On the eve of the 2007 federal election well known pollster, Mr Sol Lebovic will deliver a keynote address to the Australian Media Traditions conference at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Bathurst Campus on Thursday 22 November. Mr Lebovic is the founder of Newspoll and is The Australian newspaper’s polling consultant for the 2007 federal election campaign. The conference is being hosted by CSU’s School of Communications. The School, in association with radio station 2MCE-FM, is using the latest in web streaming technology to broadcast Mr Lebovic’s address over the internet, as well as the Friday keynote address by Ms Rose Holley from the National Library of Australia (NLA). The live internet broadcasts will be transmitted via the AMT Live! on the conference website. Ms Holley is the manager of the NLA’s newspaper digitisation program, which aims to digitise all Australian newspapers, allowing Australians to share in the country’s wealth of newspaper heritage. Conference convenor Ms Margaret Van Heekeren, from the CSU School of Communications, said the use of web streaming technology “takes the conference out of the conference room and gives the broader public a chance to hear from experts”.

A self-help recovery group for people with eating disorders will be established in Bathurst in early December under the umbrella of Sydney-based Eating Disorders Foundation Inc. (EDF). Dr Stephanie Quinton, a health psychologist at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies on its Bathurst Campus said this was the EDF’s first ‘rural’ group outside of Sydney. “This is a self-help recovery group open to local people who might be interested in participating. EDF will assess enquiries and then provide suitable people with information about the date, time and location of group meeting,” Dr Quinton said. Meetings will be held in the evening on the first Monday of each month on CSU’s Bathurst Campus.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD student Mr David Dowell will present results from his doctoral thesis at a public workshop particularly aimed at local businesses in Bathurst on Tuesday 27 November. Mr Dowell’s research focused on the development of trust in business-to-business relationships and its effect on the performance of a business. Mr Dowell’s supervisor, Professor Mark Morrison, said “the meeting to discuss David’s research results is an excellent opportunity for local business people to learn of developments and thinking in the area of business trust. Other experts in this field - Professors Louise Young and Ian Wilkinson from Sydney and CSU’s Professor Denise Jarratt - will attend to comment on the significance of David’s work”. Professor Young will also give a presentation from her own research on ‘Two decades of trust research’. Local business people and interested public are invited to attend the workshop on 27 November from 12.30 to 2.30pm at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, William St, Bathurst.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will honour a woman from inland NSW whose influence is felt across Australia and North America. Dr Jill Ker Conway will be conferred with a Doctor of Arts (honoris causa) in recognition of her achievements in educational leadership in Northern America, for her contribution to Australian society and business, and as a champion of social justice and women’s rights in a ceremony to be held in Wagga Wagga this evening, Tuesday 20 November. Dr Conway has served on the boards of numerous companies, including Nike, Colgate Palmolive and Merrill Lynch, and as Chair of Lend Lease Corporation. She was born in 1934 in the small township of Hillston and spent the early part of her childhood on the family property “Coorain”, located on the far western plains of NSW. The honorary doctorate will be awarded to Dr Conway at the Convention Centre on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, starting at 6.30pm.

The National Council on Intellectual Disability (NCID) has given Charles Sturt University (CSU) the ‘thumbs up’ for its management of the NCID’s Wings Away library collection on intellectual disability. This relationship is set to continue with a new agreement to be signed at the Albury-Wodonga Campus Library in Albury on Thursday 22 November at 1.30pm.  The agreement covers the ongoing hosting of the NCID Wings Away collection by CSU, continued free interlibrary loans for NCID and an annual donation of $1 500 to further develop the collection. The Wings Away collection, named after the group of former Australian flight attendants who set up the collection, was transferred from NCID to CSU in mid 1997.  The collection consisted of over 3 000 books and journals on intellectual disability and benefits students in CSU’s habilitation and other allied health courses. Representative from CSU, NCID and Wings Away will attend the signing ceremony.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders will have the chance to “test drive” university life later this month when the annual Koori Admissions Program (KAP) is held at Charles Sturt University (CSU). The program will be run at the Dubbo Campus from Monday 26 until Thursday 29 November and offers potential Aboriginal students the opportunity to experience university life while being assessed on their skills. Participants can also meet with staff at the University’s Indigenous Support Units, which offer academic and personal support to Indigenous students. The Units are located at the Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Goulburn and Wagga Wagga campuses. “This program, which is an alternate entry to CSU, gives potential Aboriginal students the chance to see if university life is for them in a supportive and caring environment,” said Mr Ray Eldridge, Manager of the Indigenous Support Units at CSU. Current Indigenous students will also discuss how CSU has met their needs and aspirations with CSU’s KAP staff.

Colourful elements of Indigenous Australian cultures will be presented to school students from the Border region when they visit a free education day hosted by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) early childhood education students on Monday 26 November. The University students, directed by CSU academic and Wiradjuri elder Yalmambirra, will lead small groups that explore various aspects of Indigenous cultures including games, bush tucker, face painting, dance and storytelling, and be assessed as part of their teaching degree course. “The day long event is an important educational experience for CSU students and 500 primary school pupils that will visit during the day,” said Yalmambirra. The event will be held from 9am at the Mirrambeena community centre, Martha Mews, Lavington.

A newly appointed Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer with the School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences in Wagga Wagga has received accolades from a prestigious international veterinary publication. Mr Jan Lievaart, now based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, has won the annual award for the best scientific article published in the Journal of the Royal Dutch Veterinary Association, the equivalent of the Australian Veterinary Association. The paper, Transvaginal aspiration as the primary treatment of follicular cysts in dairy cattle, was published in 2006 and is a result of research collaboration between veterinarians in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Director of Veterinary Science, Professor Kym Abbott says the award reflects the high standard of research Mr Lievaart will undertake while at CSU. Mr Lievaart is a lecturer in veterinary epidemiology and his research interests are lameness and mastitis in dairy cattle and herd health programs related to general food safety.  

The medical fraternity of inland NSW has a rare opportunity to hear from a world leader in cardiac research when the Medical Director of the Cardiac Health Institute in Sydney, Professor Hosen Kiat visits the Riverina this week. Professor Kiat will be at the Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus on Friday 9 November to present a seminar to CSU staff entitled Preventing Heart Attacks without Prescription. The Professor of Cardiology will also attend a Nuclear Medicine scientific conference at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 November. Professor Kiat, who is also a specialist in nuclear medicine, has over 200 scientific publications and several books including The Eastwest Medical Makeover, which provides a blueprint for longevity and a robust life style, based on his long term passion in the eastern philosophy and his profound knowledge in western medicine. Professor Kiat believes “it’s not about life expectancy, but a greater expectancy for life”.