{"id":119,"date":"2017-11-02T01:10:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T01:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slis.simmons.edu\/blogs\/lis476\/?p=119"},"modified":"2017-11-02T01:10:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T01:10:56","slug":"meet-ben-maracle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slis.simmons.edu\/blogs\/lis476\/?p=119","title":{"rendered":"Meet Ben Maracle!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meet Ben Maracle!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Allyson Sekerke<\/p>\n

Ben Maracle is the former Outreach & Operations administrator at The Howard Gotlieb Center. The Center is a Boston University archival repository that specializes in contemporary public figures, and Maracle began working at the Center shortly after graduating from Cornell with a degree in communications. As a student, Maracle did outreach and administrative work for Cornell\u2019s Southeast Asia Program. Because of his experience in outreach, Maracle said accepting the position at the Center seemed like the right move.<\/p>\n

Although this position was historically administrative, Maracle ultimately became responsible for event planning and reforming the Friends of the Howard Gotlieb Center membership program. There are approximately 300 Friends of the Howard Gotlieb Center, many of whom have been members for over 30 years. One member even described this program as Boston\u2019s best-kept secret, a notion that Maracle hoped to change. \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing that I can do, it\u2019s make something begin to get legs\u201d Maracle said. According to Maracle\u2019s statistical research, many Boston University students settle in the New England area after graduation. With that in mind, Maracle wanted to design a membership program that would attract students and keep them engaged throughout their professional careers.<\/p>\n

Maracle has been restructuring the membership program and, with the help of an outside designer, developing new promotional materials. \u201cIn a sense, I have become an art director of the Friends program\u201d Maracle said. Maracle has also introduced surveys to measure the success of past events and expressed his surprise that no previous attempts to collect data from event attendees had been made. \u201cJust because you have 300 people, doesn\u2019t mean you have 300 happy people\u201d Maracle said. Having that data and understanding their return on investment, Maracle suggests, is critical to the continued success of the Center. The goal is not, of course, to make money, but to justify their existence to the university and ensure the university\u2019s continued investment in the Center. As Maracle says, \u201cour currency is people, people coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center, for example, is holding an event featuring Bonnie Timmermann, a legendary casting director, and at the same time, a Boston University communications professor is teaching an acting class. Ideally, Maracle says, the students in this course could come to the event and learn how \u201cnot to blow it\u201d at an audition. \u201cThere\u2019s a ton of students who would really get a lot out of it if they just new about it\u201d Maracle said.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, educational institutions, Maracle says, are naturally the \u201cslowest moving things on the planet,\u201d and despite his vision for a reformed membership program, Maracle faced many roadblocks from the administration. The administration was resistant to change, and Maracle himself had little say over the Center\u2019s programs, the majority of which are lectures and panel discussions. By the time they came down the \u201cpipeline\u201d to Maracle, the format of the event and the speakers had already been decided. Despite these limitations and despite the fact that Maracle left the Center in October 2017, he hopes he has made an impact on the Center\u2019s future membership. \u201cI\u2019m really hoping,\u201d Maracle said, \u201cfingers crossed, that this actually works.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Allyson Sekerke Ben Maracle is the former Outreach & Operations administrator at The Howard Gotlieb Center. The Center is a Boston University archival repository that specializes in contemporary public figures, and Maracle began working at the Center shortly after graduating from Cornell with a degree in communications. As a student, Maracle did outreach and … <\/p>\n

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