The annual fundraising appeal for men’s health, particularly prostate cancer and depression, will have the support of students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga, albeit a month earlier than usual. The Moctober Challenge – Grow or Design a Mo’ will be held on campus from Friday 9 October to Friday 6 November. The challenge for men to grow a moustache and for women to design one is being supported by the University’s Division of Student Services’ Health Promotion Service and the student rural health club known as CSU WARRIAHS. Registrations for the month-long challenge will be taken on Friday 9 October with all participants needing to be clean shaven.

In the lead up to Orange Wine Week, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Winery is holding a wine dinner in Orange on Thursday 8 October to showcase a selection of current, pre-release and museum release wines. The dinner is being held at Union Bank Wine Bar and will be accompanied by a delicious three course dinner. The wines marry grapes from CSU’s Orange and Wagga Wagga campuses under winemaker Mr Andrew Drumm. An integral part of Australia's leading wine and food science school at the forefront of viticultural practices and wine making techniques, the 4.5 star rated Wagga Wagga winery is considering opening a cellar door outlet at the CSU Orange Campus. To book and pay for the $50 per head dinner, please phone Union Bank directly on 1300 721 731.

Fourteen students enrolled in ecotourism at Charles Sturt University (CSU) had the opportunity to tour East Timor for two weeks, investigating and experiencing tourism and community development. Led by CSU senior lecturer in ecotourism, Dr Rik Thwaites, the students found an undeveloped country outside the capital Dili, with problems in providing suitable food, infrastructure and transport for tourism. “We always felt welcome and were treated with the utmost respect, even though the average villager outside of Dili was very poor being mainly subsistence farmers and fishers,” said third year student Sarah Ridgway. “On Atauro Island [off the main island], they had a different understanding of tourism to international visitors. The sense of tradition and community is very strong in these isolated areas and Western attitudes were actively discouraged among the villagers, so these cultural differences will be a major challenge for the future development of sustainable tourism in regions outside Dili.”

Enrolments in information technology (IT) courses offered at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga increased significantly in the second half of 2009, says the Head of the University’s School of Computing and Mathematics, Associate Professor Irfan Altas. According to Professor Altas, demand from local businesses has also increased, with “the School constantly receiving inquiries from Border businesses to employ CSU graduates and students, some before they have even completed their courses. Local businesses who already have CSU graduates working for them have also congratulated us for preparing them to be ready for the workplace.” Professor Altas says CSU prepares IT and computing science graduates to work in the global marketplace as well as local businesses.

Wagga Wagga is the first port of call for the annual Rural Awareness Tour organised by the Cattle Council of Australia. The 12 members, representing key government and industry groups will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga during the visit to the city on Monday 12 October. The tour will also take the group to Knight’s Meats and Cargill Beef Australia’s Wagga Wagga plant. The tour will continue in regional NSW until Thursday 15 October. While at CSU, the group representing agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry and Meat and Livestock Australia, and AUS-MEAT Limited will meet key academics and tour facilities such as the Veterinary Clinical Centre. CSU offers educational and research programs for graduates in the fields of agricultural, animal and veterinary sciences through the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences. The Cattle Council is the peak body representing beef cattle producers in Australia.

Dance is the message this week at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Albury-Wodonga when Mr Philip Piggin from Canberra Dance Theatre visits Albury. Mr Piggin will present a public lecture, entitled ’Why Dance? A short taste of the learning, empowerment and joy that can be found through dance’, on Wednesday 7 October in the Cliff Blake auditorium at CSU’s Thurgoona site. “Visiting artists enhance the culture of our campus and the wider community also benefits by participating in sessions with the artist. Philip Piggin has a strong connection to the CSU community and Albury-Wodonga,” said acting Head of the Murray School of Education, Ms Jenni Munday. Mr Piggin will take dance workshops with CSU students from the Murray School of Education and the School of Community Health, the new ‘home of dance’ at CSU to be located in the new School of Community Health building at Thurgoona.

Survey figures show that National Radio News (NRN) which is compiled and broadcast 365-days a year by Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism students at Bathurst has a weekly audience of 1.35 million adult listeners. “Not a bad result for a ‘bunch of kids in a country town’,” said NRN manager Mr Peter Hetherington. “NRN has had a real flurry of enquiries from potential new subscriber stations, with a number coming from regional areas, while others have come from key markets including suburban Sydney and the Gold Coast. NRN now has close to 90 subscriber stations right across Australia, which is about 50 per cent of all stations in the Community Radio Network. This makes NRN the most popular news service in the community radio sector, and one of the most ‘listened to’ news services of any broadcaster in Australia.” Mr Hetherington also noted that some NRN cadets had recently taken up professional roles at major regional radio stations, which was further proof of the value of the training radio cadets gain at NRN.

The Sprung Festival of 12 productions by third-year theatre/media students from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication, was launched at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre (BMEC) on Tuesday 6 October. One of the festival’s production coordinators, Ms Erica Heller-Wagner, said a crowd of Bathurst residents and university students attended the launch held in conjunction with a Local Stages soiree. “During the soiree, in which local artists also performed, snippets of the Sprung Festival productions, which range from more conventional dramatic plays, to short films and physical theatre, were shown. These included previews of the theatre and physical theatre shows, and trailers of the films and television pilots,” Ms Heller-Wagner said. Tickets to Sprung Festival shows are $5 child/concession/student and $7 adult. For information and bookings call 0414 223 659.

Living sustainably through kitchen gardens in schools and in the wider community is the focus of the 2009 Education for Sustainability Conference to be held at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Bathurst on Friday 30 October, with a second optional day on Saturday 31 October. The conference is being staged in conjunction with the Bathurst Community Climate Action Network (BCCAN), and will examine growing food as a way of addressing sustainability issues through school curricula and the development of practical skills. One of the conference organisers, Ms Jan Page, from the CSU School of Teacher Education at Bathurst, said, “With food being the largest component of many individuals’ ecological footprints, growing food not only addresses health issues but also provides a framework to develop knowledge and skills for individuals to reduce their footprint by living more sustainably.” As well as educators from pre-school to tertiary level, members of the Bathurst region community are invited to attend.