Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Dr Jane Mills will challenge current education methods with her public talk on Friday 9 September. Titled “Hollywood for Homework: you must be joking! The place of popular cinema in the classroom”, Dr Mills’ lecture will argue that the opportunity to learn how to be ‘screen literate’ is as much a democratic right as is learning how to read and write. For some years now the associate professor at CSU’s School of Communication and Creative Industries has been encouraging schools to include screen literacy in the classroom and this means encouraging students to look at Hollywood films for homework.  In this lecture she explores if there’s a conflict between classroom practice and official definitions of literacy.  “The current literacy testing system promotes the denigration of the image and the idealisation of the word, which creates problems for teachers and students when the image, especially the moving image, is used for teaching,” Dr Mills said.

In a bid to promote health and fitness, Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff will take part in the annual ‘Lake to Lagoon fun run and family cycle’ in Wagga Wagga on Sunday 11 September. Nearly 40 staff and their families will run, walk or cycle the 9.5 kilometres from Lake Albert to the Civic Centre at Wollundry Lagoon. The Occupational Health and Safety Committee for the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus is co-ordinating the CSU team for the event. Committee secretary, Ms Katie Richardson, said the event highlights the University’s commitment to health and safety while supporting the community. “It’s a great opportunity for staff and students to meet outside of work or study,” she said. “It also provides a chance to form networks within the Wagga community.”  CSU encourages staff and students to maintain a healthy lifestyle with gym and pool facilities, influenza vaccination programs and up-to-date health information and advice.

Research focusing on weed and disease management, the importance of diverse crop rotations and water movement within the soil profile will be on show at the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation Annual Field Day on Wednesday 7 September. Researchers from Charles Sturt University (CSU) and NSW Department of Primary Industries will present their trials and results to farmers, natural resource managers and industry representatives. Graham Centre Director Professor Deirdre Lemerle said it’s an opportunity to network and gain valuable information. “Our aim is for the field site to be ‘owned’ by the industry, and we are looking forward to some good discussion and debate, at the field day and in the future, about the constraints and opportunities facing our production systems,” she said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo is only weeks away from having new sports and recreational facilities. The $ 2.5 million project will boast a 400 square metre indoor area plus sports courts. “Charles Sturt University in Dubbo continues to expand with this construction,” says Head of Campus, Dr Beverley Moriarty. “The facility will not only contribute to the student experience Dubbo but will also enable us to hold larger functions and community events on campus.” CSU already boasts a networked library, clinical and nursing laboratories and an interactive learning centre which is an award-winning architectural achievement. Rawson Constructions began building the new facilities in March. The project is funded by CSU and the Australian Government's Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations' Voluntary Student Unionism Transition Fund for Sporting and Recreation Facilities.  

Renowned Australian documentary filmmaker Mr Tom Zubrycki will present a special lecture to Charles Sturt University (CSU) students about his new film, The Hungry Tide, on Tuesday 13 September before a screening that night at Metro 5 Cinemas in Bathurst. Dr Jane Mills, Associate Professor in Communication (Teaching and Research) at the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries said, “Tom Zubrycki has mapped Australia’s changing social and political landscape for the last 20 years. He has directed 14 documentaries, many of them feature-length and award-winning, and has produced another 12 with emerging filmmakers. His latest film, The Hungry Tide, which premiered at the 2011 Sydney Film Festival and greatly moved the audience, examines the struggle of Kiribati, a tiny Pacific nation threatened to be engulfed by rising sea levels due to climate change. For the105 000 inhabitants on Kiribati’s 33 atolls, climate change is not an abstract issue, as rising sea levels and salinity are now threatening their lives. I encourage everyone to see this compelling film about the plight of our Pacific neighbours, and to reflect on this most important environmental issue.” Mr Zubrycki will speak to students enrolled in various Bachelor of Communication courses at 4pm at the University.

The role of trade unions in vocational training is the topic of the first international visit to be hosted by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Centre for Organisational Performance, Ethics and Leadership (OPEL) in 2007. International human resource management academic, Professor Jonathan Winterton is a Professor of Human Resource Development and Director of Research and International Development at the Toulouse Business School in France. He will give a seminar on trade union approaches to vocational training on the Wagga Wagga Campus at 12noon on Wednesday 28 February. In conjunction with the European Union and its agency for vocational training, Jonathan has helped develop the European Credit Transfer System for vocational training and developing improvements to training systems in Lithuania and Turkey.

The Mitchell Student Guild at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst will host the annual Kids Day Out on Saturday 24 September. The co-ordinator of this year’s Kids Day Out at CSU, Miss Alyce Woods, said, “The event will be bigger and better, and all proceeds will go to the Bathurst Base Hospital Paediatric Ward, and the local Riding for the Disabled organisation. Children can meet Dora the Explorer, and the Toy Story movie characters Buzz and Woody, and see and do much more, so we encourage parents to bring their little ones for a memorable day out.” The event will also feature kids craft making stalls, an animal petting zoo, jumping castles, barbeque and food stalls, candy and show bags, sack, three-legged, and egg-and-spoon races, a stage with various local performers, raffles, colouring competitions, roving performers, face painting, an ambulance, a fire truck and a police car.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo will play host to a special NAIDOC Day celebration on Wednesday 21 September. The NAIDOC Day event hosted by the Barraamielinga Indigenous Student Services Unit will see invited community groups and community members such as the Dubbo Senior College ‘Indigenous Youth Leadership’ Scholars attend a BBQ lunch with the day themed Change: The next step is ours. Entertainment will feature award winning blues artist and 2011 Deadly Award nominee Buddy Knox and the Buddy Knox Blues Band, as well as local talent and 2011 Nanga Mai award winner Mr Kodi Lane. “It’s events like these that remind us of our heritage and celebrate our achievements as a community and as a nation,” said CSU Student Services Office team leader Mr Laurie Crawford. “We invite anyone to come along and enjoy the day.”

Supermarket botany, wine tasting, magic microscopes, water and soil testing and the multiplication of kangaroo paws using tissue culture will be on show in the Charles Sturt University (CSU) tent at the Henty Machinery Field Days. Staff and students from CSU will take visitors through hands-on and active displays that highlight various aspects of research and teaching in the University’s Faculty of Science, which is represented on its main campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga. Acting Dean of CSU’s Faculty of Science, Professor Lyn Angel, says, “Charles Sturt University has a strong presence in regional Australia, and the Field Days present a key opportunity to engage with the community, listen to current issues on the land, and show some of our education and training facilities”.