indigenous girl will share her knowledge of Aboriginal culture with four Wiradjuri Elders. The Elders will also hear from the Bachelor of Education (Primary) students on what they hope to achieve in the classroom for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. During the opening of the exhibition Aboriginal History: Owning the Past, the University choir will sing Hallleluia as images of Aboriginal history are flashed onto a white wall.