The Australian Red Cross Blood Service has named Charles Sturt University (CSU) as the winner of its Club Red Corporate Challenge in Wagga Wagga for the second successive year. The University made the highest number of blood donations of businesses in Wagga Wagga in 2008. During a visit to CSU at Wagga Wagga by the Red Cross donor mobile unit, the Club Red Corporate Challenge trophy was presented to the University, with donations by CSU staff and students totalling 233 in 2008. The University’s blood donation efforts continue in 2009 as part of CSU’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The University has issued a ‘North-South’ challenge in March where the total staff and student blood donations at CSU at Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst (North) will be tallied against donations at Wagga Wagga and Albury-Wodonga (South). Read more here.

For Dubbo school leavers pondering their future, it’s good to know there’s a university on their doorstep, as local resident Mitchell Welham discovered. Born and raised in Dubbo, Mitchell enrolled to study a primary school teaching degree at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Dubbo, next door to his high school.  “Many people wondered why I would want to further my studies in my hometown,” Mitchell said. “I saw CSU at Dubbo as a way to continue my active participation in the Dubbo community and wanted to show that you didn’t have to go far to gain a successful career.” Having begun his teaching career at Tingha Public School in Northern NSW, Mitchell will return to Dubbo next week to graduate. To find out more about the University and its courses available on-campus or by distance education, CSU staff and students will be at Orana Mall to answer questions and guide prospective students through the next steps on their career pathways.

A warm Irish invitation is extended to the Canberra community to attend the annual ‘Celebration of St Patrick’, to be held at 12noon on Monday 16 March in the chapel of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) in Canberra. The service is a joint project of the ACC&C and the Canberra Friends of Ireland Society and will be presided over by Reverend Professor James Haire, AM, ACC&C Director. The homilist will be the retired Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, David Cremin, and Ms Susan Ryan, AO, a former Minister in the Keating Government, will give the Irish-Australian Address. Representatives of other churches will take part, as well as representatives from the Embassy of Ireland and diplomatic missions of other countries with historic ties to Ireland. Canberra’s Irish organisations, the Celtic Choir and Irish traditional musicians will provide music, songs and prayers in English and Gaelic. The collection will aid the peace and reconciliation of the Inter-Denominational Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland.

People in and around Maryborough and Castlemaine in Central Victoria will soon be able to have their say on how communities value natural assets. Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher and PhD student Ms Eloise Seymour is hoping for over 500 replies to a mail survey she is sending out which will give her feedback on how people value local environmental assets such as the local Box-Ironbark Forests, the Moorlort wetlands, and the Loddon River between Baringhup and Vaughan Springs. “The Moorlort wetlands have been dry for 10 years due to the drought but local farmers have said how important they are for bird migration and how spectacular they used to be. Survey participants should consider how they value wetlands now and in the past,” Ms Seymour said. The survey, which should take 20 minutes to complete, will be sent to people living in small towns, regional centres, on farms and with special interests such as field naturalists. “The survey results will help develop better ways for environmental organisations in Australia to decide what natural places should receive government funding and resources,” Ms Seymour said.

The prospect of gaining fresh employment leads was so inviting to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) distance education student that he travelled from Adelaide to attend the University’s Careers Fair at Bathurst on Monday 9 March. Mr Paul Cooper has studied a Bachelor of Business (Agricultural Commerce) with the School of Management and Marketing by distance education and will graduate at CSU at Orange later in March. “This is a great way to kick off career employment opportunities,” Mr Cooper said. “It’s an excellent meeting place for employers and graduates, and has confirmed for me that networking is the way find a great job. It has definitely been worth coming over from Adelaide to attend this event.” Ms Vicki Anderson, Student Services Career Counsellor and event organiser, said that the 36 employer organisations who participated all gave her positive feedback, as did the many CSU students who attended.

While 2009 provides Charles Sturt University (CSU) with an opportunity to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the year is also a time to honour the 114-year tradition of excellence and innovation in teaching, learning and research. The University was established when the Charles Sturt University Act was passed by the NSW Parliament in July 1989, however the institution’s history can be traced back to the Bathurst Experimental Farm, established in 1895.The official opening ceremony for the University’s 20th anniversary will be held from 11am, Thursday 12 March, in Joyes Hall at CSU at Wagga Wagga. Read more here.

Links will be strengthened between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and leading Pakistani agricultural researchers during a visit to the Wagga Wagga Campus tonight, 16 June, 2008, aimed at improving the nation’s dairy industry. Also in attendance at the visit will be the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner. "Pakistan is the fourth largest dairy producer in the world, yet manufactures very little of its raw product, with most milk consumed within 12 hours due to the lack of refrigeration and the need for constant supply," said Peter Wynn, Professor of Animal Production in the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. A CSU research team, working collaboratively in Pakistan for six months, has increased  productivity by working with farmers and agricultural agencies to implement changes in the industry.

Almost $1 500 has been raised for the Leukaemia Foundation World’s Greatest Shave by a staff member at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga. Multimedia Officer Mr Ian Hamilton, from the CSU Division of Learning and Teaching Services, said farewell to his locks and his beard on Friday 12 March. Ably supported by his CSU workmates and with sponsorship from local businesses, Mr Hamilton declared his hair loss a resounding success. Local hairdresser, Ms Bree Harrison from Mayhem Hair, gave her skills to the fundraiser free of charge. In thanking everyone for their support Ian said, “I have known people who have battled leukaemia so any money I could raise goes to a great cause”. The World’s Greatest Shave ran from Thursday 12 March until Saturday 14 March to support patients with blood cancers and to fund vital research.

The search for treatments to beat such modern day diseases as cancer and diabetes is prompting scientists to examine traditional medicines used by Indigenous Australians. Native plants including Prickly Fanflower were used by Indigenous Australians and Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher Dr Philip Kerr is investigating their potential as anti-cancer and anti-diabetic medicine. “Australian and other naturalised flora represent a vast, untapped reserve of potential eco-friendly medicinal agents,” he said. Other plants under investigation include Desert Poplar, Sticky Goodenia, Stiff-leaved Bottlebrush and the well known weed Bathurst Burr which may have the potential to combat cancer. Dr Kerr says his interest was triggered while studying in Western Australia where a controversial ‘cancer treatment’ derived from an Australian native plant was being dispensed to terminal cancer patients. "For many years, natural products from Australian flora had been studied but with no apparent connection to their medicinal potential, but with the renewed interest in medicinal plants worldwide, that interest has burgeoned," he said.