One of the country’s great thinkers, Dr Barry Jones, AO, will look at the role of the public intellectual in Australia when he visits Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus on Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 December.  The writer, broadcaster and former politician will address a dinner of senior CSU staff from 6.30pm on Monday in a speech entitled, What is the role of the public intellectual in Australia? Dr Jones will travel to CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus on Tuesday 4 December to present the keynote address at the CSU Community Engagement Forum. Dr Jones served in Federal Parliament from 1977 to 1998 and was Australia’s longest serving Science Minister from 1983 to 1990. He was the ALP National President from 1992 to 2000 and again in 2005. Dr Jones is the only person to be elected as a Fellow to all four Australian Academies. He has written three books; Sleepers, Wake!: Technology and the Future of Work (1982), Dictionary of World Biography (1994) and his 2006 autobiography, A Thinking Reed.

Working with people with brain injuries or working in mental health as well as with older and young people and in rural areas will all be discussed at the annual occupational therapy conference for final year students from Charles Sturt University (CSU). The two day conference in Albury, which includes keynote addresses by the Head of Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor Gail Whiteford and a local expert in childcare in remote Aboriginal communities, Ms Helen Fitzgerald, will include work by 44 students who will graduate next year from the University’s four year course. “We will discuss issues affecting our profession, including working with people with brain injuries, in mental health, with older and young people and in rural areas. The conference helps prepare us for our future professional lives and is a great way to complete our studies at CSU,” said conference coordinator Ms Vanessa Mahon. The conference starts at 9am on Wednesday 28 November in the CSU Nowik lecture theatres, Guinea St, Albury, and continues on Thursday 29 November.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media student, Mr Adam Deusien will be heading to Brisbane in January 2008 to take-up a prestigious six-month internship with the Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre company. Adam is the first CSU student to win one of the highly contested internships with Zen Zen Zo. He will specialise in Viewpoints, a technique taught to him at weekly workshops since April by Ms Fiona Green, associate lecturer at the School of Communication at CSU’s Bathurst Campus, and Ms Margie Breen, Performing Arts Producer/Animateur at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre. Ms Green said, “Adam is a dedicated and motivated student who has the talent and drive to succeed in a difficult industry. We’ve told him to dream big and that’s just what he’s done.” Mr Deusien will undertake a rigorous training program with 13 other interns from around Australia and then perform in a company production at the end of the internship. He will then return to Bathurst to finish his degree and conduct workshops with theatre/media students in 2008.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Chancellor, Mr Lawrence Willett, AO, will host a community reception Thursday 6 December to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of CSU’s Dubbo Campus. The event will be marked by the release of the 10 Year Anniversary booklet and the launch CSU’s Centre for Inland Health (CIH) in Dubbo.  Head of CSU’s Dubbo Campus, Mr Gary Shipp said, “The Chancellor has invited all staff to attend the community reception in recognition of their invaluable, loyal and friendly service to the University and community". Mr Shipp also explained that The Centre for Inland Health is different to most of the University’s other Centres in that “it uses academics from all campuses who are involved in research and development in the four CSU faculties – Arts, Business, Education and Science – to serve the shared vision of health for our inland communities”.

Three art pieces that highlight iconic images of modern Australia have been donated to Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Ontario, Canada. Three works by Melbourne artist Lianne Lewis now adorn the walls of the University’s Burlington campus after they were passed on to the Associate Head of School at CSU Ontario, Professor Rod Francis through the Australian Consulate in nearby Toronto. The brightly coloured modernist works depict landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) student in the third year of her teaching degree, Ms Millie Whitehead should really get to know herself in the coming week as she endeavours to ride her bicycle the 500 kilometres from Albury to Warragul in western Victoria in seven days. Departing on Sunday 2 December, Ms Whitehead is raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation in memory of her good friend “Ben”. Teaching staff from the University’s Murray School of Education will support her, accompanying her on the first 10 kilometres of her journey.  Albury City Council will stage a lunchtime barbeque to help raise funds with Ms Whitehead. The bbq will be held on Friday 30 November at the Library Museum, Kiewa St, Albury. The CSU student is hoping to raise at least $10 000 for leukemia research. Ms Whitehead will set out from QEII Square, central Albury at 9am on 2 December.

This week Mr Kevin Wilkins, senior lecturer in mathematics at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Accounting and Computer Science, will retire after 30 years’ service on the Bathurst Campus. Mr Wilkins began lecturing at CSU’s predecessor, the Mitchell College of Advanced Education, in 1974. Head of School, Associate Professor Ross Wilson, said, “Kevin is a person who has the best interests of his students and his colleagues as his priority at all times. He is always available to offer help to students and staff with intriguing mathematical problems. His colleagues will miss his passion for ensuring his workmates get a 'fair go' at all times.” A former Head of the School, Associate Professor Sue Moffatt, praised Mr Wilkins as an example of the kind of excellence in teaching that institutions such as CSU need in a competitive market. “As a teacher, Kevin had the capacity to make complex concepts seem straightforward and he challenged even the brightest Games Technology student. The student evaluations of ‘Big K’ were always well above the mean.”

The potential of a new generation of web technologies, collectively known as Web 2.0, has attracted keen interest in a seminar being organised by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Information Studies and the National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra on Tuesday 27 November. About 150 people, representing libraries, cultural institutions as well as commercial organisations, are expected at the seminar entitled, Web 2.0 and its potential for the library community. “This seminar will explore very significant issues in terms of how organisations such as libraries can make interaction online much easier and user-friendly,” said Mr Jake Wallis, a lecturer in CSU’s School of Information Studies. Due to the high level of interest in the event from across Australia, staff from the CSU School of Information Studies plan to broadcast the series of talks via the Internet. The seminar will be held in the NLA theatre in Canberra at 8.45am on Tuesday 27 November.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) education expert believes greater investment in quality early childhood education and care would reduce the need to invest in gaols. Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Education, Professor Toni Downes has welcomed both Coalition and Labor policies which she says are trying to make early childhood education and care more affordable for Australian families. Professor Downes welcomes Labor’s pledge to create an entitlement for all four year olds to have at least 15 hours of early childhood education and care. Professor Downes says “While these initiatives are wonderful, they don’t go far enough. I would argue it should be the entitlement of all three and four year olds in Australia to have at least 15 hours of quality early education. In pushing for this additional investment in early childhood education, I contend that there are significant long term economic and social returns for the country. I firmly believe the more we invest in early childhood education the less we would need to invest in prisons,” Professor Downes said.