The guest speaker at the annual the Gala Business Dinner 09  in Wagga Wagga on Thursday 24 September will be Professor Sue Thomas, the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Professor Thomas will speak on ‘Building Business with Research’. Professor Thomas joined CSU from the University of Canberra last month where she was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research). Read more about Professor Thomas here. The Gala Business Dinner 09 will be hosted by CSU, TAFE NSW Riverina Institute and Wagga Wagga City Council from 7pm at the Garden Court Restaurant in the Botanic Gardens in Wagga Wagga.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic is ready to co-direct an international action research project following the success of a pilot workshop he conducted to develop the writing and publication skills of staff and postgraduate students at the Faculty of Social Work at Thammasat University, Bangkok, on 5 September. Associate Professor Manohar Pawar, from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga, will co-direct the Knowledge Creation and Dissemination project with a former editor of International Social Work, Emeritus Professor Karen Lyons from the London Metropolitan University. “The pilot workshop emphasised the importance of writing for publication, and was part of the proposed Knowledge Creation and Dissemination Project which aims to enhance academic writing for publication skills development. Participants’ evaluation showed the usefulness of the workshop, and the need for such workshops with a longer duration. After successful funding, the project workshop will be offered to social work educators and researchers elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region at their invitation,” Professor Pawar said.

When Australia’s famous Circus Oz performs in Bathurst on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September as the resident professional company for the 2009 Catapult Festival, its co-director Mr Mike Finch returns with it to where his career began. As a graduate of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media course at the School of Communication at Bathurst, Mr Finch says, “My current job as Artistic Director and co-Chief Executive Officer of Circus Oz was a direct result of the CSU theatre/media course. It simply gave me permission to turn those things I enjoyed doing into a career. The drive and commitment of the staff of the theatre/media course, and the various communications disciplines around it, and our access to the theatre/media resources directly led to the creation of Circus Monoxide as an entirely CSU theatre/media graduate project that went on to become a significant contemporary Australian circus. If it wasn’t for that group of people and those resources - the workshops, students and staff - Circus Monoxide would never have come to life, and I definitely wouldn’t be doing what I do now. The thing I love about Circus Oz is that there’s something for everyone and from so many angles - it never gets boring.”

A decade of innovative Australian wine and grape research will be celebrated at the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) located on Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus this week. A gala dinner on Wednesday 20 June will mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the NWGIC, a collaborative project between CSU, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and the New South Wales Wine Industry Association. A Wine and Grape Industry symposium, The NWGIC in the future of the Australian Wine Industry, will be held in conjunction with the celebrations on Thursday 21 June. Newly appointed head of the NWGIC Professor Thomas Henick-Kling says the past ten years have been marked by great success for the CSU collaborative project providing innovation and improved income for the Australian wine industry.

The importance of strong knowledge networks in the development of communities was stressed by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic when he delivered the keynote address at an international conference in India earlier this month. “Knowledge naturally multiplies,” said Associate Professor Manohar Pawar from the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wagga Wagga. “It is inherent in knowledge that it keeps expanding, spreading and growing exponentially. The most interesting aspect of knowledge is that while the recipient of the knowledge gains, the person passing on the knowledge does not lose anything in terms of knowledge. Thus the element of ‘network’ is inbuilt into knowledge,” argued Associate Professor Pawar. “Given this innate nature of knowledge, it may be relatively easy to build knowledge networks for community development in Asia and the Pacific.” Associate Professor Pawar delivered the speech, ‘Toward Knowledge Networks for the Economy, Society, Culture, Environment and Health for the GMS and Asia-Pacific’, during the conference held in Mumbai from Monday 7 to Thursday 10 September. The conference was organised by the Inter University Cooperation Program and Thailand’s Chiangrai Rajabhat University.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) was well-represented at Charles Sturt University (CSU) during a high-level visit to the Wagga Wagga campus on Friday 25 September. Hosted by the Head of Campus, Mr Adrian Lindner, senior officers of the Army, Navy, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Defence Reserves met with Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Professor Lyn Gorman, and academic staff from the arts, business, education and science faculties. They inspected the campus, including the new dentistry and oral health facilities, the Veterinary Clinical Centre, and the University’s television studios. “The visit by the senior officers is part of one of my priorities to further develop the relationship between Charles Sturt University and the ADF to ensure the sustainability of both organisations as well as our regional communities,” said Mr Lindner. “We are educating the professions of the future and that includes meeting the needs of the ADF. Additionally, Charles Sturt University is always searching for skilled staff such as may be found in defence force families.”

As three years of study at Charles Sturt University (CSU) draws to a close, a group of agricultural science students from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga are reflecting on the international value of their course. Twenty-one Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) students travelled to southern Vietnam for a fortnight earlier this year. The group attended lectures at Can Tho University in the Mekong Delta region on fruit and pig production, as well as training and extension to local farmers. The students travelled into the field to look first-hand at farming systems on the Mekong Delta, and to observe the fishing industry and its sustainability challenges. They visited a range of dairy producers and looked at the extension program for small dairy producers, operated by the Dutch Lady Vietnam Milk Company. “I was surprised to learn that during the wet season from May to December, the Mekong River flows at 40 mega litres per second, flooding the delta region,” said Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) student, Mr David Gale. “However, during the dry season, the Mekong flows drop dramatically and salinity becomes a problem because salt water from the ocean comes back upstream. The visit to the Mekong Delta region was invaluable in exposing me to a different way of farming, but at the same time it showed me that similar problems, such as salinity and nutrient deficiencies, exist in both Australia and Vietnam.” The trip has prompted the CSU student to consider an Honours research project in an area related to farming systems in southern Vietnam.

Horse lovers are champing at the bit to attend the next school holiday Equine School at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Orange after positive feedback about the previous event. The organiser of the Equine School, Ms Cheryl Gander, from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences says, “The School caters for all age groups and experience levels. Admissions are open until Wednesday 7 October for the Spring Equine School, which will be held from Tuesday 13 to Friday 16 October.” Participant Ms Rebecca Cady said, “Not only did I receive expert riding instruction which highlighted some riding problems I needed to correct to get my horse working better, I also learnt a lot about my horse's health and nutrition. The School included riding tuition of up to four hours per day in two sessions as well as classroom lessons and practical ground lessons like float loading, working with a young horse, and lunging. Everyone at the camp was so helpful and I made many new friends in those four days.”

When the Australian University Games began on the Gold Coast on Monday 28 September, Mr Charles Croucher, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism student at the School of Communication at Bathurst, had the important role of Master of Ceremonies at the opening ceremony held at Sea World. CSU is represented by a team of 140 students from its campuses at Albury-Wodonga, Wagga Wagga, Bathurst and Orange. They are competing in athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, fencing, handball, hockey, lawn bowls, rugby union 7s, netball, touch football, ultimate frisbee, volleyball and water polo. Manager of the CSU team and student support officer at CSU at Orange, Mr Nik Granger, said, “We anticipate strong performances from the women’s basketball, women’s hockey, rugby union 7s and men’s water polo. Two of our recently enrolled international students will be competing in handball and water polo.” Go, CSU, go!