For our second Tools Trial of the year, we’re continuing our theme of open-source platforms that support community engagement by hosting a session about CiviCRM!
Date: Wednesday, 25 March 2026 | Add to calendar
Time: 2pm US EDT / 6pm UTC (90 minutes)
Zoom link: join the call
Speakers:
For our second Tools Trial of the year, we’re continuing our theme of open-source platforms that support community engagement by hosting a session about CiviCRM.
CiviCRM is an open-source constituent relationship management (CRM) platform designed for nonprofits. It can be used to manage community member data, design and implement communications campaigns, and support fundraising efforts. For STEM community managers, like those in the CSCCE community of practice, CRMs like Civi hold the potential to better understand their members and how they interact with the community and each other. How to unlock that potential, however, can feel overwhelming, with significant technical and financial barriers (not to mention initial setup time).
At the Tools Trial, we’ll explore some of these topics, and get a better sense for what is possible with Civi.
Speakers:
Coming up on Wednesday, 11 March 2026 at 11am EDT / 3pm UTC, we’re planning a live, 90-minute community book club session co-hosted by CSCCE community member Jody Peters (University of Notre Dame / Ecological Forecasting Initiative community manager).
The book club will focus on The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, a short fable that is used to explore a model outlining five things that are essential for a healthy, collaborative team (or working group, steering committee, or sub-community). If you haven’t read the book yet, but are curious and would like to join us for our book club session, rest assured, it’s not a long read (or listen!). If possible, we do ask that you read the book before the call, but we will also offer a recap of the key themes at the beginning of the session.
Continue reading “CSCCE Community Book Club: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”Over the last few months, we’ve been working with Josh Gottesman and Leslie Kirsch at the Michael J Fox Foundation to plan a new online community of practice intended to support conversations about the sharing and reuse of data related to Parkinson’s Disease Research.
As is the norm for many community projects, we’ve been taking a phased approach to the launch of this Data Community of Practice (DCoP) – working to understand the needs of the nascent community and then identifying a small group of community champions to help test the online platform and seed initial conversations before opening the community to a wider membership.
In this blog post, we share more about how we supported MJFF through member research, the selection and design of a new online community platform, resource creation and scaffolding for their new Data Community Innovators (DCIs) program, and the planning and hosting of a DCI kick-off meeting at MJFF’s offices in NYC.
Continue reading “Planning and launching a new champions program – and online community platform – at the Michael J Fox Foundation”As a community manager, you work hard to create resources that are available to as many people as possible. When it comes to digital resources, this includes making sure that your PDFs are screen-reader compatible, your Zoom calls are captioned, and your slide decks don’t feature text that is too small.
On this month’s call, we’ll hear from CSCCE staff and members of our community of practice about how to create accessible resources, as well as check whether your existing resources need an update.
Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Time: 11am EST / 4pm UTC
Zoom link to join: click here
Add to calendar: click here
Happy New Year! The turning of the year is often accompanied by transition, setting new intentions, and planning for the months ahead. That’s certainly where we find ourselves at CSCCE, with 2023 promising to be a huge year for our growing organization.
In our first community call of the year, we’ll share what’s coming up, including new courses, clients, and community programming. This is a great way to catch up if some of our newsletters fell into the cracks of December email chaos, or if you’re new to our community of practice and would like to find out more about opportunities to get involved. Our calls are open to anyone, so if you’re not yet a community member but you’re interested in what we do to support STEM communities and the people who build them, please do feel free to join.
Date: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Time: 11am EST / 4pm UTC
Zoom link to join: click here
Add to calendar: click here
Ever wanted to test out a new platform or app but needed some more users to make it worthwhile? That’s what CSCCE tools trials are for!
And this summer we’ll be hosting a short series of three tools trials to try out Butter (a tool for administering breakout rooms), Gather (specifically their new escape room), and a third tool of your choosing (let us know what you’d like to trial here).
Read on for more information, including calendar invites and what to expect!
Continue reading “Tools trials are back this summer!”Today is Community Manager Advancement Day (CMAD), and this year the focus is on professional development for community managers!
If this is the first you’re hearing about the annual celebration of community managers, a little background. CMAD was created in 2010 by Jeremiah Owyang, a technology professional specializing in the intersection of technology and human behavior. Community members are encouraged to send messages of thanks to their community manager (using the hashtags #CMAD and #CMGR), and organizations that support community managers often host events or release resources to mark the occasion and explore the year’s theme (for example, last year we hosted a community call on 2021’s CMAD theme of resilience).
Continue reading “It’s Community Manager Advancement Day! Some ideas to hone your skills and grow your professional network with CSCCE”Are you interested in a career in STEM communications and/or community management? Then read on, because we’d love to hear from you!
We’re looking to hire a temporary, part-time communications assistant to help us as we enhance our member engagement infrastructure. This is a great position for someone who is looking to transition out of academia, or would benefit from flexible working hours. And while this is an entry-level role, we’re definitely open to applicants with more advanced qualifications but who see value in learning new skills in community-centric communications.
Continue reading “We’re hiring! Part-time communications assistant: Learn about community-centric communications with us as you start a new career”Our July community call focused on one of CSCCE’s ongoing research projects: Creating scientific community profiles. We heard from Lou Woodley and Katie Pratt, who led the project, as well as three of the scientific community managers who took part in the project. In this blog post we briefly recap why we’re doing this work, what’s coming in the next few months, and share videos of the three community manager presentations.
If you are interested in creating a profile for your community, please let us know by filling out this short form.
