CQU staff and students are getting involved in several aspects of Beef 2006, being held in Rockhampton this week.

Among the most visible contributions will be performing arts students, popping up with crazy street theatre antics throughout the event.

CQU's Professor Kerry Mummery is a delegate to this week's Queensland Obesity Summit, at Parliament House on May 3-4.

He has also been in the national media lately, due to the release of survey results indicating most Queenslanders are overweight or obese.

During 2005, CQU Adjunct Senior Fellow Lynn Zelmer spent several weeks in Port Vila as an Australian Business Volunteer, helping to improve the quality of training offered by Edwards Computer Foundation (ECF), the only indigenous (ni-vanuatu) computer training organisation in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu, a relatively isolated Pacific island country with very high transportation and communication costs, has many needs.

Ministerial Regional Community Forum members from the Fitzroy/Central West Queensland Region are encouraging participation in an on-line forum.

This is the first time that Ministerial Regional Community Forum members have used the Queensland Government 'Get Involved' Website for community consultation, and they are keen to hear your views about government services in the region.

Associate Professor Tony Ward has been handed the reigns of research within the Faculty of Business and Informatics (FBI) at CQU.

FBI Dean Gus Guerson recently announced Associate Professor Ward’s appointment as Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty.

Leading jazz vocalist and trumpeter Vince Jones (pictured above) will join a busload of jazz talent for a tour of Queensland, including 8 FREE concerts in June.

The concerts presented by ABC Local Radio and Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music (part of CQU) will be at Hamilton Island (Saturday, June 10, 'Masters of Fare' expo at entrance to the Island's main pool, noon); Mackay (Sunday, June 11, Entertainment Centre, 3pm); Emerald (Tuesday, June 13, Town Hall, 7.

WIST students were recently introduced to the services available at the CQU library at a recent workshop.

Students from Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Gladstone attended the information literacy session which gave the WIST students skills in accessing information for their assignment writing.

Central Queensland University has contributed $10,000 to the Premier’s Disaster Relief Fund for people in Far North Queensland affected by Cyclone Larry, complementing more than $2000 in donations of money, non-perishable food items and toiletries already made by individual CQU staff, students and the CQU Student Association.

“CQU people across the University, especially at CQU Mackay -- our northern-most campus -- are really community-focused and they took the initiative to show their support in whatever way they could for the people of Innisfail and surrounding areas,” explained CQU Vice-Chancellor and President John Rickard.

Carla de Jong, graduate of the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music (CQCM) and producer of Network Ten’s children’s science show ‘SCOPE’, has now reached another milestone in her career, with her first ever Logie Award nomination.

'SCOPE’ has been nominated for Most Outstanding Children’s Program, a fact that is no doubt the highlight of Carla’s career so far and quite an achievement for everyone on the SCOPE team.

Torres Strait Islands singer/songwriter Seaman Dan, whose career was nurtured by CQU researcher Dr Karl Neuenfeldt, has released his new Oceania-focused tribute CD, 'Island Way'.

The album, a follow-up to his ARIA Award-netting 2004 album, 'Perfect Pearl', features Hawaiian hulas, a Fijian chant and a song written by a descendant of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and sung in Norfolk Island dialect.