The addition of a basketball hoop to encourage recycling in the Dining Room for Charles Sturt University (CSU) students living on campus in Wagga Wagga is proving popular. The brainchild of the Catering team within the University’s Division of Student Services, the students are able to shoot goals using recyclable items. “The students have enthusiastically embraced the concept of using the recycling bin a lot as a result of the new basketball hoop,” Catering Team Leader, Mr Toby Perry, said. “The rate of recycling by the students has increased substantially. So much so, that the Division of Student Services may have to organise an additional recycling pick-up.” Also contributing to the initiative is CSU Green which was established in 2008 to promote sustainable practices at CSU. “As a result of its success in the Dining Hall, it is hoped that the idea will be extended to other student spaces next year including in the Noshpit, the student canteen area in Wagga Wagga, and at the Gums Café at the University’s Thurgoona site,” CSU Green Manager Mr William Adlong said.

What is it like to be young and live in the inland city of Wagga Wagga? In keeping with the Charles Sturt University (CSU) pledge to enhance communities in rural and regional Australia, the voice of Wagga youth will be encouraged to speak out and be heard at an upcoming forum at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. The forum aims to bring together CSU students and young people from the community to discuss issues of concern, opportunities, hopes and anticipations. High school students, teachers, parents and people from various youth and church groups have also been invited. It’s the second such event organised by the CSU Institute of Land, Water and Society, the Civic Trust of Wagga Wagga, members of MY CREW (Many Young Courageous Responsive Empowering Women) and Wagga City Councils’ Youth Voice Committee.

There has been strong interest in the third Education for Sustainability Conference: connecting classrooms and communities to be held at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Friday 29 October. One of the conference organisers, Ms Jan Page, lecturer at the CSU School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said, “We have received many registrations for the 2010 conference, but anyone interested can attend on the day. The program explores ways to live lightly on the earth, with presentations by highly-regarded permaculturalist Ms Rosemary Morrow. Other topics include: transition towns, a way communities are meeting the challenges of global warming and peak oil; achieving sustainability through kitchen gardens; eco-literacy – what we need to know; empowering children; and how to build support for your programs. The conference also offers networking opportunities and a range of displays.”

After more than three decades of outstanding service to Charles Sturt University (CSU) and its predecessor institutions, Human Resources executive director Mr Reg Shaw has retired from the world of tertiary education. A dinner, hosted by Vice-Chancellor Ian Goulter and attended by past and present CSU staff and students, recognised Mr Shaw’s contribution. Mr Shaw says, “I have been honoured to be part of Charles Sturt University and its predecessor institutions for the past 33 years. When I look back, it is with great fondness and feelings of satisfaction and achievement”. Mr Shaw is confident of an exciting future for CSU, observing “The University has reached a level of maturity and prosperity that I am sure will endure for many years to come and I wish it every success for the future”.

The first university to introduce tertiary training for ambulance clinicians in 1994, Charles Sturt University (CSU) has now become the first to enter into a national accreditation process through the Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA). Because most States and Territories are moving toward university based education for paramedics, the CAA, the peak body representing the ambulance authorities in Australasia, recently began an accreditation process, “to standardise the qualifications throughout Australia, as there are now eleven providers of paramedic education in Australia,” according to Peter O'Meara, Associate Professor in CSU’s School of Biomedical Sciences. Accreditation brings ambulance clinicians into line with similar professions such as nurses, and “will allow our graduates to move around the country freely. In terms of credibility and portability it is really important,” Professor O’Meara said.

Twelve students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will have the ultimate cultural experience in teaching when they land in the Pacific Island country of Vanuatu for three weeks of teaching practice in three schools around the nation’s capital, Port Vila. The students, in their third year of the early childhood / primary school education degree based on the Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Dubbo campuses, will teach for one week in each of Peter Pan School, Port Vila International School and The Central School, starting Saturday 16 October. The program coordinator Ms Sharon Milsome, said immersing the students in the culture gave them a better understanding of how other cultures teach and learn. “Students can try different teaching strategies and hopefully learn from the teachers they are placed with in a variety of classrooms. The students have prepared a variety of lesson plans and ideas to implement while they are there, and will share ideas among their peers. They might even have some fun!” The students return to Australia on Saturday 6 November.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a three day “Coach-the-Coach Conference” at its Bathurst Campus from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 April 2007. According to Dr Stephen Bird, a lecturer with CSU’s School of Human Movement Studies, the conference is booked out and participants will be travelling from around Australia and overseas. “Several lecturers from CSU will be presenting a number of sessions dealing with topics like training techniques, conditioning, and sports psychology and there will also be presentations from some of Australia’s leading Olympic and Commonwealth Games coaches,” Dr Bird said. The conference is being jointly organized by the Western Region Academy of Sport (WRAS) in Bathurst and its western NSW counterpart the Far Western Academy of Sport (FWAS), and is supported by the School of Human Movement Studies.

The country's top economic reform agency has called for the introduction of carbon taxes as a way to cut greenhouse emissions. The Productivity Commission, the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation, last week submitted the proposal to the Prime Minister's task force on emissions trading. Dr Roderick Duncan, lecturer in economics at Charles Sturt University (CSU), says if we are serious about cutting emissions, a carbon tax is inevitable. “But to reflect the true cost of our energy, we are going to have to drastically increase the price of petrol and electricity. People say they are very concerned about global warming, but when I tell them we could triple the price of energy, then they become a lot less enthusiastic.”

An export alliance between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and NSW based Linden Valley Cheese will see CSU produced cheese sold in stores across the United States under the newly created Bidgee Cheese label. Five varieties of uniquely Australian flavoured cheeses - Forest Berry, Lemon Myrtle, Bush Tomato, Tasmanian Pepper Berry and Mint Bush - have been developed at the cheese factory on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus. An initial shipment of 1.6 tonnes of Bidgee Cheese has been dispatched to California. CSU cheese maker Barry Lillywhite said, “It is great to have developed an alliance with this NSW based food exporter and the export deal offers an opportunity to have CSU produced Bidgee Cheese internationally recognised as a unique style of cheese”. Linden Valley Cheese spokesman Ian Lindsay said the export deal is, “Pioneering Australian cheese into mainstream US supermarkets and boutique food outlets and represents a significant export opportunity”. CSU cheeses in these flavours have already won a number of national awards.