Welcome to the start of the 2017 Academic year. I have to confess that I got blocked in writing the first blog post of the year by events in world politics and wondering about the role of universities is in a ‘post-truth’ era. But I’ll come back to that in a subsequent post.
Yesterday I went along with other staff to greet new students and parents arriving in the residences at Bathurst. We are holding similar events across our campuses. It was really great to see the new faces and to welcome everyone back to campus – it always seems very quiet without the students around. A week ago, I and other members of the Senior Executive met with the Resident Assistants (RAs) as part of the training they receive before taking on the role. This is a wonderful way to start the year as the RAs are a very impressive and motivated group of people. It’s also a great opportunity to hear first hand how they are finding the University. They do a terrific job of setting the tone and culture in our residences and we are very proud of them for this and the support they provide their fellow students.
I mentioned in the last post that we will be rolling out the new 2017-22 University Strategy over the first half of the year. At this point, our Director of Strategy, Planning and Information, David Bedwell and his team are working with various areas to fully scope and define the content of the strategic goals. Stay tuned for more updates on this as the work progresses however, at this stage I am really happy to see the direction progressing with our communities, students and our staff in mind.
As a final note, last year we had four staff taking part in the Royal Far West Ride For Country Kids and this year myself and eight other CSU staff from across our campuses are taking part. We have been working with Royal Far West on a number of fronts given our shared interest in promoting rural and regional health and we hope to do more in the future. This year the route is 420km over three days starting from the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus and finishing at CSU Orange Campus. The teams are made up of Executive Deans Tracey Green and Tim Wess, academics Greg Linsdell and Johnathan Hewis, Gethin Thomas and Elizabeth Dunlop from the Research Office, Liz Smith from Office for Students and Nicole Rogers from Student Admin as well as a friend of Nicole’s, Andrea Anthony. Everyone has been training hard for this and I have been relieved to find that, despite a slack period over last winter, I don’t feel as exhausted as I was last year after the 100km+ rides on the weekends.
Last year overall the ride raised $650,000 to support Royal Far West’s work to improve the health of disadvantaged rural and regional kids and their families. The fundraising pages for the two teams are here:
https://rideforcountrykids2017.gofundraise.com.au/page/AndrewVann0
Any support gratefully received!
This Thursday 23 February, I will be cooking a BBQ (proudly supported by Cheers) to raise money for the ride on the Library Lawn of the Bathurst Campus. It will run from 12 – 2pm. If you’re in Bathurst, please come along and say ‘hi’ to welcome in our first term of 2017 during O Week and help raise some funds for this great cause! Hoping to see as many of you there as possible.
Enjoy 2017.
Very good to have this personal message from the Vice Chancellor. Many thanks, Andrew.
This is the 70th anniversary year of the opening of Wagga Wagga Teachers’ College. A few of the first students (Pioneers) are still alive such as Mrs Winifred Wilcox and her husband whom she met on the course, Mr Kevin Wilcox. They are in the Wagga Wagga Teachers’ College Alumni Association (part of the broader Charles Sturt University Alumni) which has reciprocally raised money for its scholarship fund and been substantially supported by the University, in particular by its Advancement Officer, Mrs Stacey Fish. Mr Bruce and Mrs Lesley Forbes are the current President and Secretary of the Association.
Nigel Tanner.
Hi Nigel, indeed it is the 70th Anniversary – I believe a dinner is being organised at the end of October to celebrate and I’m looking forward to attending. Regards, Andy.
Very kind of you to respond, Vice Chancellor. We will be honoured by your attendance at this event. Best wishes, Nigel.