Starting on Monday 11 February, Orientation Week at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will welcome over 1100 new students to the Bathurst Campus as well as introduce them to the social attractions and businesses in Bathurst. Ms Pamela Rudge, a CSU student who is also Orientation Week Sponsorship Coordinator, says “This is a time that students remember fondly for the rest of their lives. The experiences new students have and the associations they form during Orientation Week will influence their spending behaviour and preferences for the rest of their time at CSU. That’s why this is the perfect opportunity for businesses to introduce and promote their services and products to new students whose combined long-term spending contributes millions of dollars to the Bathurst economy.* I encourage all Bathurst business people to contact me to arrange to promote their businesses to the new CSU students during Orientation Week,” Ms Rudge said. Orientation Week activities run from Monday 11 to Friday 15 February, and will centre on the theme for 2008, ‘Orientation Games - Achieving Your Goals’. Highlights of the week will include; an information market day for local community organisations to promote their services to new university students; a market day for commercial businesses to promote their products and services to students from stalls on the CSU library lawn; mystery bus tours which familiarises students with landmarks, essential services and participating business houses; and day and night entertainment. Bathurst businesses interested in becoming involved with Orientation Week can contact Ms Rudge at the CSU Orientation office on 6338 4799.

Scientists from around Australia and overseas will discuss how the brain processes text at a forum convened by Charles Sturt University (CSU) in the Blue Mountains of NSW on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 December. Dr Joanne Arciuli, from CSU’s School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies, said that the forum - It’s all in the Mind; Information Processing and our Language and Literacy Development - will consider questions such as: What parts of the brain are active during reading? Do we inherit our reading ability? Do you have to be a good speller to be a good reader? and Artificial intelligence is largely based on understanding of the left hemisphere - but what about the right hemisphere? The forum, at the Fairmont Resort, Leura, will report on new research in studies of text, gathering researchers, students, clinicians, educators and technology developers from the Australian Research Council’s Research Network in Human Communication Science (HCSNet), who are working in areas such as visual word recognition, reading and spelling, literacy development, text analyses, brain imaging and computer modelling.

“Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Inland Health (CIH) is a valuable resource for the communities of south-eastern NSW that not only provides insight into the health and wellbeing of communities within the Riverina, but also supports allied and primary health care professionals in rural and remote areas,” said Riverina Division of General Practice & Primary Health CEO, Mrs Nancye Piercy. The Centre for Inland Health was established at CSU in response to the lack of information and realistic solutions to meet the health needs of inland Australian communities. The Centre co-ordinates cooperative research and development programs designed to examine and address the priority health issues and concerns of inland Australian communities, which also aid the Division in identifying models of care consistent with the needs of Riverina communities. “During the past 12 months the Division has formed a very close relationship with the CIH by providing support and direction to program managers through training and education, providing support for local doctors and partnering the Division in numerous funding proposals to better support primary health care needs in the Riverina,” said Mrs Piercy.

Equity and social justice was the focus for a conference hosted on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Ontario Campus in Canada in October. The annual, one day Equity and Social Justice Conference, including 210 students enrolled in the University’s Bachelor of Primary Education Studies program, began with a keynote presentation from Mr Chris D’Sousa, the Equity and Diversity Officer from Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. The CSU students were then able to investigate specific topics including Aboriginal education in Ontario; An Australian perspective on the role of Aboriginal English in achieving learning equity for young Indigenous students; culturally proficient education; developing and implementing an equity, diversity and social justice perspective in the classroom and equity through the arts. One of CSU Ontario’s 2007 graduates currently teaching in an inner-city school in Toronto shared his experiences as a first year teacher. Mr Nigel Bariffe’s workshop, Experiencing Equity/Social Justice from the Inside Out and Outside In challenged candidates to fully engage in their chosen profession, both within and beyond the classroom.

A study conducted by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher has revealed disturbing links between diabetes and depression. Medical science honours student, Ms Marina Jeeawody, reports that the level of depression in people with diabetes is much higher than those without diabetes. Based on the analysis of 750 participants from Albury and surrounding areas, the research showed depression is more prevalent in older women, and despite the stigma of mental illness, there is a shift towards recognition and the acceptance of depression and a willingness to discuss mood changes with health professionals. “For the people with diabetes, depression may be an additional barrier to achieving effective self-care. As a risk that can be modified, depression treatments could decrease the risk of diabetes-related complications,” said Ms Jeeawody.

The founders of the theory of thermodynamics in the 19th century did not find it easy to make themselves heard by the scientific community of the day, and it did not help that they did not grasp fully what they had found. They revolutionized everyday life by using energy and by creating methods for the production of fuel, and they rendered traditional philosophy redundant. Charles Sturt University (CSU) is hosting a visit to the Riverina, in regional NSW, by Professor Emeritus Ingo Muller of Technical University, Berlin, who will deliver a public lecture, The terroristic nimbus of entropy and other fanciful stories from the early history of thermodynamics. The lecture will be held on Monday 19 November at 5pm in building 11 - room 208. Professor Muller is a leading expert in thermodynamics and was the recipient of the Leibniz award of the German Science Foundation in 1988 and the International Award for Theoretical Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, Italy, in 2006.

A $407 000 project to upgrade campus lighting on Charles Sturt University's (CSU)Thurgoona site was switched on this week. The new lighting, which meets Australian Standards, will provide a secure environment for staff and students on campus at night. The lighting follows the campus focus on environmental sensitivity by minimising light pollution, providing low rates of light spill into the night sky while illuminating pedestrian, car park and roads. Head of CSU's Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor Gail Whiteford officially ‘turned on the lights on Wednesday 14 November.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students at the Wagga Wagga Campus are contributing to the social fabric of the Riverina in regional NSW, by supporting charities that assist those in our community who are less fortunate or are struggling to make ends meet in these tough times of drought. Students in the CSU Halls of Residence pay 50 cents at each social barbecue that they attend during the year, with this money donated to charity. In 2007, students raised nearly $2 700 which will be donated to the Salvation Army - Wagga Wagga Drought Appeal and Movember. The cheques will be handed over to representatives of the charities by CSU students at the Full Board Christmas Dinner commencing at 6pm on Thursday 15 November in the student dining room.

Cadet journalists working at National Radio News (NRN) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have gained a number of paid internships with leading media organisations. NRN manager Mr Peter Hetherington said that the success of NRN staff in gaining outside internships and other placements is quite significant. “This is the pilot for an ongoing program, and those who show aptitude during the internship will be fast tracked into fulltime work at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC),” he said. “It demonstrates that the training our students receive in their CSU journalism course and the practical experience they gain through their NRN cadetships equips them to step straight into on-air roles with major broadcasters.” Three NRN cadets - Rebecca Bruce, Frank Ienco and Cameron Green - commenced paid internships with ABC Radio in Sydney from 5 November. Former NRN journalist Matthew Reardon has been accepted for an internship with Deutsche Vella, Germany’s major public broadcaster NRN cadet Patrick Cronan has commenced with 2TM Tamworth as on-air news journalist, while CSU graduate Rochelle Nolan has commenced as fulltime journalist with NRN.