Plans to establish a Connemara Pony Stud at Charles Sturt University (CSU) are well underway with the arrival of four mares and one stallion at CSU’s Equine Centre in August. The stud will produce horses suitable for veterinary science, animal science and equine students to handle, train and manage as part of their course. Equine science lecturer at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences in Wagga Wagga, Mr Hunter Doughty, said “Many students have had little exposure to horse handling and horse reproduction so it is important for them to develop confidence. The Connemara pony is ideal because it is smaller and not as intimidating as larger horses”. Stallion Wychwood Willy Wagtail from Port Augusta has been leased for the 2008 and 2009 breeding season. Of the four purebred mares, one has been donated and three are on loan. “The collaboration between the Connemara Pony Breeders Association of Australia and CSU’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences is a great promotion of the breed and there are numerous research opportunities that will not only benefit the breed in Australia but internationally, given the limited gene pool of the breed, ” said Mr Doughty.

A keynote address by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic to a national conference in Melbourne on Monday 22 September will advocate that the concept of ‘cultural competence’ is necessary as a teaching framework for university-trained professionals because social attitudes and the services professionals provide to Indigenous Australians remain powerful barriers to achieving social justice. Ms Wendy Nolan, lecturer and Deputy Director of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Centre for Indigenous Studies at its Dubbo Campus in NSW, will speak on Changing Paradigms, Changing Practices: A Cultural Competency Approach at the Indigenous Australians: Safe and Competent Counselling Practices Conference. “Australia’s professionals must have the skills to increase their professional capacity to work effectively to achieve social justice for Indigenous Australians,” Ms Nolan said. “Australian universities have a significant role to ensure that all graduates have a sound knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultures, histories and issues.”

Ms Mary Madden has returned to where her pharmacy career began, Charles Sturt University (CSU). Among the first pharmacy graduates from CSU in 2001, Ms Madden is now working at the University as an associate lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences in Wagga Wagga. She worked in community and hospital pharmacy before joining CSU in 2007. “I had reached the stage in my career where I wanted to do more,” Ms Madden said. “I was looking into research before I secured a position at CSU.” Ms Madden’s research focuses on risk management in pharmacy, minimizing human error, and the decision making process when errors occur. Also new to the pharmacy program at CSU is Dr Hassan Obied, a lecturer in pharmacology and pharmacokinetics in the School of Biomedical Sciences. He graduated from Tanta University (TU) in Egypt in 2000. He worked at TU and then completed his PhD at CSU in 2007 which focussed on the discovery of new bio-phenols in Australian olives with potential anti-cancer activity and accepted a teaching position in 2008. His research interests and expertise are in the areas of plant bio-phenols and the role of antioxidants in prevention and treatment of disease.  

Special recognition has been given by Charles Sturt University (CSU) to several staff for their commitment to developing their leadership and management skills. CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, attended a special presentation for the staff in Wagg Wagga on Monday 22 September for the seven staff who completed the Graduate Certificate in University Leadership and Management. The qualification is offered through the CSU Faculty of Business as part of a CSU objective to provide a range of learning opportunities and resources for current and future leaders. The staff are Mr Peter Jones, Manager of Campus Services in the Division of Facilities Management (DFM) at the Albury-Wodonga Campus; Ms Shelley McMenamin, University Records Manager in the Division of Information Technology (DIT), Albury-Wodonga Campus; Mr Jorge Rebolledo, Academic Registrar and lecturer in Research Methods at the United Theological College, Parramatta Campus; Mr Brian Roberson, Manager, Technology Integration in DIT, Bathurst Campus; Mr Wayne Millar, Director of Operations in the DFM; Mr Sam Parker, Team Leader, Systems and Business Processes at the Learning Materials Centre at Wagga Wagga Campus; and Mrs Miriam Dayhew, University Ombudsman.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff and students are being encouraged to participate in a Walk at Work Day on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus on Friday 3 October. As part of the Pedestrian Council of Australia’s Walk to Work Day, the University’s Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee has organised a four kilometre walk around the campus before work. The walk will start at 7.15am from the quadrangle outside the Nosh Pit canteen and will proceed along Tabbita Walk, Keajura Walk, Walla Walk, Valder Way, Pine Gully Road, Pugsley Place, Nathan Cobb Drive and then cross country back to the starting point for a free healthy breakfast. The breakfast will be served between 8am and 9am. Prizes will be presented for best outfits, including headwear, in the categories of individual and team walkers.

Olives from Charles Sturt University (CSU) have placed well in the 2008 Royal Canberra Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show. During a ceremony held on Saturday 20 September, the olive oil produced by ‘Long Paddock Olive Rustlers at Charles Sturt University’ received two silver medals and a bronze medal. In the show’s Class One Small Volume Bottled Category, the oils known as Suspence and After Glow received silver, and the oil Heritage Trees received bronze. “I am absolutely delighted at these results in the national competition for the industry,” said Mr Shane Cummins from Long Paddock Olive Rustlers. “The medals are a tribute to the quality of the olives picked from the Experimental Olive Grove and Heritage Olive at CSU earlier this year.” The 7th Royal Canberra Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show was conducted under the auspices of the Royal National Capital Agricultural Society to showcase the quality product now being produced by the Australian olive oil industry. Read more about the two olive groves at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus here.

Promoting education for environmental sustainability is the focus of a conference for the Bathurst community and primary and secondary school teachers at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bathurst Campus on Friday 24 October. Ms Jan Page, lecturer at the School of Teacher Education which is organising the conference, said the meeting is timely given the attention that environmental issues are receiving. “Education for Sustainability: Connecting Classrooms and Communities aims to raise the importance of environmental education in schools, while providing practical ideas that teachers and the community can adapt and adopt. The focus is on ways that education for environmental sustainability can be used to integrate various aspects of the school curriculum and for connecting classrooms and communities." The conference will include a panel discussion with teachers who have experience of developing environmental initiatives in schools.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) strong tradition of working with farmers to provide solutions to agricultural challenges is continuing through collaboration on a project with Murrumbidgee Landcare to manage drought through sustainable farming systems. Funded by grocery giant Woolworths, the project was launched by the NSW Minister for Primary Industries, The Hon. Ian Macdonald, MP, at the Henty Machinery Fields Days in the Riverina on Tuesday 23 September. Researchers from the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation will work on the project with Murrumbidgee Landcare and farmers at Henty, Junee, Mirrool Creek and Harden. Centre director Professor Deirdre Lemerle says encouraging farmers to retain the stubble from cereal crops, rather than burning it, increases soil moisture and carbon content. “The funding means we can continue to work closely with farmers to manage stubble for soil health, which, in association with integrated weed management, aims to secure the long term sustainability of agriculture,” she said.

An innovative Charles Sturt University (CSU) program to educate and train Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to work as mental health and drug and alcohol practitioners in their communities will be on show later this week. Nine final year students in the Bachelor of Health Science (Mental Health) will attend an Indigenous mental health conference on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus on Thursday 25 September. The students from across Australia will address mental health topics involving colonisation, carers, Aboriginal women, drugs and sexual assault. Known as the Djirruwang Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health program, the course aims to build workforce capacity and improve health care in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by equipping the graduates to work in mainstream and cultural organisations and communities. The conference is being held during the students’ final residential school at CSU. Professor Elaine Duffy, Head of the CSU School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mr Ray Eldridge, the Manager of CSU Indigenous Support Unit, and Mr Wayne Rigby, the Director of the Djirruwang program, will also address the conference.