With climate change and carbon trading high on the national agenda, Border organisation will look at the opportunities for local farmers and land mangers to take advantage of the proposed carbon trading system. Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS), in collaboration with Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum, will host a forum on Wednesday 17 September to discuss carbon trading and its implications for rural businesses and wider communities, including the genuine and ‘other’ entrepreneurs who are expected to offer environmental services to them. The panel of carbon trading and environmental experts will include Martijn Wilder, head of Baker & McKenzie's global change and emissions trading practice, and Professor Max Finlayson, ILWS director and internationally recognised wetland ecologist and advisor to the Australian Prime Minister on carbon trading, as well as Professors Mark Morrison and Allan Curtis from ILWS. Other partners in the event are the Victorian North East Catchment Management Authority, the Victorian Department of Primary Industries and Plantations North East.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has signed on as a sponsor of the 2012 Newton’s Nation gravity sport festival at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 April after its students gained valuable work experience at previous Newton’s events. Ms Cheryl Howell, manager of market development in the CSU Division of Marketing, said, “Newton’s Nation provides a supervised, safe environment for young people to have fun and compete at an elite level. As part of our commitment to regional communities, Charles Sturt University saw an opportunity to support an event for young people that also features national and international competitors. Part of the sponsorship includes the opportunity for a number of our public relations, communications and marketing students to gain practical experience working with the organisers in the lead up to and during the event.”   In addition, Mr Pat Sproule, lecturer in TV production  and Associate Head of the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries in Wagga Wagga, is taking CSU’s outside broadcast (OB) van , three staff and 15 students to Newton’s Nation to video the various skateboard, street luge and other downhill wheeled competitions, as well as the BMX bike events and bands that are performing over the weekend. “This is an excellent opportunity for our TV production students because it’s technically more advanced than other outside broadcasts we’ve done,” Mr Sproule said. “We are required to film approximately 1.5 kilometres of track and need specialised technical assistance to enable us to live-stream footage to a large screen for spectators at the top of the Mount as well as to YouTube and iiNet channels. The footage will also be used by other ‘extreme sports’ TV shows.”

Embers - the first exhibition by graduating students from the new fine art degree offered jointly by Charles Sturt University (CSU) and TAFE NSW Riverina Institute - opens in Wagga Wagga this evening Tuesday 28 November. “This is a great opportunity for the public to see a large number of works by students specialising in painting and drawing,” said Head Teacher, Arts and Design School, TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, Steve Williams. “The drawings and paintings explore a diversity of themes and media. Teachers Denis O’Connor and Errol Fielder have pushed the students to interrogate and question themselves and their environment.” The exhibition will be opened by CSU’s Head of the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Associate Professor Andrew Keen, tonight at 6pm.

A visiting US astronomer will ask, “what if Galileo was alive today?”, when he delivers a free public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Wednesday 11 July. Host of the visit and lecture, Associate Professor David McKinnon from the CSU School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said Professor Timothy Slater, a NASA-award winning educator from the University of Wyoming, will present a public lecture titled Galileo’s new universe of astronomy. Professor McKinnon said, “Professor Slater will present an entertaining talk in which he will suggest topics that Galileo, if he lived today, would most want his students to diligently observe and passionately study. Nearly 400 years ago, the Italian scientist Galileo profoundly changed Western civilisation’s worldview by pointing the newly-invented telescope to the night sky. What he saw - unexpected observations of mysterious moons, deep craters, and countless unknown stars - still motivates today’s astronomers to look deeper and deeper into our expanding cosmos.” The free public lecture starts at 5.30pm on Wednesday 11 July in room 205 in building S15, CSU in Bathurst.

Wine industry and media representatives have been invited to a special preview of the new Charles Sturt University (CSU) Cellar Door in Orange on Friday 13 July. Mr Justin Byrne, marketing manager at the CSU Winery, said, “The new Cellar Door gives Charles Sturt Wines a presence in the Orange wine region. Guests can sample some pre-release wines including the 2012 ‘R’ Riesling, the first from the University’s vineyard in Orange, and our new Cellar Reserve Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay. They can also speak with members of the CSU Winery team including winemaker Mr Andrew Drumm, viticulturist Mr Geoff Cook, and sales coordinator Ms Narrelle Ingold.” CSU wines have won numerous awards since the CSU Winery was established in Wagga Wagga in 1977, and the CSU School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences is a leading provider of wine making and viticulture education in Australia. The CSU Cellar Door in Orange will be officially opened at a ceremony at the end of July.

The 25th Western District National Photographic Exhibition opens at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo on Thursday 12 July with a display of 100 images by photographers from around Australia. The Head of Campus at CSU in Dubbo, Dr Beverley Moriarty said, “Charles Sturt University is delighted to again host this vibrant national exhibition approved by the Australian Photographic Society”. The exhibition is coordinated by Dubbo’s Mrs Lorna White from the Western Districts National Committee. “This is one of 17 approved national exhibitions held around Australia each year, open to all photographers in Australia who choose to compete to be exhibited,” Ms White said. “There are images from most states in Australia in five categories; Colour, Monochrome, Nature, People, and Photojournalism. Photographs in each category are assessed by three judges, and the selected images are exhibited with first, second and merits awarded. Some local photographers with works on display include Geoff Wheeler, Brian White, and Margaret Pollard.”

Four Charles Sturt University (CSU) teacher education students received Awards for Outstanding Professional Practice in 2011 at a special ceremony at the Faculty of Education in Bathurst on Monday 9 July. Each student completed their professional experience at small public schools in Central West NSW. Professor Jo-Anne Reid, the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, presented the certificates to Ms Rebecca Clark (Meadow Flat Public School), Ms Erin Scouller (Sofala Public School), Ms Jessica Goodacre (Neville Public School), and Mr James Deehan (Wattle Flat Public School), in front of their peers at an orientation session for final-year Bachelor of Education (Primary) students in the School of Teacher Education before they commenced their final professional experience placement as students. “These students have demonstrated outstanding competencies during their professional experience placements in 2011, and the Faculty rightly acknowledges and applauds their achievements,” Professor Reid said.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Regional and Remote Learning Support Team will visit towns around NSW starting on Tuesday 10 July to provide advice and assistance to its new and continuing distance education students. The CSU Regional and Remote Learning Support Team will visit Broken Hill, Parkes, Griffith, Mudgee, Narrabri, Coffs Harbour, Moree, Bega, Bourke, and Cooma. Team manager, Mr James Brann, said, “This is the third study support tour in 2012 to enhance the University’s distance education students’ experience of their courses and their prospects for successful completion. The Regional and Remote Learning Support program provides students who may never visit their campus with access to support and information that students studying on campus may take for granted. The sessions provide group presentations as well as the opportunity for students to make individual face-to-face appointments with staff for support with their studies.”

Carers of people with a mental illness are the focus of a new research project by a psychology student at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) Honours student Mr Gerald Haslinger is seeking participants in a confidential survey which aims to find out more about the experience of unpaid carers and mental health service providers in caring for someone with a mental illness. “I am interested in hearing from unpaid carers and service providers, and what they understand about the Recovery approach to caring for someone living with a mental illness, an approach that is widely accepted within the mental health sector.  My study seeks to find out the level of awareness of this approach amongst mental health service providers as well as unpaid carers.” Mr Haslinger, an education and training officer with a non-government agency in Sydney, has extended the survey until Friday 13 July.  He is completing his degree by distance education through the School of Psychology at CSU in Wagga Wagga. For further details about the survey, contact Mr Haslinger on his email  or take the survey here.