“The big question is, do some adults improve their lives after a parent’s cancer experience? It sounds quite odd, because how could anything good possibly come from this?” Janelle Levesque from Charles Sturt University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences will research how having a parent with cancer impacts on their adult children. “For some, cancer can act as a wake-up call. Some realise life is too short to stay in work they don’t like while others switch to more family-friendly or part time work. Another change may be the realisation that the little things are not so important. The wet towel on the bathroom floor really doesn’t matter, what matters is making time to speak to the kids for 10 minutes before bed.” Ms Levesque says the biggest area of change is that “most people find that their family grows closer through the experience”.

"Shebang" is slang for "the whole lot" and a fitting title for the graduation show of Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Graphic Design and Multimedia students, according to course coordinator Michael Agzarian. "The students have each created a very large piece of artwork, so with over 30 pieces, the resulting exhibition is stunning," he said. Multimedia screenings will also showcase a variety of styles, from simple two dimensional work though to complex 3-D animation. "I have given the students carte blanche to show off their style and skills and the final product represents great diversity, innovation and creativity," Agzarian said.

Rings, bangles, pendants and brooches created from precious metals as well as other materials such as silicon and polyurethane are on display at an exhibition of work by Charles Sturt University's (CSU) graduating Bachelor of Arts in Jewellery students. Lecturer Sabine Pagan says the students used both traditional and contemporary skills in the manufacture of their innovative designs. She says the highlight of the exhibition is seeing how the students worked within themes such as evolution, space, and body armour. “These themes have guided the seven students in their creation of truly unique works," Ms Pagan said. Executive Director of Craft ACT Barbara McConchie will officially open the exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery on Friday 17 November at 6.30pm.

For the first time in 12 years, Wagga Wagga will be represented in the NSW Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout, and Charles Sturt University (CSU) is proud to be the team’s major sponsor. The competition will be held at Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle, from Friday 28 September to Monday 1 October and is one of the largest Indigenous sporting events in the country. CSU is sponsoring the Murrumbidgee Wagga Crows team who will play their first game at 2.30pm on Saturday 29 September. Murrumbidgee Wagga Crows Secretary, Ms Donna Murray, said bringing the club back to life is about more than football. “It means a lot for the local Indigenous community to have a team in this competition, because it’s about cultural identity and playing passionately for Wagga Wagga,” she said. “Our players are also positive role models for younger boys and girls in promoting healthy lives.” CSU has a strong commitment to the participation of Indigenous Australians in all aspects of higher education. Read more about CSU’s Indigenous Education Strategy here.

Four teams from the Kajulu Communications student advertising agency at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst today delivered pitches for a youth road safety campaign to a panel representing central west road transport stakeholders. Ms Anne Llewellynn, lecturer in advertising at the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries in Bathurst, said the Kajulu advertising teams were briefed by Ms Iris Dorsett, Road Safety Officer with Bathurst Regional Council, to prepare integrated marketing communication recommendations for a road safety campaign funded by Bathurst and Blayney Regional Councils for the central west region. “The primary target market is young drivers aged 25 and under, and the communications objectives for the campaign are to engage road users to accept responsibility for their own driving and modify negative driving or other impacting behaviours, such as mobile phone use,” Ms Llewellyn said. The student teams completed comprehensive research, strategy development, and detailed campaign recommendations which they presented to the panel starting at 1pm on Tuesday 25 September at Bathurst Council Chambers. Each team’s presentation took about an hour.

A peregrine falcon chick is the newest resident at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange. The fledgling hatched from the one of two eggs produced this season by CSU’s resident pair of peregrine falcons, known as Beau and Swift, and was named Snow in reference to the August snowfall in which the egg was laid. The falcons have been permanent residents at the University since 2007, when staff first noticed them hunting from the iconic water tower on campus. CSU staff mounted a nesting box in the tower and fitted it with two video cameras, and the falcons quickly moved in and raised eight healthy chicks there over the following four breeding seasons. The project has been supported by the RAAF 30 Squadron Beaufighters, whose emblem is the peregrine falcon and whose motto is ‘Strike swiftly’, so the two adult birds have been named Swift (female) and Beau (male). This year Swift laid two eggs, but one was lost when it became stuck in Beau’s plumage as he left the nest. Footage from the nest-box cameras has been available on the FalconCamProject website since 2007 but this is the first year a formal study of the birds’ behaviour has been conducted. The site is one of only a handful in the world where a breeding pair of peregrines can be monitored around the clock, because peregrines normally choose to nest in very inaccessible places like cliff faces and quarries.

The Faculty of Business at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst is hosting a five-week visit by six scholars from its partner institutions in Kunming, Tianjin, and Changchun in China. Faculty of Business spokesperson, Professor John Hicks, said the scholars are in Australia as part of an Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship Program funded by AusAID for a research project titled ‘Achieving balanced growth in domestic and external markets in China’. “The project aims to promote joint research between Charles Sturt University and its partner institutions in China on issues related to regional business and economics,” Professor Hicks said. “The scholars arrived in early September and are spending the first four weeks in Bathurst where they are involved in joint research using input-output modelling and other related techniques to derive policy outcomes. Several joint research papers are being prepared which will add to the series of publications generated by previous AusAID Fellowships in 2010 and 2011.” The current research findings were presented at a Faculty of Business in-house seminar on Thursday 20 September in Bathurst. The Chinese scholars will visit CSU in Wagga Wagga and Albury-Wodonga in the first week of October to make similar presentations.

Tickets have almost sold out for the biennial Tony McGrane Memorial Scholarship Dinner at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo on Monday 24 September. The late Mr Tony McGrane, OAM, was a Mayor of Dubbo from 1991 to 1999, and was then the Independent NSW Member for Dubbo. The dinner’s guest speaker is the Independent Federal Member for New England, the Hon. Tony Windsor, MP. Mr McGrane and Mr Windsor served together as Independent in the NSW Parliament. Head of CSU in Dubbo Dr Beverley Moriarty said the dinner would raise money for the Tony McGrane Scholarship, which gives students from the Orana region and Dubbo electorate an opportunity to gain a higher education. “It’s fantastic to see the level of support the community has given us and a testament to the lasting impact Tony had on the area,” she said. “Tony was very well-known in the community, he was very much loved and respected and he was instrumental in bringing Charles Sturt University to Dubbo. He passed away in 2004, but everyone you talk to in Dubbo remembers him and gives a little smile whenever they speak about him. They all have a story to tell about him.” Tickets for the Tony McGrane Memorial Scholarship Dinner are on sale for $130 per head. To purchase, contact CSU on (02) 6885 7370.

From strategies to prevent bullying and messages about body image, to Aboriginal education and equality in the classroom, a conference at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Ontario will tackle some of the many issues facing teachers. The Equity and Social Justice conference on Friday 28 September is an annual event hosted by the CSU School of Education in Ontario with talks by CSU academics, teachers and community leaders. It’s designed to give students undertaking a Bachelor of Primary Education Studies (BPES) and Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies a greater understanding of some of the issues they’re likely to face in the workforce. BPES course coordinator, Ms Paige Bennett, said, “Students will have opportunities to hear about issues that will affect their daily contact with children and help to expand their knowledge of equity and social justice in relation to schools and early child care settings.” The conference will also include presentations on the rights of the child, the needs of an English language learner, and child protection and welfare.