A project involving children with disabilities living in a Vietnamese orphanage is building a close relationship between health services and educators in Australia and Vietnam. Phu My Orphanage, located in Ho Chi Minh City, has helped more than 110 students from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Community Health complete the final clinical practice requirements for their occupational therapy, speech pathology and physiotherapy degrees since 2002. This year 12 CSU students, based in Albury-Wodonga, will work closely with over 400 children and their carers, living in the orphanage for six weeks starting in June while also demonstrating therapy to the carers. They will be accompanied by CSU occupational therapy course coordinator, Associate Professor Michael Curtin, and speech pathologist Ms Jo Shugg, physiotherapist Ms Kate Willoughby and occupational therapist Ms Brooke Carroll from Yooralla, a Melbourne-based organisation that specialises in working with children and adults with disabilities.

Three Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers have investigated what it means for Indigenous children, families, schools and communities to be prepared for schooling. The result is an approach that goes well beyond being concerned only with what children might know or be able to do. CSU Professor of Education with Murray School of Education, Bob Perry says, “We know a few things that do work: having high quality Indigenous staff in the school, good links between school and pre-schools, positive involvement of families and communities in the the transition to school, and top quality pre-school education all contribute to positive experiences. However, we must include Indigenous families and communities in the transition process and show them cultural respect as their children’s first educators. Children, families, communities and schools all have strengths that need to be recognised and celebrated.” The report, titled ‘School readiness: What does it mean for Indigenous children, families, schools and communities?’ will be launched on Tuesday, May 31 at Parliament House in Canberra by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP. The report includes input from local Wiradjuri community member, Ms Leonie McIntosh, as an adviser to the research team.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) human movement graduate, Paralympian and current world wheelchair marathon champion Kurt Fearnley won the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday 4 March smashing the course record by more than a minute. Kurt is originally from Carcoar in the NSW Central West region. Yesterday he said from LA, “It was a particularly sweet victory - my fifth straight win. I have definitely hit something - whether it is my peak I don’t know. I have conditioned myself to race week in and week out, and I am not sure how long it will last, so I am trying to do as many marathons as I can and figure out which ones I enjoy most”. This weekend Kurt travels to Japan for a track meeting before the Rome Marathon on 18 March. In April he will compete in the Paris and London marathons and attend the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards in Spain as Australia’s only nominee.

American philosophy scholar Professor Theodore Schatzki will be a special guest at Charles Sturt University (CSU) later this month during a three-week visit to Wagga Wagga. “Professor Schatzki’s visit is significant for Charles Sturt University because he is a world-leading philosopher of practice, helping to develop new ways to understand the way the social world is organised,” said Professor of Education at CSU Stephen Kemmis. The Professor of Philosophy from the University of Kentucky is a guest of CSU’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE).  Professor Schatzki will address the Institute’s annual research conference to be held on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 June. The conference involves some of RIPPLE’s 35 academics involved in research to support a range of professions including family day care, childcare, preschools, schools, the vocational education and training sector, business and management, nursing and allied health professions. Professor Schatzki will give a free public lecture at the annual RIPPLE conference in the Convention Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga from 3.30pm to 4.45pm on Thursday 16 June. He will also meet academics from the School of Education at CSU in Wagga Wagga from 9am to 12midday on Friday 17 June.

For the second successive year, a small group of Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will take the skills acquired during their studies to help young Fijians living in an orphanage in the capital Suva. Three students from St Martin’s College at CSU in Wagga Wagga will spend a week from Saturday 25 June volunteering at St Christopher’s Orphanage. Head of St Martin’s College, the Reverend Jenny Willsher is organising and participating in the trip. “This volunteer work will assist the students to further develop leadership skills and give them an opportunity to learn more about themselves and how they can be more effective in their own communities – especially rural Australia, once they have completed their Charles Sturt University studies.” The three volunteers include arts and education students from Armidale, Leeton and Sydney. At the orphanage, they will work in the pre-school, undertake tutoring of primary and high school students as well as do some cleaning and work in the vegetable gardens. “This year we have also been asked to help cover the university fees for one of the girls from St Christopher’s who is studying medicine with the Fiji School of Medicine,” said Rev. Willsher. “Students from St Martin’s College are currently fundraising. We will take all funds raised with us when we visit.”

Help is at hand for adults having problems with their speech, voice, fluency, communication or swallowing. Final year students in the speech pathology course at Charles Sturt University (CSU), based in Albury-Wodonga, will run intensive speech pathology services for clients over 10 weeks, starting Monday 25 July. Acting course coordinator, Dr Anna O’Callaghan said the clients will also “help educate and provide invaluable experience for speech pathologists of the future, many of whom are destined for positions in regional Australia”. Clinics will run from 9am to 5pm each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday until Friday 30 September at the Education and Research in Communication Clinic (ERiCC building) on the University’s Thurgoona site. “One in seven Australians has a communication disability, which can be present at birth or acquired later in life. Adults often experience acquired communication disabilities following a stroke or traumatic brain injury and can suffer frustration, anger, embarrassment or grief as they try to communicate.” To take part in this intensive remedial program, contact Dr O’Callaghan on telephone (02) 6051 9223 or send an email. 

The nature of human emotions and their relationship with pain will be the focus of a public lecture by Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Dr Andrew Delaney in Griffith on Wednesday 15 June. Dr Delaney is a neuroscientist who recently joined CSU as senior lecturer at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences to start a new electrophysiological research laboratory in Orange. His presentation, ‘The Emotional Brain’, will examine questions that have fascinated psychologists and neuroscientists for more than 100 years; ‘what are emotions?’ and ‘how does the brain generate an emotion?’ He will also talk about advances in tracing the neuronal pathways that are involved in generating an emotional response to pain. “I will highlight the neuroscience research that my colleagues and I will be conducting to address how the emotional circuits of the brain are activated during a painful experience,” he said. “We are also examining how changes in these circuits might contribute to the high rate of depression and anxiety in sufferers of chronic pain, a relationship that has particular relevance to those living with pain in rural communities.”

High school students from across the Riverina will gain an insight into the work of agricultural and veterinary scientists when they visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Friday 10 June. The annual EH Graham Centre Ag-Enrichment Day gives primary industries students the opportunity to observe some of the work done by scientists while learning about university courses and career opportunities. Students also gain some hands-on experience with sessions on beneficial insect identification, the importance of fungi, salinity and sheep reproduction. This year, 70 students from schools in Wagga, Albury, Coolamon, Barham, Finley and Lake Cargelligo will take part in the event.

Students from 13 Riverina high schools are expected at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Friday 16 June for the latest MyDay event. Aimed at giving Year 11 and 12 students a taste of university life, the day will focus on courses in the fields of accounting, management, marketing, business studies, IT and computing studies. Approximately 24 students will meet with CSU academics, attend information sessions about the various pathways to get into CSU, opportunities for international study experiences,  and advice on financial matters. A full list of upcoming MyDay events at CSU can be found here.