A Charles Sturt University (CSU) veterinary science student has won the $12 000 Greenham Dairy Scholarship for 2013. Ms Katherine Lang, from the Victorian town of Tatura, is in her fifth year of a Bachelor of Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga. The Greenham Dairy Scholarship was established by HW Greenham and Sons Pty Ltd in 2000 to ‘encourage young people to make a commitment to the improvement of the dairy industry through education’. CSU students won the Greenham Dairy Scholarship in 2009, 2010 and 2012. Ms Lang said, “I have a strong interest in the future of the dairy industry in Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in regional Victoria and I plan to work as a veterinary scientist in the dairy industry.” Ms Lang will use the scholarship to fund a four-week work placement from late October at the University of California (UC) Davis in the USA. She will be based in UC’s Dairy Teaching and Research Facility which includes a milking herd of 100 cows.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) courses, offered through its partnership with Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE (GOTAFE) and the National Centre for Dairy Education Australia (NCDEA), will be on show at Wangaratta on Tuesday 11 June. CSU’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (International Education and Partnerships), Professor Heather Cavanagh, will host a wine and cheese evening at the campus to talk about CSU’s aspirations and plans for Wangaratta. GOTAFE CEO Mr Paul Culpan will also attend. This is the first in a series of regional community and industry functions to discuss current and proposed CSU courses on offer, and the design of the new CSU building in Wangaratta, with local representatives.

A visiting Australian education expert will deliver a public lecture in Bathurst and workshops for education staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) next week. Professor Bronwyn Davies, an independent scholar and professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, will address the topic, ‘The Fairy Who Wouldn’t Fly’ revisited: Playing with and against the forces of normalisation: feminist narratives and lines of flight, on Thursday 13 June. Host of the visit, Professor Tara Brabazon, Head of the School of Teacher Education in Bathurst, said, “The distinctive features of Professor Davies’ work are her development of innovative social science research methodologies. Her research explores how social worlds are constituted. She is best known for her work on gender, for her development of the methodology of collective biography, and her writing on feminism and poststructuralist theory.”

A new physical theatre production by Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media students will tour secondary schools in central west NSW from Tuesday 11 to Friday 14 June. The production, titled Outta Touch, was devised as part of the second-year subject Drama and Theatre for Young People, and involves movement, comedy, body percussion and acrobatics. Outta Touch is directed by Mr Dan Aubin, lecturer in theatre/media at the CSU the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, and Mr Adam Deusien. Mr Aubin said, “The cast has been working to devise a show from scratch exploring the questions: Have we become too distant? What would happen if we could not touch? How far will our safety culture go, and what does this mean for connecting to other people?” The production will visit four schools - The Scots School, Bathurst; Canowindra High School; La Salle Academy, Lithgow; and Wellington High School. Find out more about Outta Touch here.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is making up to $150 000 available for staff and student projects to help the University reduce its environmental footprint. Sustainability Grants are awarded by CSU Green annually as part of  the University’s commitment to reduce energy and water use, increase biodiversity, cut solid waste, and support research into sustainability. An extra $50 000 is being made available this year for one large project to help the University reach its sustainability goals. Co-ordinator of Partnerships with CSU Green, Ms Nicola Smith, said the program aims to educate and promote cultural change. “Applications for the grants have increased each year with more exciting and engaging projects,” she said. “It has increased the knowledge of environmental and social sustainability issues as well as providing an outlet for staff and students to develop social and professional networks.” Past projects include a student and community-run produce garden, a sustainable film festival and a project to increase good waste management practises within student residences. Applications are open until 5pm on Friday 28 June.

Eleven final-year Charles Sturt University (CSU) commercial radio students have devised three promotional campaigns about the University’s ‘Doctors4theBush’ medical school proposal. The students worked in three teams, then presented the finished campaigns for assessment by an expert panel at the University on Monday 3 June. Mr David Maxwell, lecturer in advertising, media sales and commercial radio in the School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, said, “We always try to give our students real-world learning challenges, and this exercise has an important social focus for all people in regional Australia. The expert panel considered the work to be of a professional standard suitable for broadcast.” The presentation was attended by the University Secretary and Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Mark Burdack; manager of radio 2BS (Bathurst), Mr Phil Cole; Mr Steve Golfin, general manger of Southern Cross Australia Broadcast Centre (Orange); Head of the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries, Professor Chika Anyanwu; and course director, Mr Brett Van Heekeren.

Central West businesses performed better in the June quarter than the preceding quarter, according to the latest Reliance Credit Union business survey released on Wednesday 2 August by Charles Sturt University’s Western Research Institute (WRI). "Interestingly, Central West businesses still expect to improve their performance again in the September quarter, even though interest rates rose yesterday. It is expected, however, that regional NSW business will be less affected by the rise in terest rates than Sydney due to smaller mortgages and less business debt," said WRI CEO, Tom Murphy. It was noted that fuels costs were the most negative influence on business activity, particularly transport. All business sectors except agriculture showed positive performance in June. The business survey, sponsored by Reliance Credit Union and the Central West Regional Development Board, was returned by over 400 businesses including mining, agriculture, tourist, retail and transport industries across regional NSW.

The 2013 Central West RoboCup Junior Challenge for schools in the central west returns to Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Tuesday 11 June. The coordinator of the competition, Mr Allen Benter, who is also a PhD student and researcher at the Mining Research Laboratory in the School of Computing and Mathematics in Bathurst, said, “We expect about 76 enthusiastic students from seven central west schools to build and operate mini robots at this annual robotics competition. As with previous events, University staff have provided technical advice to students and their teachers, and will be the judges at the RoboCup Challenge. It’s great to see that students and schools in the region have embraced the concept and the opportunity that the RoboCup offers, as robotics is an important and rapidly developing field.”

Videoconferencing will be a significant component of teaching in the future according to Charles Sturt University (CSU) mathematics lecturer Michael Kemp who spoke at a public seminar today about the challenges facing lecturers who are not always teaching in the same room as their students. “As the world evolves into a smaller place with email and videoconferencing becoming an everyday occurrence, Australia’s largest regional university CSU has trained their academics to use the latest technology and present lectures to students throughout NSW and across the country.” Having taught mathematics via videoconferences and forums during the past semester at CSU, Mr Kemp looked at his practices through a survey with students to present a public seminar on lessons learnt titled Lessons Learned About Remote Teaching.