Is it fair that educational achievement can depend on where you live? Anecdotally, it is known that young, inexperienced teachers fresh out of university are usually sent to unpopular destinations such as western NSW. Another assumption is that school students in these areas have uneven educational outcomes. Now these "hunches" have been verified by the Rural (Teacher) Education Project, and the search is on for some solutions. "It’s all about attracting, preparing, retaining and renewing teachers for the bush," said project leader Professor Bill Green from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Faculty of Education. "One key issue was that location matters. You’re getting young teachers working with often the most disadvantaged groups. They have energy and enthusiasm and embrace innovation, but the downside is they don’t have experience." Some of the early recommendations to emerge include nominating certain isolated schools as professional development centres, better preparation of student teachers, changing staffing patterns so that groups of teachers are appointed to a region, and involving local communities and government agencies so that young professionals are connecting socially. More complete findings are due next month.

Hailed as a leader of Australia’s new generation architects, Peter Stutchbury has won the national competition to design a $10 million development on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Albury-Wodonga Campus. The multi award winner, well known for his innovative, environmentally sensitive structures, will design the new Learning Commons building, which will house a student based centre for collaborative learning and academic community, incorporating library, computing and learning skills staff and technologies. “Due to be completed by 2008, the project demonstrates CSU’s continued investment in higher education in regional Australia and on the NSW-Victorian border,” said Head of the Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor Gail Whiteford. The launch marks the start of the third and final stage of the University’s move from the Albury city site to the campus site based at Thurgoona.

The Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACCC) and the Friends of Ireland will hold their third annual ecumenical service on Friday March 17 to remember the legend and history of St Patrick and its continuing significance for Australians today. “For better or worse, Irish identity has always been related to religious expression,” said CSU Professor of Theology, Reverend James Haire. He will conduct the ecumenical service at the ACCC chapel on the corner of Kings Avenue and Blackall Street in Barton, ACT at 12.30pm. Federal Labor Senator Ursula Stephens, a Catholic and one of two Irish-born Australian senators, will speak on the place of the Irish in contemporary Australia and how Australians might celebrate St Patrick’s Day and their Irish heritage while acknowledging the pain of the past for Irish people

Recent media has highlighted a large study linking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and higher risk of breast and other cancers. Charles Sturt University (CSU) biomedical researcher Dr Christopher Scott will present the science behind HRT, including the role of oestrogen and testosterone in males and females and how they are used in HRT during a public lecture in Albury tomorrow, Wednesday 15 March. He will also discuss the benefits and potential risks of HRT using his own research. The lecture will start at 6pm in the Nowik Lecture Theatre, Guinea St, Albury. Dr Scott joined CSU as a lecturer in physiology in 2003 and has studied the role of  sex hormones for the past 17 years in Australia and USA.

Australian actor Bill Kerr is in Wagga Wagga for two weeks under Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Visiting Artists’ Program. The star of film, stage, television and radio will give two guest lectures at CSU Wagga Wagga Campus from 3pm on Wednesday 22 March and Wednesday 29 March. The first lecture will reflect on his life as a child actor in Wagga Wagga from 1933 and his work in British films until 1967. The second lecture will cover his work in Australian films from 1981, including Gallipolli and The Year of Living Dangerously. The lectures will be held in the Performing Arts complex, on CSU Wagga Wagga Campus.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Dubbo City Council later in March heralds a new stage for development of CSU’s Dubbo Campus. “The University has enjoyed an excellent relationship with Dubbo City Council since CSU admitted its first students in Dubbo in 1997,” said Professor David Battersby, CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) and Head of Dubbo Campus. “The MOU recognises that a university presence can bring added value to the City of Dubbo, particularly in fostering research opportunities, cultural development and economic growth.” Professor Battersby said CSU and Dubbo City Council were keen to promote Dubbo as a “University City” and to explore opportunities for shared use of CSU and community facilities. The MOU also commits CSU and Dubbo City Council to plan a program of traineeships, work placements and scholarships for young people, particularly to encourage Indigenous students from the Dubbo region to attend CSU. The MOU will be formally signed at CSU Dubbo Campus at 12pm on Monday 27 March.

“Accept our differences, celebrate our similarities” is the theme for Harmony Day to be celebrated next Tuesday 21 March on Bathurst and Wagga Wagga campuses. Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) students and staff will celebrate the national event, which coincides with the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “It’s an opportunity for all Australians to get to know each other better, share our culture and say ‘no’ to racism,” said CSU Student Community Coordinator Monique Cummins. Special activities will be accompanied by free ribbons, stickers and postcards that celebrate the cultural diversity of students and staff at CSU.