The Riverina firm A&G Engineering has generously renewed its support for Charles Sturt University (CSU) wine science program with an annual scholarship for a student. The 2006 A&G Engineering Scholarship valued at $15 000 has been awarded to final-year wine science student Tanya Worontschak. “I feel extremely privileged to receive this scholarship as this financial assistance will not only be used to fund my trips to study in Wagga Wagga but also help me purchase a computer and fulfil my aim to study and travel overseas,” said the CSU student. “I cannot thank A&G Engineering enough for their generosity,” she added. Ms Worontschak is studying at CSU by distance education while working as assistant winemaker/quality controller at Primo Estate Winery in Adelaide. Tanya Worontschak is following a family tradition after her uncle and London-based wine-maker and wine judge John Worontschak won the same award, formerly known as the Ron Potter Scholarship, two decades ago.  

Every time actress Alexandra Davies features in another dramatic scene as Cate McMasters, Registered Nurse and Ambulance Paramedic at All Saints General Hospital, the phones run hot at Charles Sturt University (CSU). That’s because CSU is one of the few universities in Australia to offer the double degree Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic). Veronica Madigan, senior lecturer and PHC (pre-hospital care) course coordinator, says CSU started pre-hospital care education in Australia and was the first to offer the double degree. This year it was the most popular double degree to enrol at CSU. “The television drama All Saints has a couple of nurses who are also fully trained paramedics.You see them in their two uniforms at different times in the show so one day they might be a triage sister and in the next scene they might be out on the road as a paramedic,”  Veronica Madigan explained. In Menindee (population 980, 110 kilometres south-east of Broken Hill) there are no doctors but there are Advanced Care Nurses who are also paramedics. “At night they instantly revert to the ambulance service. When there’s a call out they are the ones who jump in the ambulance and retrieve the patients and decide whether or not they need to be flown out or taken on-road to Broken Hill. The diversity is amazing and one of the reasons our students are keen about this course.”

A former POW and the first US Ambassador to Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War, Douglas “Pete” Peterson will receive an Honorary Doctorate from Charles Sturt University (CSU) at a graduation ceremony commencing at 10.30am, tomorrow Wednesday 5 April.  As a US Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War, “Pete” Peterson spent six and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The University will also present the award of Companion of the University to Ian Dean from 10.30am on Thursday 6 April for his strong support of the pharmacy program at CSU and its aims to educate and retain pharmacists for rural and regional Australia. Almost 2 200 graduates from the five Faculties will receive their degrees during six ceremonies at CSU in Wagga Wagga from Wednesday 5 April to Friday 7 April. Three outstanding graduates will receive the University Medal for their academic achievements. They include Bachelor of Nursing graduate Colleen Alphonso from Wagga Wagga and Bachelor of Health Science (Mental Health) Catherine Powell from Lismore from 10.30am on Thursday 6 April and Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) Ben Ovenden from Carrathool on 10.30am Friday 7 April.

Seven Charles Sturt University (CSU) Study Centre Sydney students from countries including Cambodia, Switzerland and Russia received Dean’s Awards for academic excellence this week at a ceremony in Darlinghurst. Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Professor John Hicks presented Dean’s Awards to Bachelor of Business Studies graduate Ruchik Ganghi from India and students Regine Kilmanek, Germany and Daniela Scarcia, Switzerland. Associate Professor John Messing from CSU’s School of Information Studies presented Dean’s Awards to Bachelor of IT students Anatoli Kovelev, Russia; Dara So, Cambodia; Ji Xin Jia from China and Sui Hei Muk from Hong Kong. CSU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Goulter,said the awards reflected CSU’s vision of a national university known for its excellence in education and applied research with a flexible delivery of learning and teaching.

Allied health students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) accompanied by two academic staff leave this weekend to spend up to six weeks working with children in a Vietnamese orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.The students will gain important practical experience working with the children, many of whom have severe disabilities. Organised by the University’s School of Community Health, this is the fourth visit by the health students and staff to the Phu My orphanage which provides schooling and health care for around 350 orphans. The 11 students who are studying physiotherapy, speech pathology and occupational therapy,have raised $2 700 from student clubs and fundraising to purchase resources and equipment for the orphanage and pay for Vietnamese interpreters.  

World renowned film director and creator of Star Wars movies George Lucas has spread a bit of his Force into the Border region this month with official recognition to a special local family for their film Star Wars: Attack of the Webbs. Lucas, Tegan, Grace and Faith Webb, wrote and starred in the four-minute film with assistance from four of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Speech Pathology students and the editorial help of a final-year Albury High School student. The original story, loosely based on the Star Wars movies, includes cast interviews and comic out-takes. All the Webb children involved in the movie suffer from a rare genetic disease that affects their growth and they received the full red-carpet treatment last year at CSU for the world premiere of the movie. The Webb children received autographed awards from Lucas who stated that he enjoyed their movie very much. The signed statuettes of the Star Wars character Yoda were sent to the Webbs in recognition of the efforts of all involved in the movie’s production. Lucas said the Yoda figure was most appropriate, stating “it sounds like all of you are believers in Yoda’s words: ‘Do or do not – there is no try’.”

Fifty-three first-year veterinary science students at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus were each presented with a free stethoscope last week. The stethoscopes, valued at $159 each, were donated by the manufacturer, Welch Allyn Australia, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of medical diagnostic instruments, and the veterinary wholesale company Lyppard. In presenting the stethoscopes, Welch Allyn’s distribution sales manager, Andrew Petersen and Lyppard’s Andrea Baker said their companies wanted to demonstrate support for CSU’s new Veterinary Science program and its first-year students. CSU is the first regional university in Australia to train veterinary science students. The inaugural intake of 45 students successfully completed their first year of studies in 2005.

Network Ten's Sydney news director, David Breen, is making a hurried visit by helicopter to Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bathurst Campus next Tuesday (4 April) to announce a special opportunity to broadcast journalism students. Kay Nankervis, Associate Lecturer in Journalism in the School of Communication, says Mr Breen will unveil a "competition which is exclusive to our students. He wants ten of our students to visit his news room this year. He will pick the person who performs best over a week and give them six weeks paid work experience at the end of the year." Mr Breen will address those third year journalism students majoring in broadcast, telling them what to expect when they walk into a newsroom fresh from university. Ms Nankervis says it is invaluable information for the would-be journalists. "They learn exactly what news directors are looking for. They get to hear from a person who's working in the industry, who's a hirer and firer. They get to find out what the directors don't like about young journalists, and what they do like about them." The visit is the first in a series of lectures to Communications students from media professionals, including Mark Llewellen, head of news at Channel Nine, and Heather May, ABC’s cadetship co-ordinator.

One of Charles Sturt University’s key public spaces on the Bathurst Campus has been transformed into an exhibition for some of the gems of the Charles Sturt University Art Collection. More than two dozen Australian and British prints, donated to the University by Melbourne businessman Dr Douglas A. Kagi over the last few years, are now hanging in the Mansfield Building. The artworks, which were framed with the generous support of a $10 000 grant from the Charles Sturt Foundation, cover several floors of the building containing lecture theatres. The exhibition includes works by Arthur Boyd, Jamie Boyd, Graham Sutherland, Joe Tilson and Treahna Hamm. “The selection of the Mansfield Building for these key works from the 1 700-piece CSU Art Collection is significant because I wanted to choose a public space on campus which is occupied by both students and staff and flows outside onto the lawn near the library,” said CSU Art Curator Thomas Middlemost. The Mansfield Building honours Emeritus Professor Bruce Mansfield, who was involved in the development of CSU's Bathurst Campus over many years, The exhibition is open to the public.