Industry leaders have collaborated with Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Rural Management to give students a hands-on look at how successful livestock businesses are run. More than 20 students attended a three-day study tour to the Riverina as part of the Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management degree. “By giving students involvement with leading industry managers we hope to influence young peoples’ attitudes and interest in agriculture,” says tour leader Rod Cox. The tour visited large pastoral company holdings such as ”Jemalong Station” at Forbes, and ”Benerembah Station” at Darlington Point. The students returned to the University with a renewed passion for the industry with one student saying, "When I first heard of the tour I had reservations because I thought I would be out of my depth. However, as the trip progressed I've realised how much I really know and could contribute. This has given me a real boost, and allowing us to mix with leading managers has helped us gain knowledge while supporting what we have already learnt.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Chancellor Lawrie Willett, AO and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter witnessed the first two graduates from CSU Orange Campus accept their degrees last Friday 16 March 2007. Amity Ballantyne Latham received her Master of Sustainable Agriculture degree and Malgorzata Bronicka graduated with honours with a Bachelor of Land Management (Ecological Agriculture) degree. “This has been the best research experience I’ve had,” said Malgorzata of her Honours year. Her thesis studied soil fungi in saline and non saline soils in Gumble, NSW. “After completing my Masters, I plan to move back to the country and work in town planning with a focus on natural resource management.” Results from her research will soon be published in Sydowia, an European journal dedicated to studies on fungi.

Graduate business managers in northern Victoria and southern NSW seeking to upgrade their qualifications with face-to-face postgraduate studies closer to home are one step closer with an agreement to be signed by the Australian Graduate Management Consortium (AGMC) and Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE (BRIT) on Friday 11 May. As part of the Australian Graduate Management Consortium, BRIT staff will deliver Charles Sturt University (CSU) courses that will lead to a Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma in Management, which are part of the University’s Master of Management program. An agreement allowing NSW Riverina Institute of TAFE to offer similar courses at its Albury, Wagga and Griffiths sites is due to be signed later this year. National Coordinator of the CSU program, Jan Knox said,,”The AGMC Programs are a innovative way of delivering graduate study opportunities to students throughout inland Australia”. The CSU-BRIT agreement will be signed at 11.30am on Friday 11 May in Bendigo.

The lack of doctors and dentists in rural areas often overshadows the critical shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs). To overcome this, Charles Sturt University (CSU), the Moira Nursing Education Consortium and the Greater Southern Area Health Services (GSAHS) have collaborated in programs that encourage Enrolled Nurses (ENs) who are based in rural, regional and remote areas to upgrade their skills and become RNs. The program takes residential schools and clinical placements to the ENs, as well as providing them with financial and other support. Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Health Science at CSU, Heather Latham says, “We are confident they will continue to work in their local communities. It is so important to support these nurses”. One of the nurses, Sharyn Maxwell who works at Tumut Hospital, said, “We already live here, work here and want to stay here. It was a wonderful experience. The CSU lecturers were very supportive and approachable. It made such a difference having that peer and financial support, as well as the support from my employers.”

A Wiradjuri Elder who was born and raised on the Talbragar Reserve near Dubbo, NSW, has been recognised at the recent annual Women Out West (WOW) awards on Saturday 31 July for her contribution to education and to Charles Sturt University (CSU). Aunty Pat Doolan, PSM,* was nominated by CSU education lecturer Ms Maria Bennet for her key role in supporting University staff and students with educational and cultural knowledge, and was awarded in the category ‘Dubbo Local Aboriginal Land Council Award for Outstanding Aboriginal Leadership inspiring generosity of spirit’. “The award is long overdue acknowledgement of Aunty Pat’s contribution and commitment to Indigenous education both within the region and more broadly, and she has had significant involvement with Charles Sturt University in Dubbo and the Centre for Indigenous Studies,” Ms Bennet said. “She has worked extensively across western NSW in community development, education, child protection, Aboriginal employment and community development to improve social outcomes for women and Aboriginal people in the Bourke and Dubbo communities.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has a diverse property portfolio across its regional locations, and one such property currently undergoing renovation at 126 William Street, Bathurst, was most recently a restaurant and function centre known as Lamplighters Restaurant. Before that it was the Galloping Grape bar and restaurant, and prior to that the AMP Society Building. “This is a landmark building in Bathurst and is on the University’s heritage register,” said Mr Keith Hogan, Director, Procurement and Risk Management, in the CSU Division of Facilities Management. “It is also distinguished on the Bathurst City Council Regional Local Environmental Plan as a significant historical building. Following an asset management review of the building in the first half of 2010, funds have been allocated to enable the start of repairs to the property. This work consists of restoration of the historic front facade, repainting internally and externally, separation of the upstairs offices with repairs to flooring and services, and a number of priority works to protect and enhance the property.” The Executive Director of the CSU Division of Facilities Management, Mr Steve Butt, said, “Charles Sturt University supports sustainability of its built environment with a view to reuse, and maintains its many heritage listed properties for the legacy of inland Australia.”

The Vice-Chancellor of Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Ian Goulter, will confer his Teaching Excellence Award for 2006 on Ms Deborah Clarke, lecturer at the School of Human Movement, at the University’s Bathurst Campus postgraduate students’ graduation ceremony on Thursday 10 May. Ms Clarke’s ability to engage her students and develop them into critical thinkers and life-long learners was central to her success. “In everything she does, Ms Clarke focuses on making connections between university study and the world of schools,” says Professor Toni Downes, Dean of the Faculty of Education. “Her classes are highly interactive and always at the forefront of knowledge about teaching, a point consistently acknowledged by her students. Above all, she helps her students to see how dry curriculum documents can be translated into exciting and meaningful classroom experiences for children in schools. She does this by modelling creative, challenging and innovative ways of teaching children and always looking for ways to improve her own practice.”

A series of workshops on an “acutely important subject” – frailty – will be held around New South Wales and South Australia regional locations between May and October. The first workshop will be held in Wagga Wagga on Sunday 20 May. According to Professor Patrick Ball, from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Biomedical Sciences, who leads the multidisciplinary team developing the program, the aim is to optimise the care of frail elderly people in rural and remote communities. “A frail elderly person who falls ill can suddenly go from living independently to being in institutional care. But if you intervene appropriately and vigorously in the early stages, you can keep them at home for years longer. This is especially important in rural and remote areas so you don’t disrupt their life. Their social circle isn’t ruined and we do not finish up picking up the bill as a society.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will honour the achievements of Mrs Gail Kelly, the managing director and chief executive office (CEO) of the St George Bank at the University’s Bathurst Campus graduation ceremony at 10.30am on Friday 11 May. Mrs Kelly will receive an honorary Doctor of Business for her contribution to the financial services and banking industries, and to the promotion of women in leadership. Mrs Kelly, who will also deliver the occasional address at the graduation ceremony, migrated from South Africa to Australia with her husband and four children in 1997. She was head of the Customer Service Division of the Commonwealth Bank prior to joining the St George Bank in January 2002, and was the first woman to become CEO of a major Australian bank and one of the top 15 public companies in Australia. The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine recently nominated Mrs Kelly as one of the ten most powerful women in Australia.