In recognition of the urgent need for more paramedics for emergency care services in regional Australia, the next group of paramedic students will commence their three-year course this week at Charles Sturt University (CSU). “This is our first mid-year intake for this course. We had quite a few students who couldn’t get into the program and we have offered this second enrolment in response to this demand. CSU pioneered pre-hospital care in university education in Australia and this is now the first mid-year intake for these students,” said paramedic course coordinator Veronica Madigan. Students are due to commence their studies with an official welcome and orientation this week at the University’s Bathurst Campus. CSU’s spring academic semester commences next Monday 24 July.

“The news that the Federal Government has provided 40 new places to the Bachelor of Clinical Sciences degree at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is a strong recognition of CSU’s role in education and recruitment of rural health practitioners,” said Professor Mark Burton, CSU’s Dean of the Faculty of Health Studies. He was responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement late last week that CSU has been successful in its bid for additional university places in health-related disciplines in 2007. The new Bachelor of Clinical Sciences degree will stream rural and regional students into guaranteed places at Sydney University’s dental and medical degrees. “CSU has a strong track record of working to solve issues in regional communities. Our pharmacy graduates have already shown their commitment to stay and work in our regions and CSU’s collaborative arrangements with health agencies including the Greater Area Health Services has improved the critical shortage of Registered Nurses in rural and regional areas,” Professor Burton said. The Federal Government also announced 10 additional Clinical Psychology places at CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus. Professor Ben Bradley, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts, said the new places will allow CSU to extend its flexible delivery of clinical training for psychologists who prefer to study at a distance. “They are already working in rural and remote Australia where there is an urgent need for psychological expertise to deal with the nation's growing burden of mental illness” Professor Bradley added.

Nosey neighbours are usually frowned upon but in the Macquarie Valley looking over the fence is giving cotton farmers a better understanding of pest management, thanks to research conducted by Charles Sturt University. Funded by the Cotton Catchment Communities Co-operative Research Centre (CRC), the project investigates ecologically-based pest management for Macquarie region cotton production. CSU Associate Professor of Applied Ecology, Geoff Gurr and PhD student David Perovic are working with growers in Trangie and the wider Macquarie Valley area to better understand how pest problems in cotton crops are influenced by neighbouring farms. “We’re conducting surveys on various types of non-crop vegetation such as native bushland and monitoring the movement of beneficial insects from there to the crops at different times of year,” Professor Gurr explained.

One of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) first graduates in wine science is the new President of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). Peter Hayes is the first Australian to head up the peak international wine body which has grown from an organisation formed in 1924 by six old world producers and now comprises 42 consumer and producer countries. “In 1975 CSU was the only place you could study wine science externally. I took on the CSU course because I wanted to broaden my options. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all held wine trading licenses whereas I was interested in the viticulture,” Mr Hayes said from Spain. The OIV recently resolved the issue of oak chips in wine-making and is now working towards consistent labelling. Mr Hayes says crucial issues include sustainability and the world wine surplus which currently sits around four times Australia’s total production. “That’s one of the challenges we have. How do you assist member countries to adapt their production capacity to the consumers?” Mr Hayes was previously Director of Viticulture at Rosemount Estate, National Viticulturist and Industry Relations Manager at Southcorp Wines, and President of the OIV’s Viticulture Commission from 2003 to 2006.

The strong relationship between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the city of Wagga Wagga was the subject of a recent presentation to about 20 Indonesian officials studying in Australia. CSU lecturer and deputy chairman of Wagga Wagga City Council’s Commercial Strategy Committee, Peter Adams joined Michael Jowett, from the TAFE NSW Riverina Institute to discuss what role education plays in the local economy. "The delegation was very interested in the collaborative approach CSU and TAFE NSW play in developing our region as well as the engagement of our research centres at the local level right through to our international programs,” said Peter Adams. The Indonesians are from the islands of Flores, Maluku, Sulawesi, Lombok and West Timor as well as the province of Aceh in Sumatra.  They are studying local and regional economic development for three months at the University of Canberra and visited Wagga Wagga in July as part of a regional study trip.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) diabetes expert Dr Herbert Jelinek is concerned at the rapid growth of diabetes on the Border and around Australia in recent years. “Diabetes is the fastest growing disease in Australia, a trend reflected in regional areas including Albury-Wodonga,” he said. Dr Jelinek leads a group of CSU researchers investigating low-cost methods of assessing people for diabetes at the early stages of the disease. “We aim to allow diabetes and its complications to be assessed quickly in screening units in regional and rural areas before people face the more debilitating symptoms of the disease, such as high blood pressure and blindness,” Dr Jelinek said. This week is National Diabetes Week which runs until 15 July.

A leading advocate for community services in regional Australia and an academic who has championed the cause for older Australians, Celia Bevan, will retire from Charles Sturt University (CSU) this week. Apart from a 12-year academic career as course coordinator in gerontology with CSU, Ms Bevan was a NSW representative with the Australian Council for Social Services (ACOSS) and NSW president and national secretary with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). Ms Bevan will be farewelled by her academic colleagues this Thursday 13 July at the University’s Albury-Wodonga Campus.

“As you get older you get weaker and become more frail. Imagine a magic pill that could turn the clock back 10 or 20 years. With all the research we have, resistance training is the closest you are going to get to a magic pill,” says Dr Jack Cannon of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Human Movement Studies. Dr Cannon’s PhD research showed that resistance training can improve the quality of life in older women. Last year in conjunction with the Bathurst Information and Neighbourhood Centre he and colleague Dr Rylee Dionigi ran the Promoting The Power In You program for Bathurst residents over the age of 60, with remarkable results. Dr Cannon and Dr Dionigi found that all the participants reported feeling much better both physically and mentally during and after their 12-week exercise program. Dr Cannon says, “They were able to do things they were not able to do previously and things they were able to do, they could do with a lot more ease. One said instead of struggling to pull herself out of the bath, she was almost jumping out. Someone else said they were riding their pushbike in fifth and sixth gear instead of third gear. They would play golf all day and come home fresh and be able to cook dinner and walk the dogs, instead of just crashing on the couch.” Jim Glen was one of the participants last year. “The gym undoubtedly did help, I felt much stronger. My wife thought I was trimmer. I recommend it often to people.”

One of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) leading academics Professor Gail Whiteford has been added to the latest list of top achieving women in Australia. Professor Whiteford joins over 4 000 high-profile achievers and unsung heroes across Australia in the new Who’s Who of Australian Women released on Friday 30 June. Originally educated as an occupational therapist (OT) working extensively in Australia and overseas, Professor Whiteford has over 20 years involvement in OT and holds several national professional positions. Her current research interests include research into occupational and professional and intercultural practice with research projects in the Murray Valley of southern Australia and in Vietnam. Professor Whiteford is now Head of the University’s Albury-Wodonga Campus as well as Director of the University’s Centre for Research into Professional Practical Learning and Education (RIPPLE) and a senior researcher with the centre. In her work to nurture other academics, Professor Whiteford also spearheaded a new program at CSU in 2004, the Banksia Program,  to encourage more women researchers to undertake and complete research.