TAPinto Greater Olean, an online news site staffed by St. Bonaventure University students, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this semester.
TAPinto Greater Olean, an online news site staffed by St. Bonaventure University students, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this semester.
The university’s Jandoli School of Communication launched the site to give students journalism experience and provide residents of the Greater Olean area with coverage of their communities. Since its inception, the platform has become a leading source of news and information for people in the Greater Olean area.
“As TAPinto Greater Olean celebrates 10 years of covering our communities, I want to thank the dozens of students who have worked hard to provide residents of Olean, Allegany and the surrounding areas thoughtful local news coverage,” Jandoli School Dean Aaron Chimbel said. “In particular, our students, and their tireless faculty mentors, Anne and Rich Lee, distinguished themselves covering the COVID-19 pandemic and solidified this organization’s importance to the community through impactful reporting. Here’s to many more years of excellence.”
The Lees, Jandoli School faculty members who had lengthy careers in journalism, serve as editors of TAPinto Greater Olean and teach a course, Journalists’ Workshop, for the students who staff the site.
“We run the class like a newsroom,” Richard Lee said. “We discuss story ideas and give the students advice and direction on how to pursue them.”
Most of the students’ work takes place outside of the classroom.
“We send our students into communities so they learn what it is like to cover everything from protests to fires to sports,” Anne Lee said. “Former students tell us that the professional experience they gained at TAPinto Greater Olean has helped them to get jobs and perform them successfully.”
TAPinto Greater Olean is part of the TAPinto network, which includes more than 95 independently owned and operated local news and digital marketing platforms.
“We are proud to celebrate our first decade of partnership with St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli School of Communication, one of the first digital local news partnerships with a university in the United States,” TAPinto CEO Michael Shapiro said. “At a time when there is an emphasis on universities helping to fill local news deserts, the TAPinto University model has proven to be enduring, providing a meaningful community impact and a wonderful training ground for young journalists looking to enter the field.”
Dr. Pauline Hoffmann, an associate professor in the Jandoli School, was instrumental in developing the partnership with TAPinto when she served as dean of the school.
“The platform has filled a critical gap by delivering relevant news and spotlighting the people and organizations that make our area thrive,” Hoffmann said. “Anne and Rich Lee are dedicated to teaching the next generation of ethical journalists through TAPinto Greater Olean. That we are the only TAPinto franchise that is student-driven is a testament to their faith in the future of journalism.”
TAPinto Greater Olean is accessible at tapintogreaterolean.net and on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).