Taking mathematics to the real world will be the aim of a day long competition for Year 11 students from four Border high schools in Corowa on Tuesday 13 August. More than 30 Year 11 students, teachers and supporters from Corowa, Rutherglen and Denniliquin High Schools will take part in the Corowa Maths Challenge which involves two teams of four students each taking part in maths activities that include Charles Sturt University (CSU) and three local organisations: Uncle Tobys, Corowa Shire Council and Corowa Whiskey and  Chocolate. Dr Colin Carmichael from CSU’s School of Education will also attend with student teachers to help run the day. “Activities like these are valuable for the school students as it helps them see the relevance of mathematics when it is used in the workplace and the community. Similarly, the CSU education students will benefit from seeing how maths education activities can be run outside the school environment,” Dr Carmichael said. The Corowa Maths Challenge will be held in the Corowa Whiskey and Chocolate from 9.30am to 2.30pm on 13 August.

Pharmacy students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange and Wagga Wagga will meet with industry and employer groups over pizza at a state-wide videoconference on Wednesday 7 August. The annual evening “jobs hookup” will include representatives from the Society of Hospital Pharmacists Australia and Professional Pharmacists Australia, says Pharmacy program leader at CSU in Orange Dr Maree Simpson. “We run a jobs hookup with our third-year and fourth-year students each year, to help them get a sense of the options available to them after graduation, and to help establish the professional and industry connections that can kick-start their careers,” she said. “Not all pharmacists go on to work in a ‘high-street’ pharmacy. Many go into hospital pharmacist roles, or into associated careers, and rural and regional hospitals offer many opportunities in those fields. A hospital pharmacist could work in an outpatient dispensary, in intensive care, recovery, or in coronary care providing medications and conducting medication reviews. It’s a really varied and valuable job, and the jobs hookup is a great opportunity for students to ask questions of the people who are often the ones recruiting into these fields.”

Like a scene from Hitchcock’s horror movie The Birds, one minute you are strolling along and the next you are being attacked from behind by a magpie. Dr David Watson, senior lecturer in Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Environmental & Information Sciences, says to expect the magpie swooping season to begin this week or next. “The first thing to realise is they are just parents looking after their kids, they are not crazy birds with a ‘bee in their bonnet’.” He recommends avoiding the nesting trees and carrying an umbrella or wearing a wide brimmed hat. Dr Watson says the magpie problem on the University’s Albury-Wodonga Campus is caused by hand feeding which has made some of the birds so tame they wander freely into University buildings, including lecture theatres. “Hand feeding can lead to problems and eventually the bird becomes too bold for its own good. As with swooping, it can cause problems.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Professor of Applied Ecology Geoff Gurr will address one of the world’s most urgent challenges when he delivers the Poggendorff Lecture for 2013 as part of National Science Week. The biennial lecture is an initiative of the Royal Society of NSW in honour of Walter Hans George Poggendorff, the eminent Australian agriculturalist and member of the society, and covers agriculture in a broad sense. Professor Gurr, from CSU in Orange, will address the topic ‘Biodiversity and the future of agriculture’. “One of the greatest challenges the world is facing right now is how we plan to feed the estimated population of 9 billion by 2050,” he said. “Not only do we have to meet that challenge, we have to do it in the face of declining availability of good-quality land and water, and the need to preserve biodiversity to provide critical ecosystem services.” Professor Gurr will draw on his international research program to explain how biodiversity can be harnessed to provide effective pest suppression and illustrate how on-farm biodiversity can advantage growers and the wider community.

Daryl McMahon’s Rugby club history includes Charles Sturt University, the Mudgee Wombats and now the Vientiane Buffalos. The Buffalos are one of four teams in the Lao Rugby Federation. Daryl’s job, funded through Volunteer International Development of Australia, is to develop the sport throughout Laos. The CSU graduate says Rugby is taking off all over Asia, with the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) claiming 25 member countries. The national Lao team recently made their international debut competing against Brunei, Indonesia, and Cambodia in the ARFU Division 6 Tournament. He describes the local players as “fearless. In the Lao culture there is minimal physical contact, so we had to overcome that in the Rugby training. And you have to be tough off the rugby field as well, because the Lao culture involves a lot of eating and drinking the local Lao whiskey."

Regional Victorians will receive a boost in access to higher education with a new degree in animal care and veterinary nursing to be investigated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) in partnership with Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE (GOTAFE) at Wangaratta in north east Victoria. On 24 July 2013 the Victorian Minister for Higher Education and Skills, The Hon. Peter Hall, launched a $1.3 million project that will fund the scoping and development of a new qualification, a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology, intended to be offered from 2015. The course will be offered to Year 12 school leavers, applicants who have not completed Year 12 and undertake qualifications with Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, and veterinary nurses looking to upgrade their qualifications. Executive Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Science, Professor Tim Wess, said the project would involve a two stage process of scoping and then development in consultation with the veterinary industry to ensure graduates are highly skilled professionals that fill industry requirements. “This proposed new course builds on our established reputation in veterinary and animal sciences, further expands our course offerings, and enhances pathways for regional students” Professor Wess said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre media  students at the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst have collaborated with Bathurst Arts Theatrical Society (BATS) to produce the hilarious Five Woman Wearing the Same Dress. Set at a wedding, Five Woman Wearing the Same Dress is a comedy about five bridesmaids who, in spite of their differences, discover that they have more in common with each other than the bride. Co-director Ms Clare Hennessy said, “This comedy follows a group of women who have been brought together to form a disjointed bridal party. The play takes place in the bedroom of the bride’s sister as the bridesmaids each escape the overdone bridal reception. They banter behind the bride’s back about the horrid dresses they are forced to wear as they each share twisted tales of treachery. The show is equal parts hilarious, irreverent and disarmingly heartfelt - a saucy affair. Don’t miss it.” Five Woman Wearing the Same Dress will be performed nightly at 7pm from Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 July as a double bill with the BATS production of Slut. Enjoy a night of comedy, two shows for the price of one – tickets $5 available at the door of the Ponton Theatre (building N3) at CSU, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst.

A key Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher has been returned to the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s (GDRC) Southern Regional Panel for the next two years. Associate Professor of Food Science Chris Blanchard from the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga is the Deputy Chair of the Panel. The CSU academic is one of 11 members appointed until 2015. The Regional Panels link the Corporation with growers, researchers, scientists, agribusiness and grower groups. Southern Regional Panel Chair, Mr Keith Pengilley, described the Panels as, “very important in ensuring grower concerns, ideas and priorities are fed into GRDC”. Associate Professor Blanchard is also a member of the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation - an alliance between CSU and NSW DPI.

Psychologist, social researcher and novelist Mr Hugh Mackay has spent his working life asking Australians about their values, motivations, ambitions, hopes and fears. He’ll share his thoughts about ‘What makes a life worth living?’ in a free Charles Sturt University (CSU) Explorations public lecture in Wagga Wagga from 6pm on Wednesday 31 July. “The good life is not the sum of our security, wealth, and levels of happiness,” said Mr Mackay. “It is one defined by our capacity for selflessness, the quality of our relationships, and our willingness to connect with others in a useful way.” In the public lecture, Mr Mackay will explore our pursuit of pleasure, our attempts to perfect ourselves and our children, and our conviction that we can have our lives under control. The public lecture is booked out.