May 2025 CSCCE Monthly Newsletter

May 2025 Newsletter

Our first certified community managers, new resources, upcoming events, and recent talks

Our big news this month is the graduation of our first CSCCE-certified community managers! We launched the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program in September 2023, predicting that it would take 18 months to two years to complete. And here we are, 18 months later, celebrating Erin Conn and Miriam Krause: Huge congratulations to you both!

We designed the program as a way for STEM community managers to develop their wide-ranging skillsets in community – combining instruction from CSCCE staff with opportunities for peer learning and connection. As a result, they leave the program with a valuable credential, plus a new-found validation for their vital expertise, confidence that they have the skills and attributes they need to succeed, and renewed pride in their work.

As of March of this year, we’re accepting new participants into the program on a rolling basis, so if you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch.

CSCCE on the road

Over the past few weeks, CSCCE’s Founder and Director, Lou Woodley, and Director of Learning, Camille Santistevan, were “on the road,” sharing more about our work at various events and conferences.

Navigating the changing landscape of academic research development

At the end of April, Lou delivered the keynote address for the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) at their annual meeting. If you’re working in research development at an academic institution we’d love to continue the conversation about how we can support your professional development offerings and faculty community-building.

Supporting open-source projects – at the participant and institutional levels

Reflecting our ever-deepening interest in open-source, Lou also took part in a plenary panel presentation for the Toward Next-Generation Ecosystems for Scientific Computing meeting in Chicago, hosted by Argonne National Lab, where she shared some exemplar lessons from our work developing trainings and champions programs for open-source contributors.
She also gave a “Deep Dive” presentation for the Community for University and Research Institution OSPOs (CURIOSS) community in mid-May, the recording of which you can watch in full on our blog.
Camille participated in the Collaborations Workshop 2025, hosted by the UK Software Sustainability Institute, giving a brief lightning talk on how we’re expanding our work in open-source communities (you can expect to hear more from us on this topic very soon!).

Fall training calendar now available

This month, we also finalized our fall training offerings. Based on feedback, we’ll be hosting another cohort (our 20th to date!) of Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals (CEF) and Nurturing Online Communities (NOC) in September/October, and Project Management for Scientists (PMB) in November/December.

Also in this month’s newsletter:

Download our new infographic that summarizes all the ways that taking CEF impacts community managers, their communities, and the broader STEM ecosystem
Find out more about how our various training offerings fit together – including Mini-workshops, courses, and certification
Sign up for our annual mid-year networking event – only a few spots remain!

Training news

A composite image of Erin and Miriam's headshots, divided by diagonal blue lines.

Announcing the first graduates of the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program!

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! Find out more about their journey through the program on the CSCCE blog.

Digital badges for three of CSCCE's training courses: CEF, NOC, and PMB.

Three CSCCE multi-week courses coming up later this year

Registration is now open for our “Fall” cohorts of Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals (CEF), Nurturing Online Communities (NOC), and Project Management for Scientists (PMB), as well as several Mini-workshops. On the CSCCE blog, we’ve summarized who each multi-week training is designed for and how they connect to the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program.

An infographic summarizing the impact of CSCCE's Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals course.

New infographic summarizes impacts of taking CEF

Last year, we published a longitudinal assessment of the impacts of CEF on the individuals that took the course and the communities they serve. We found that these impacts were overwhelmingly positive and far-reaching. Now, we’re sharing an infographic summarizing our findings, which you can use to demonstrate the value of the course.

Download | Read the full assessment

"There is a lot of project management advice and resources out there but having a training dedicated to STEM and its unique challenges makes it much more meaningful and immediately valuable."

Project Management for Scientists – choose the training combo that works best for you

Project Management for Scientists is our newest training. It comprises an introductory Mini-workshop that we highly recommend you take first, followed by a three-week bootcamp of six, two-hour live sessions. We’ve received a number of questions about how these trainings connect, and what it means to take them individually or as a combo. In a blog post, we explain your options for upskilling in a way that makes sense for you, your schedule, and your budget.

June’s community call – it’s time for another CSCCE curated networking forum!

For the fifth year running, our June community call (Wednesday, 18 June 2025) will be an opportunity to network with other members of the CSCCE community of practice. We’ll once again be offering our curated networking forum – and as an added bonus this year, we’ll also be publishing the instructions and template documents we use to run the event. So, whether you’ve been before and want to be the first to snag your free guidebook, or this is your first time joining a CSCCE community call, we hope you’ll join us for an hour of one-on-one and small group conversations with other community managers in STEM!

Find out more | Register

The intersection of community engagement and open-source: CSCCE’s Director goes on a “Deep Dive” with CURIOSS

On Thursday, 15 May 2025, Lou joined the Community for University and Research Institution OSPOs (CURIOSS) community as the invited speaker for one of their regular “Deep Dive” sessions. CURIOSS is a community of practice for anyone working in a university or research OSPO, and their monthly Deep Dive sessions are opportunities for the community to hear from experts in open science, open research, or academic open source. Lou’s presentation highlighted some of CSCCE’s resources and trainings that are directly relevant to the work of open-source leaders and OSPO staff members. She did this by asking (and answering!) five questions, which we’ve briefly summarized on the CSCCE blog.

Watch/read more

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