Having lost contact for decades, two friends will reunite 8 000 kilometres from their homeland, when a visiting Vice-Chancellor of an Indian university and now-Hindu monk meets with Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Dr Anantanarayanan Raman in Orange. A senior lecturer in ecological agriculture, Dr Raman has coordinated the visit of his dear friend Swami Atmapriyananda who is visiting from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur Math (near Calcutta), West Bengal, India. During his stay in Orange, Swami Atmapriyananda will give a public lecture at CSU in Orange titled Interfacing Physics with Philosophy: the Spiritual Journey of an Indian Monk. “We used to work together at a university in India,” Dr Raman said. “Since then my friend has become a monk and I have moved to Australia. We haven’t seen each other for decades, so I’m looking forward to taking him to visit ecologically sustainable enterprises in Orange.”

A rare collection of framed photos, books and a highly significant 1842 plan of the Wellwood pastoral property will be donated to Orange City Council by Charles Sturt University (CSU) at a ceremony on Thursday 10 December. The Wellwood Collection was given to the Orange Agricultural College in 1969 when the Wellwood property was considered as a possible site for the College and although Rosedale Park was acquired as the site, the collection has remained with CSU and its predecessor institutions for nearly 40 years. CSU’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, said the Wellwood Estate Collection was a valuable asset for local history and as such was better located with Orange City Council. The council plans to have the collection documented and made accessible online and through exhibitions.

Radio 2MCE, the community broadcasting service operated on behalf of Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst, was recently named an award winner at the annual Community Broadcasting Association of Australia national conference at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane on 20-22 November. Ms Michelle O’Connor, the Programming and Production Coordinator at 2MCE who was present to accept the award, said staff at the station were very pleased to be recognised by their sector peers in winning the ‘Most Innovative Outside Broadcast or Special Event Broadcast’ award for 2MCE’s Sounds Live project in 2009. “Sounds Live was a live music festival, and a major live-broadcast feat for a community radio station. It featured the Sounds Live Cabaret, held in conjunction with Local Stages and Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, the Sounds Live Acoustic concert at the CSU Ponton Theatre, and more than 15 live-to-air performances from our 2MCE studio. During the week we heard jazz, classical, acoustic, cabaret, dance, folk and country music from local musicians and two live concerts broadcast on 2MCE,” Ms O’Connor said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has risen to the task of finding new ways to promote careers in agriculture, an industry which continues to demand skilled professionals to meet the challenges posed by a changing climate and the global demand for food. The School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU in Orange and Wagga Wagga has launched the ‘Partners in Agricultural Education’, a collaboration with 30 of agriculture’s leading companies to offer final-year Bachelor of Agricultural Science students the opportunity to spend time in a workplace with skilled mentors. The initiative is in response to confronting statistics that reveal the number of people with tertiary qualifications in the agricultural sector is just seven per cent compared to the national average of 22 per cent in other sectors. Companies involved in the scheme were recently thanked at a function at CSU in Wagga Wagga. Coordinator of the new professional placement subject offered in the Bachelor of Agricultural Science, CSU lecturer Dr Alison Southwell, said, “For students thinking about taking up a degree in agricultural science this opportunity will be a real drawcard. For current students it will build real technical competency in the area of agriculture they hope to pursue, as well as developing the professional skills enabling them to become the industry’s future leaders.” Students will begin applying for placements with participating companies in 2010.

The Rafters Bar at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst throbbed with the sound of camaraderie on Sunday night 29 November when hundreds of Australian and international road-based gravity sports champions and competitors celebrated with their families and supporters at the 2009 Newton’s Playground party and presentation ceremony following three days of world-class thrills and spills on the neighbouring Mount Panorama motor racing circuit. About 200 competitors from every state in Australia and from Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Britain, the United States, France and Malaysia gathered for the second Newton’s Playground, a world championship event for skateboard, street luge, in-line skates, and gravity bikes staged at Mount Panorama under the auspices of the Australian Skateboard Racing Association (ASRA) and the International Gravity Sports Association (IGSA). One of the event organisers, Mr James Hopkin, from Hopkin Skate, said the aim was to develop Newton’s Playground year by year, and that meant choosing a date when CSU students were in town. “We love Mount Panorama and Bathurst, and want to engage the Bathurst community as we develop this great event. That also means involving Charles Sturt University students as potential competitors, spectators and support workers. For example, former CSU student Mr David Robinson, who graduated from the CSU School of Communication in Bathurst in 1988, played a leading technical role by enabling videoing and live web-casting of the event,” Mr Hopkin said. CSU Student Services Officer, Ms Alex Leis, who liaised with the organisers for their four-day post-competition use of The Rafters Bar food and beverage facilities, said it was a happy collaboration to have the gravity racers use the CSU facilities.

Three international students have experienced the ultimate taste test, maturing their cheese making skills at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Cheese Factory. The students, Wai Yee Fung, Pei Leng Chong and Hooi Chee Tan from the University of Science, Malaysia (USM) gained experience in commercial cheese production during an eight-week internship at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus. The students, who are studying for degrees in food technology and chemical science at USM, have produced sample batches of Sorke, Paneer and Juusota cheeses, none of which are commercially available in Australia. The public’s tastebuds were tempted when these cheese varieties were ”taste tested” at the popular Farmers Markets in Wagga Wagga during the June long-weekend. Barry Lillywhite says it is possible these cheeses could go into full commercial production at the CSU Cheese Factory.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate has claimed an international award for the best sparkling wine in the world. Dr Marc P. Bradshaw, Wine Master at Pillitteri Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, is still celebrating after his win at the Effervescents du Monde®, held by the Forum Oenologie, on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 November in Dijon, France. Dr Bradshaw’s Sparkling Icewine Cabernet 2008 was named first in the top 10 sparkling wines against competitors from France, Italy and Argentina. The annual event attracted more than 500 wines from 24 countries. Dr Bradshaw received his PhD from CSU in Wagga Wagga, Australia, in 2002 after completing his research in 2001 investigating ‘Ascorbic Acid as a Promoter of Wine Spoilage’ under Professor of Oenology, Professor Geoff Scollary. The then CSU academic convinced the PhD student to pursue a career in wine over his initial plan to work as a forensic scientist. Dr Bradshaw has worked at wineries in South Africa, Germany and Australia. He started at Pillitteri Estates Winery in Canada in 2004, and was elevated to the position of Wine Master in 2006. “I’m stoked that my Cab Sparkling Icewine was given the honour of top spot at the Effervescents du Monde. It’s pretty surreal for me as this was my first crack at producing a sparkling wine of any sort. It’s very humbling that my Canadian red Icewine should be judged so highly among top champagne and sparkling wine producers and regions,” Dr Bradshaw said.

After flying through the air and around the world, Charles Sturt University (CSU) student Mr Rick Resijan swapped the stage for the classroom for a while in order to complete a degree in primary education at CSU in Ontario. Born in Hamilton and raised in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Mr Resijan moved to Toronto to study fine arts and then joined the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York, USA. “In the past 20 years I have danced in such classic ballets as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Firebird and Cinderella, as well as contemporary ballets such as Prodigal Son, a rock ballet to music by The Doors,” he said. “A special job at this time was working with the children’s theatre company New York Theatre Ballet, and I suppose this also captured my interest in teaching children. I am now back in Canada while I study at CSU, but I can’t stop dancing – I have a few projects with the Victoria Ballet Academy in Toronto and am appearing in The Nutcracker in Richmond Hill, Toronto. I would love to combine my love for dance with teaching to work in an arts-oriented school.”

A ceremony to honour the significant contributions eight individuals have made to Charles Sturt University (CSU) and its predecessor institutions will be held in Wagga Wagga on Thursday 17 December. The honorary naming ceremony of student residential accommodation at CSU in Wagga Wagga is part of the University’s 20th Anniversary celebrations in 2009. Similar ceremonies have been held at Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, and Orange throughout 2009. Those to be honoured at the ceremony in Wagga Wagga include Mrs Jane Asimus, Mrs Anne Brassil, Mr Peter Gissing, Professor Richard Johnstone, Mr John Mahon, Emeritus Professor Bruce Mansfield, AM, Emeritus Professor Ted Wolfe and Mr Rodney Parsons, OAM.