Cox Foundation Helps CU’s Journalism School Create Innovative Program
Every day for 22 years, George Orbanek was responsible for making sure the residents of Western Colorado had the latest news. As publisher of the Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel, he ran the most comprehensive news organization between Denver and Salt Lake City.
Before his recent retirement, the James M. Cox Foundation honored Orbanek’s longtime commitment to the news business in a fitting way. A $75,000 grant to the University of Colorado at Boulder’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC), Orbanek’s alma mater, was made in his name.
Reflecting Orbanek’s passion for sourcing and delivering news, the grant funded a program designed to teach Colorado’s rural media and residents how to effectively negotiate and use the Web as a communications tool.
As a dedicated journalist, it was easy for Orbanek to see how these lessons would benefit entire communities — not just the media. “The Web is clearly the most transformative development since the invention of the printing press.”
So he championed a funding proposal to grow the already popular web-themed workshop and approached the Cox Foundation to secure the grant. Thanks to the funding, “The George Orbanek Journalism Workshop: Outreach Program for Negotiating the Invisible Web and Interactively Engaging Residents of Colorado Communities” will take place five times each year in towns and cities in every corner of the state, taught by SJMC faculty and staff.
The journalism school has created a truly compelling program that has enormous practical utility — it’s a program that George Orbanek is proud will bear his name.
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