Charles Sturt University (CSU) is making up to $150 000 available for staff and student projects to help the University reduce its environmental footprint. Sustainability Grants are awarded by CSU Green annually as part of  the University’s commitment to reduce energy and water use, increase biodiversity, cut solid waste, and support research into sustainability. An extra $50 000 is being made available this year for one large project to help the University reach its sustainability goals. Co-ordinator of Partnerships with CSU Green, Ms Nicola Smith, said the program aims to educate and promote cultural change. “Applications for the grants have increased each year with more exciting and engaging projects,” she said. “It has increased the knowledge of environmental and social sustainability issues as well as providing an outlet for staff and students to develop social and professional networks.” Past projects include a student and community-run produce garden, a sustainable film festival and a project to increase good waste management practises within student residences. Applications are open until 5pm on Friday 28 June.

A new physical theatre production by Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media students will tour secondary schools in central west NSW from Tuesday 11 to Friday 14 June. The production, titled Outta Touch, was devised as part of the second-year subject Drama and Theatre for Young People, and involves movement, comedy, body percussion and acrobatics. Outta Touch is directed by Mr Dan Aubin, lecturer in theatre/media at the CSU the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, and Mr Adam Deusien. Mr Aubin said, “The cast has been working to devise a show from scratch exploring the questions: Have we become too distant? What would happen if we could not touch? How far will our safety culture go, and what does this mean for connecting to other people?” The production will visit four schools - The Scots School, Bathurst; Canowindra High School; La Salle Academy, Lithgow; and Wellington High School. Find out more about Outta Touch here.

A visiting Australian education expert will deliver a public lecture in Bathurst and workshops for education staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) next week. Professor Bronwyn Davies, an independent scholar and professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, will address the topic, ‘The Fairy Who Wouldn’t Fly’ revisited: Playing with and against the forces of normalisation: feminist narratives and lines of flight, on Thursday 13 June. Host of the visit, Professor Tara Brabazon, Head of the School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said, “The distinctive features of Professor Davies’ work are her development of innovative social science research methodologies. Her research explores how social worlds are constituted. She is best known for her work on gender, for her development of the methodology of collective biography, and her writing on feminism and poststructuralist theory.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) courses, offered through its partnership with Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE (GOTAFE) and the National Centre for Dairy Education Australia (NCDEA), will be on show at Wangaratta on Tuesday 11 June. CSU’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (International Education and Partnerships), Professor Heather Cavanagh, will host a wine and cheese evening at the campus to talk about CSU’s aspirations and plans for Wangaratta. GOTAFE CEO Mr Paul Culpan will also attend. This is the first in a series of regional community and industry functions to discuss current and proposed CSU courses on offer, and the design of the new CSU building in Wangaratta, with local representatives.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) veterinary science student has won the $12 000 Greenham Dairy Scholarship for 2013. Ms Katherine Lang, from the Victorian town of Tatura, is in her fifth year of a Bachelor of Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga. The Greenham Dairy Scholarship was established by HW Greenham and Sons Pty Ltd in 2000 to ‘encourage young people to make a commitment to the improvement of the dairy industry through education’. CSU students won the Greenham Dairy Scholarship in 2009, 2010 and 2012. Ms Lang said, “I have a strong interest in the future of the dairy industry in Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in regional Victoria and I plan to work as a veterinary scientist in the dairy industry.” Ms Lang will use the scholarship to fund a four-week work placement from late October at the University of California (UC) Davis in the USA. She will be based in UC’s Dairy Teaching and Research Facility which includes a milking herd of 100 cows.

To mark Adult Learners’ Week in September, Charles Sturt University (CSU) is recruiting for CSU Connect, a free bridging program that fast-tracks distance education students into undergraduate degree courses. Danielle Ranshaw, the StudyLink Program Coordinator at CSU Bathurst says CSU Connect came out of research into rural participation and attrition rates at university. “The idea is to get more people from the regions into the University and also adequately prepare students for study. CSU Connect takes people from a basic level to a fairly advanced level quite quickly.” Lisa Marr is one of the potential students who enrolled in the first CSU Connect program last year. “I saw a poster on a noticeboard in Mudgee. I wanted to go to university, but it has been a while since I left school. I know that if I had a degree, I might get the job I want and fulfil my life a bit more. I feel like I can meet the standard of university study now, that I can complete it and do very well at it.”

Eighty-three Charles Sturt University (CSU) Foundation scholarships and prizes will be presented to students from all four faculties at the University in Bathurst on Friday 31 May. The total value of scholarships and prizes awarded at ceremonies on various campuses of the University is more than $955 000. The acting Head of Campus at CSU in Bathurst, Dr PK Basu, said, “We look forward to welcoming the generous donors and the hard-working students selected to receive the 2013 scholarships and prizes. All these students have demonstrated outstanding personal qualities combined with strong academic results or financial need in order to be chosen as recipients. I congratulate them and wish them well for their continuing studies and future careers.” A brunch for scholarship donors and recipients will be held in the James Hardie Room at the Centre for Professional Development (CPD) (building S17) at 9.15am. The official presentation ceremony starts at 10.30am in the large lecture theatre (room 2.23) in building S15, followed by lunch/refreshments from 12.30pm in the foyer of S15.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night opens at the Ponton Theatre at CSU in Bathurst on Tuesday 28 May and runs until Saturday 1 June. Described as ‘a whimsical comedy’, this modern interpretation is given the full title, Twelfth Night, As Performed By The Illyria Women's Prison Laundry Detail. Mr Ray Harding, theatre/media lecturer at the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, and co-director of the production, says he has entertained the idea of ‘prison inmates’ performing Shakespeare for many years. “The inmates in this instance are, of course, very talented third-year theatre/media students, but the idea and interpretation resonates with the first US production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot which was set in a prison,” he said. Student co-director Ms Fiona Spitzkowsky said, “The complexity of the language combined with the prison-based creative brief provided by Ray has allowed us all to challenge ourselves and eventually produce an exciting, engaging and surprisingly funny Shakespearean performance, with a little modernity for good measure.”

A group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will gain an insight into business and information technology in Asia during a visit to Malaysia in July. The nine students from CSU’s Faculty of Business will visit HELP University and discuss trade with representatives from the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. Other highlights will include a round-table discussion about strategic marketing with low-cost airline Air Asia, and tours of the Seagate hard disk factory in Penang, and the largest cloud computing data centre in South-East Asia. Tour leader, Mr Anthony Chan, a lecturer with CSU’s School of Computing and Mathematics said, “The tour will give students the opportunity to interact with political and business leaders to get a better understanding of the trade, education and employment opportunities”. The trip is supported by CSU Global, a University initiative to give students the opportunity to experience the world through a broad range of international study experiences.