One of the world’s leading veterinary pathologists will talk about some of his most memorable cases at a public lecture at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Monday 13 February. The CSU School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences is hosting Dr Claus Buergelt from the University of Florida in the United States. Dr Buergelt will deliver the inaugural presentation in the ‘Serendipitous Seminar Series’ which is jointly arranged between the School and the Riverina Veterinary Association. In his talk, Dr Buergelt will touch on areas of both veterinary and human interest, including avoiding ambush by bandits while investigating cattle deaths in a Guatemalan feedlot. Dr Buergelt will also visit CSU’s modern teaching and research facilities, including the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. CSU’s Professor Peter Chenoweth said it’s an opportunity for veterinarians, students, staff and interested members of the public to attend an entertaining session by a world-renowned scientist.

Vice-Chancellor Ian Goulter last week announced the academic promotions round for 2006. Professor Goulter singled out Associate Professor Geoffrey Gurr from the School of Rural Management and Dr Lexin Wang from the School of Biomedical Sciences who have both been promoted to Professor Level E. “I congratulate these academic staff members on their achievements and contribution to the success of Charles Sturt University,” he said. CSU researcher and academic cardiologist Dr Wang is also an Honorary Professor of Cardiology at Taishan Medical College in China. “I’m really pleased, but there are more challenges ahead. We are still conducting a number of very high-profile studies on heart disease and my research group has had some major impact in the field of cardiovascular medicine. At CSU we are running a very strong pharmacology discipline which has been expanded quite substantially in the last eight years or so, and I think that is another major achievement.”

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.

The stories of two Labor icons are currently playing on Sydney stages: Keating! The Musical at Belvior Street, and A Local Man, the Ben Chifley one-man show at the Ensemble in Kirribilli. Co-written by historian and CSU adjunct senior lecturer Dr Rob McLachlan with Bob Ellis, A Local Man is described by the Ensemble as “a poignant portrayal of a flawed hero”. Tony Barry is reprising the role he played in the original Bathurst CSU production in 2004, which was directed by Bill Blaikie. Dr McLachlan says this new production is a “bonus all around. The Ensemble is one of the hallmark theatres in Sydney for Australian drama. It has a very sympathetic artistic director, Sandra Bates, and there is an impressive CSU ex-theatre media presence there”. A 2007 tour of Canberra and regional NSW and Victoria will be produced by Jennifer Barry, a CSU theatre media graduate.

CSU is holding a Change of Preference Information Day in Sydney on 3 and 4 January 2007. Market Development Manager Cheryl Howell said the information session is mainly aimed at Sydney school leavers.“It doesn’t have to be a traumatic time. We will have Prospective Student Advisors (PSA) there to talk to them about their options. For students at or near CSU Campus towns we have open day every day, so if they want to come and talk to PSAs at any time they can do that.” CSU’s Contact Centre is extending its opening hours from 8.30am through to 5.30pm for the whole of January. January 4 2007 is the last day for NSW university applicants to change their course preferences for the main round of offers due out later that month.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will welcome approximately 150 new students on Sunday 19 February when they arrive to register for on campus accommodation before the start of Orientation Week (‘O Week’) on Monday. They will join about 300 continuing students for the start of session one of the new academic year a week later on Monday 27 February. Dr Heather Robinson, the Head of Campus at CSU in Orange, said, “Orientation Week is always an exciting time, and we look forward to welcoming new students and the many parents who will visit on registration day. It is important to make the students’ tranistion to university life as smooth as possible, and all our staff are focused on this goal.” The students will register for their on campus accommodation between 12noon to 4pm on Sunday 19 at the Templers Mill Bar on campus. An accommodation information session for students and parents is scheduled at 4.30pm, to be followed by a barbeque. The University expects about 3 000 new domestic students and 260 new international students on its NSW campuses for its first intake this year, and a further 5 000 new domestic distance education students.

Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga Campus will host Australia’s first International Millinery Forum early next year. Co-ordinator Linda Tillman said the response so far has been overwhelming. “I already have over 100 registrations from every state in Australia, as well as New Zealand, America, London, Scotland, and today I received an email from Spain.” The five day event includes a series of seminars, hands-on workshops and a trade expo. “The people who are registering are so passionate about hat making. They can come and learn new things and share their different tricks of the trade.” Milliners who will showcase their techniques include Germany’s Constance Willems, Austria’s Christine Rohr-Bernard, and Eia Radosavljevic and Jan Wutkowski from the USA. “Australia’s millinery community has never seen an event like this before,” said Ms Tillman.

Three Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics are on the 2010-11 judging panel for the prestigious Australian poetry prize, the Mary Gilmore Award, presented by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) for the best first book of poetry published by an Australian in the preceding two years. The academics include panel chair Mr David Gilbey, an adjunct senior lecturer in English at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Mark Macleod, senior lecturer in English; and Director of Booranga Writers’ Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Dr Derek Motion. Mr Gilbey said, “Poets from all over Australia were represented in this year’s Award and the preoccupations and styles showed the variousness, intensity and virtuosity of the current Australian ‘new’ poetry scenes: metropolitan/rural/coastal; professional/political/personal; formal/free; lyrical/surreal; and in size, from chapter books to full 100-plus page collections.” Six poets have been named on the short list from the 27 titles submitted by publishers. The winner of the Mary Gilmore Award for 2010-11 will be announced at the Association’s annual conference in New Zealand in July. This event draws together many of the people who organise the study of Australian poetry at universities, plus other writers, teachers, postgraduate students and librarians. The winning poet will have opportunities to meet many of these people during the conference.

As new students settle in to life on campus, St Martin’s College is celebrating 20 years of ministry to young people studying at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. The College is a joint ministry of the Anglican Dioceses of Riverina, and Canberra and Goulburn, offering self-catered residential accommodation to CSU students in Wagga Wagga. The milestone was marked by a weekend of celebrations on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 February which included tours, an anniversary dinner, a book launch, and a service of worship in the newly-renovated College Chapel. The new Garden of Reflection for the chapel was also blessed and dedicated by Bishop Doug Stevens from the Diocese of the Riverina. The garden features olive hedges, a pool of reflection, a waterfall, outdoor seating and an altar. The Head of St Martin’s College, the Reverend Jenny Willsher, hopes the garden will benefit staff and students. “This is a sacred space people can bring their stress, sadness, sorrows, and challenges, as well as their joys and celebrations, and find themselves renewed and refreshed.”