In September 2023, we launched the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program – a multi-modular professional development training intended to be completed over the course of approximately two years. We’re delighted to share that two of the participants are now ready to graduate as our first CSCCE-certified STEM community managers!
Congratulations to Erin Conn, Project Director of the SEA Change Community at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Miriam Krause, Director of Education, Outreach, and Diversity for the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology!
In this blog post, we’ll share more about Erin and Miriam’s experiences in the program, and how we’re celebrating their accomplishments. If you’re interested in learning more about the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program, either as an individual participant or as a financial sponsor, please reach out to training@cscce.org.
A brief overview of the program
CSCCE’s Community Manager Certification Program builds upon our foundational Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals (CEF) course to create a longer-form, multi-component, online program for STEM community managers. Participants are required to complete three multi-week courses (Content Design, Creating Community Playbooks, and an elective course of their choice), six Mini-workshops (Creating core values statements, Giving and receiving feedback, and four more of their choice), and attend three Quarterly Skills Share sessions (presenting a lightning talk at one of them).
The curriculum is intended to ensure all participants receive training in core concepts underpinning successful collaboration and community building. With this strong foundation, they can then choose their specialities via their elective course and Mini-workshops. Also, because of the program’s modular nature, it allows for new trainings to be added as we develop them. For example, we added Project Management for Scientists as an elective course this year.
Reflecting on their time in the program, both Erin and Miriam identified the connections they made with others in the program as integral to their experience. Community managers in STEM often report feeling isolated, being the only person on their team or organization responsible for building and nurturing a community. As part of the Certification Program, however, Erin and Miriam could see their own challenges reflected in the words of others, and via Co-Lab and Quarterly Skills Shared sessions they were able to brainstorm and problem-solve together.
Erin’s journey through the program
Erin Conn joined the CSCCE Community Manager Program as part of our inaugural cohort in September 2023. She completed CODE, PBK and her elective, Nurturing Online Communities (NOC) all in their pilot runs – making her one of our earliest champions! Her Mini-workshop choices reflect her interest in supporting online communities, and her lightning talk considered the challenges community managers face when working for a large organization – when often the work they do doesn’t fit snugly into a single job description.
About the program, Erin said:
“This is a certification that will not only enable you to be more effective in community management, but it will also give you the confidence in your abilities that are often discounted or overlooked–and give you the language to talk about them.”
Congratulations, Erin!
Miriam’s journey through the program
Miriam Krause finished the program in record-breaking time – just one year after joining our second cohort in 2024! This year, she completed our new Project Management for Scientists Bootcamp, and complemented the coursework she completed in CODE and PBK with practical tools for moving collaborative work forward. Her Mini-workshop choices reflect an interest in supporting volunteer communities, as well as facilitating online meetings and events that are engaging, efficient, and productive. And in her lightning talk, Miriam generously shared the tools and strategies she’s developed, and iterated over time, to better communicate with the members of her community.
About the program, Miriam said:
“Being able to put a label on the work that I do has been really validating. It has given me confidence to talk about community management work with my own colleagues and with other staff who have similar roles.”
Congratulations, Miriam!
Celebrating our CSCCE-certified community managers!
We’re celebrating Miriam and Erin in multiple ways! They’ve already received a digital badge recognizing their achievement, a digital certificate that they can print and display, and there’s a special surprise in the mail. We’ve additionally created a new page on the CSCCE website to recognize our certified community managers as they graduate, and at our June 2025 Quarterly Skills Share session we’ll be taking a little time to recognize their accomplishments with their peers.
Over the next three months, more of our Certification Program participants will be finishing up their requirements, so we look forward to celebrating them in late August! If you’d like to start your journey towards certification, you can find more information on this page of the website, as well as answers to some FAQs and a detailed breakdown of our prepaid and pay-as-you-go participation options. To enroll, please email training@cscce.org!