Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism is seeking applicants for the Academy for Alternative Journalism, a recently established program designed to recruit and train talented minority writers for work in the alternative press.
Ten students will pursue an intensive eight-week course designed to qualify them for jobs or internships at more than 120 urban weeklies that are members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Students participating in the inaugural session from June 19 through Aug. 11, 2000 will receive a $2,500 stipend.
Most successful applicants will have taken at least basic journalism courses and have completed at least their junior year of college by summer 2000. However, talent and commitment to journalism will count more than credentials. Individuals who are currently in the work force are also welcome.
To be considered, applications for entrance should include a completed application form, letters of recommendation and published or nonpublished examples of work. To request an application and for more information, contact Stephan Garnett at (773) 468-5711, or e-mail s-garnett@nwu.edu.

Georgia Southwestern State University, responding to a shortage of nurses and to the state's high rates of teen pregnancy and infant mortality, is offering a new master's degree in nursing with a major in nurse midwifery.
Nurse midwives are trained to follow low-risk pregnant women through pregnancy, delivery and after birth, according to Judith Malachowski, assistant dean of the School of Nursing. Most midwives in Georgia work with obstetricians and gynecologists, she says.
"Certified nurse midwives have been shown to reduce [the rates of] infant mortality and low birth weight," says Cathy Rozmus, dean of Georgia Southwestern's School of Nursing. "And after looking at the demographics of this problem in south Georgia, the university system agreed that the need existed for the program."
The Georgia Southwestern program is expected to begin next fall with eight to 10 students. It is the first public college in the state to offer a degree program in midwifery. The private Emory University is the only other school in Georgia to offer such a degree.
For more information, contact Rozmus at (912) 931-2072.