Charles Sturt University (CSU) students have claimed four of the 10 positions in the Australian training squad selected from a national meat judging competition held last weekend in Wagga Wagga. The competition was part of the National Intercollegiate Meat Judging (ICMJ) workshop hosted by CSU last week. CSU’s 25-member meat judging team won third place overall, narrowly beaten by teams from Melbourne and Murdoch universities. The CSU team also picked up numerous team and individual awards. The overall runner-up prize was awarded to CSU’s Mr Haydn McKay while the Tom Carr Award for coaching excellence was won by Ms Katelyn Braine. Four CSU students, Ms Gabrielle Knight, Mr Issac Allen, Ms Jordan Hoban and Ms Vanessa Campbell, have been selected to attend an intensive Meat and Livestock Australia training course and may be selected in the Australian team to compete in the USA in 2013. CSU Professor of Animal Production, Peter Wynn said the team trained long hours, often starting at the abattoir at 6am. “The success in this competition certainly shows Charles Sturt University’s target of providing more innovative young graduates to service the needs of our meat industries is well and truly on track,” he said. “The generous support and sponsorship from Teys Australia, Junee Abattoir and Knight’s Meats is appreciated.”

Eight Charles Sturt University (CSU) students from rural NSW communities will be presented with Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of NSW Foundation scholarships at a celebratory presentation at Duntryleague Orange Golf Club on Thursday 12 July. The Head of Campus at CSU in Orange and the Associate Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences, Dr Heather Robinson, said, “The University thanks the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Foundation for its support of our students and rural communities. The RAS NSW Foundation scholarships recognise students’ passion for rural issues and their determination to make a positive difference in rural and regional communities. We welcome RAS Foundation Chairman, Mr Michael Millner, and RAS Foundation Executive Officer, Ms Jocellin Jansson, to Orange. Mr Millner will present the scholarships to students who are from Schools and disciplines at CSU campuses in Orange and Bathurst.”

Accomplished Indigenous singer / songwriter Mr Kutcha Edwards will encourage more than 200 Indigenous high school students and family members from southern NSW to think about careers and future choices, in an event to be held at Mirambeena in Lavington on Thursday 19 July. Sponsored by Charles Sturt University (CSU), NSW Department of Education and Communities and Parent and Community Engagement (PaCE), the day will also include workshops for the Years 7 to 12 students and their parents presented by high achieving Indigenous community members and past students from CSU, Riverina and Wodonga Institutes of TAFE, and Mungabareena Health.  “We will be showing these students the range of careers and choices they can make and the support that is being offered to them, while also showing families how they can support their children in their choices,” CSU education lecturer and event coordinator Mr Paul Grover said. Mr Edwards will tell his story and perform for the students between 11am and 12noon.

Representatives of Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Mitrataa Foundation will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Bathurst on Thursday 19 July to support the development of education for women and girls in Nepal. The MoU will be signed by the Vice-Chancellor and President of CSU, Professor Andrew Vann, and Ms Bec Ordish, the founding director of the Mitrataa Foundation. Ms Trisha Poole, lecturer at CSU’s School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said the agreement lays the foundation for CSU to collaborate with the Mitrataa Foundation to help empower Nepalese women and girls through education and training initiatives. “This collaboration will encourage the organisation of joint educational activities,” Ms Poole said. “In November this year, 12 CSU teacher education students will travel to the capital Kathmandu to undertake their professional experience placements in local schools supported by the Foundation. I will accompany the group and support the students to run professional development workshops for Nepalese teachers.”

Staging a matinee session of the new Australian film Opal Dreaming is part of one Charles Sturt University academic’s effort to raise funds for the international aid charity Oxfam on Sunday 12 November. Ecotourism senior lecturer Dr Rosemary Black is raising funds for a bicycle tour of Cambodia, an Oxfam Challenge, to highlight severe development problems in this country. Starring Vince Colosimo, Jacqueline McKenzie, Christian Byers and Sapphire Boyce, Opal Dream is an enchanting, funny and profoundly moving story about some apparently imaginary friends in the opal capital of Australia. Proceeds from tickets to the screening go direct to Oxfam as part of Dr Black’s challenge. The film will be screened at the Regent Theatre in Dean St, Albury, starting at 4.15pm on 12 November with tickets costing $15 on sale at the door from 3.30pm.

Three teacher-chaperones accompanying a delegation of exchange students from Wujiang, Dubbo’s sister-city in China, will tour Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo at 3.30pm on Friday 20 July during their four-day visit to the city. Head of Campus at CSU in Dubbo, Dr Bev Moriarty, will host and escort the teachers from the Wujiang Experimental Primary School on their tour of the University campus. “I look forward to welcoming the Wujiang teachers to Charles Sturt University and showing them around our growing campus, particularly the new Dental Clinic,” Dr Moriarty said. The 15 primary school students and their teachers are being hosted by Dubbo South Primary School and 10 Dubbo families from Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 July. They will be officially welcomed to Dubbo by the Mayor, Councillor Mathew Dickerson, and during their stay they will also visit the Old Dubbo Goal, the Western Plains Zoo, the Dubbo Observatory, and will enjoy an Aussie-style barbeque as well as spend time with the host families.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will take part in National Tree Day when they continue the planting of understorey shrubs that commenced in 2011. Students from CSU in Albury-Wodonga will get down and dirty to sow over 1000 plants on the University campus at Thurgoona after 2.30pm on Friday 27 July. Activity coordinator and chair of the campus environment committee, Dr John Rafferty, said the celebration was also an opportunity to highlight the ‘green’ credentials and emphasis on environmental sustainability on the Albury-Wodonga Campus. “The campus is continually developing and enhancing the landscape and these habitats bring many benefits. We are seeing the site being used more and more for recreation, while the permanent habitat provides home for several species of bird and native animals. As well as enhancing the environment for local people and native animals, the site is developing as an important teaching and research resource for Charles Sturt University,” Dr Rafferty said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Regional Development Australia (Central West) will host the Agribusiness Today 2012 forum highlighting opportunities for grain producers at the Forbes Services Memorial Club on Thursday 2 August. Dr Karl Behrendt, director of the Australasian Agribusiness Research Centre at CSU’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, said the forum’s focus is ‘Getting the pulse on cereals and oilseeds’. “Agribusiness Today 2012 is a free day-long forum to update central west grain growers and industry leaders about crop trends in the northern hemisphere and potential demand from Asia for their crops,” Dr Behrendt said. “Participants will hear from a range of experts from the CSIRO, Rabobank, NSW Department of Primary Industries, and others, as well as two international speakers from Argentina, Dr Roberto Peiretti and Ms Cintia Castagnino. Peak Hill farmer Mr Grant Byrne, who is the Conservation Farmer of the Year 2011, will also speak about resilience and adaptive cropping systems.”

The Vice-Chancellor and President of Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Andrew Vann, will officially open the new Cellar Door at CSU in Orange on Monday 30 July. Mr Justin Byrne, marketing manager at the CSU Winery, said, “The creation of the Cellar Door in Orange by the University is a strategic initiative that recognises the importance of the vineyard as a fruit source for the Charles Sturt University Winery and the importance of the Orange wine region as a small but important player in the Australian wine industry. This new use for the Machinery Centre enhances the building and gives it new life in a very dynamic local industry. The location, opposite the Chardonnay vineyard, is ideal for enhancing the understanding of the connection between the growing of grapes and the making and selling of wine. The 18 hectare vineyard at CSU in Orange is planted with a number of grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.”