Bigger and better is an apt description for the new Sutherland Laboratory, which will be opened at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga on Tuesday 17 February. The building is a teaching and learning facility for the CSU School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences and serves a range of Schools within the Faculty of Science. Classes in the multipurpose laboratory will include microbiology, plant science and animal nutrition. The laboratory complex was damaged in a fire at the University in 2007. “With the immediate and future needs of students in mind, the $1.05 million construction project began in the middle of 2008 and is ready in time for the imminent return of students in 2009,” said Head of the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Associate Professor John Kent.  The new facility will accommodate 72 students with a preparation room, solvents room, wash-up area and incubator room.

Theatre/media students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and members of the public will be able to attend a Shakespeare masterclass by one of the great British actors, Mr Barrie Ingham, who was given his Broadway debut opportunity by Sir John Gielgud. Mr Ingham will perform his one-man show The Actor at CSU’s Ponton Theatre on the Bathurst Campus on Tuesday 26 August, and will present the Shakespeare masterclass on Wednesday 27 August. Mr Karl Shead, Theatre Technical Officer at the CSU School of Communication, explained that The Actor was devised by Barrie Ingham and Terry Hands during their time together at the Royal Shakespeare Company. “The play asks ‘who and what is an actor?’, and reveals how all of us are actors. It has been performed in New York and London, and toured to South Africa, Australia and throughout USA,” The performance and masterclass arise from the partnership between the Local Stages/Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre program in Bathurst, which provides performing arts development opportunities for artists in the region, and the theatre/media department at CSU’s School of Communication.

The heads of intelligence agencies gathered in the New Zealand (NZ) capital of Wellington in August to hear from guest speaker and Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Mr Patrick Walsh. Over 150 intelligence officers attended the inaugural conference of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. Mr Walsh, who addressed the intelligence officers after the conference was opened by NZ Prime Minister The Hon. Helen Clark, is a senior lecturer in criminal intelligence at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing (AGSP) based in Manly, Sydney. He is also the course co-ordinator for the University’s intelligence program and  a vice-president of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO). “It was an honour to address this inaugural event,” Mr Walsh said on his return to Australia. “I talked about the history of AIPIO as a professional body for the Australian intelligence community and the role tertiary education can play in collaboration with intelligence agencies in delivering industry-relevant intelligence education programs”

Staff from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication gathered in Bathurst’s Machattie Park on Thursday 12 February to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. When Darwin voyaged to Australia in 1836, Bathurst was the most westward point of his inland journey, and when his book On the Origin of Species was published in November 1859, it changed the scientific understanding of life on Earth. At the commemorative morning tea in the park’s rotunda yesterday, CSU Professor of Communication, John Carroll, read extracts from Darwin’s journal to the gathering which also included members of the Bathurst branch of the Pensioners and Superannuants Association. Writing on 20 and 21 January 1836, Darwin observed ‘Bathurst has a singular and not very inviting appearance; groups of small houses, and a few large ones, are scattered rather thickly over two or three miles of a bare country which is divided into numerous fields’. He described conditions as hot, dry and dusty, noting the Macquarie River was a ‘mere chain of ponds … separated from each other by spaces almost dry’, but added ‘a little water does flow, and sometimes there are high and most impetuous floods’. He acknowledged that ‘the season had been one of great drought, and that the country does not at present wear a favourable aspect; although I understand two or three months ago it was incomparably worse’. T’was ever thus.

Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Dubbo Campus will mark the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Celebration (NAIDOC) for the first time on Wednesday 27 August. Head of the CSU Dubbo Campus and Director of the University’s Centre for Indigenous Studies, Mr Gary Shipp, said NAIDOC is a very significant part of the Australian Aboriginal calendar of events which began in the 1930s when William Ferguson commenced his fight for the rights of Aboriginal people, giving impetus to the May 1967 Referendum. “This year is important for CSU Dubbo Campus to celebrate this occasion and have special guests to share with us their stories and art,” Mr Shipp said. “It will be our first NAIDOC, and I am proud to have Roy and June Barker, elders from Lightning Ridge, and Lewis Burns, a renowned local Aboriginal artist. The activities on Dubbo campus will provide an insight into Aboriginal culture, music and art. It is a time for reflection and sharing stories with visiting and local elders and school students from senior schools in Dubbo.”

Communities and regions where mining occurs will be severely affected by the downturn in the Australian mining sector due to the global financial crisis. Mr Tom Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of the Western Research Institute (WRI) at Charles Sturt University at Bathurst, says that with the current contraction of the Chinese economy, the largest customer for Australia’s mineral resources, Australia will face increasing and probably prolonged reduction of revenue from mining. “Our studies indicate that mining jobs create economic multipliers of four to six in surrounding community economies, or more in some instances,” he said. “That means for each mining job lost you can have four to six other jobs lost in a community. This is because mine wages and local spending are so high. Other industries typically have multipliers of around two to three or even less, so mine jobs are very hard to replace.”

The national flag of China will again fly at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst on Thursday 12 February when a high level delegation from the Yunnan University of Finance and Economics (YUFE) in Kunming, China visits the University. The Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Business, Professor John Hicks, said the visit is an important link in the further development of relations with the tertiary education sector in China. “CSU is well placed to provide its expertise across a range of courses, particularly in business, and this visit will help strengthen the excellent relationship that the University has already established with YUFE,” Professor Hicks said. “Despite the global financial crisis, China remains an important trading partner for Australia. China has a dynamic higher education sector, and both CSU and YUFE benefit from the partnership that has been established.”

Two high level delegations from universities in China and South Korea will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst on Monday 16 February to consolidate links with the national university of inland Australia. The Acting Vice-Chancellor and President of CSU, Professor Lyn Gorman, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, will each host one of the visiting delegations from Dali University in China, and from Hannam University in South Korea. Professor Gorman said, “The University welcomes the opportunities these visits present to build on existing linkages and extend CSU’s involvement in international education with partners in China and South Korea.” The Dali University delegation will discuss a range of issues relating to areas of cooperation with CSU, including research, academic staff visits, as well as a specific articulation arrangement in Information Technology. Hannam University officials will explore ways in which CSU can enhance the courses and teaching at Hannam University. Professor Chambers said, “CSU has had a long-standing relationship with Hannam University since 2003, and this visit builds on that relationship. We will discuss programs for teachers of English, and doctoral programs in theology.” This will be the first visit to CSU by the new President of Hannam University, Dr Hyungtae Kim.

The planned State visit to Australia and to Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Saturday 14 February by His Excellency the President of Timor-Leste, Dr José Ramos-Horta, has been postponed due to the ongoing natural disasters in Australia, including the devastating bushfires in Victoria. The Acting Vice-Chancellor of CSU, Professor Lyn Gorman, said that the University has been advised by representatives of the President that, after consultation with the Office of the Governor-General of Australia, the visit will be postponed to a mutually convenient time later this year. Professor Gorman said, “We fully understand the position of the President and thank him for his wishes for the victims of the Victorian bushfires. We thank the President for his commitment to reschedule his visit later in the year and look forward to welcoming him at that time. Given that this visit was to be the inaugural event of CSU’s 20th anniversary year, the celebrations will now begin with the Official Opening Ceremony at CSU at Wagga Wagga on Thursday 12 March.”