General Purpose & Use

The Society of Military Spouses in STEM ("SMSS") portals are provided to support members and to deliver on the organization’s mission and vision. All activities in the portal must align with the organization's values.

Although there is currently planned to be only one (1) type of "portal" for members, three (3) types of "portals" may be active:

1. Member portal is accessible only by professional, student, and associate level members (“members”).

2. Corporate member portal is accessible only by corporate members (“corporate members”).

3. Partner portal is accessible only by SMSS partners (“partners”).

The following pages may be accessible in each portal:

	Member Portal	Corporate Member Portal	Partner Portal
Member-Only Portal Pages Member Announcements Member (Networking / Discussion) Forum Member Directory	X
Corporate Member-Only Portal Pages Landing page with update only		X
Partner-Only Portal Pages Partner Announcements Partner Events Partner Resources			X
Shared Pages Accessible in All Portals None at this time	n/a	n/a	n/a

Portals or member programs may be discontinued or modified at any time without notice.

Directories, Profiles, and other Information Shared in the SMSS Portals

SMSS provides access to Profiles (“Profiles”) and Directories ("Directories") and other portal features (“Portal Features”) as a benefit for SMSS portal users only. Access to and use of Profiles,  Directories, or Portal Features or any of the information contained in the Profiles, Directories, or Portal Features by persons who are not authorized portal users of SMSS is prohibited.

The Profiles, Directories and Portal Features may not be used to sell or market a business, product, or service; to solicit contributions, sponsorships, or business opportunities; or for any unlawful use.

Under no circumstances shall SMSS portal users provide any information obtained from Profiles,  Directories, or Portal Features to third parties or non-members of SMSS. The Profiles, Directories, and Portal Features are not intended to be used to compile independent data files, lists of members, or lists of contact information for members.

The contents of Profiles, Directories, Portal Features, and unique information shared in the portals are owned by and the exclusive property of SMSS. 

Sharing of Opportunities and General Engagement

Members may share job opportunities, information about their companies, and other opportunity information that aligns with the mission of the organization. 

Members may engage with other members in the networking forum, through direct contact by direct portal messaging or contact information available on member profiles, and through other means available in the portal. All contact must be reasonable.

Non-members may engage with members through reasonable direct contact as accepted by members.

Reasonable is recognized as a discretionary term and should be performed in the spirit of providing members with career opportunities and support and not performed in a manner that pressures or would cause a typical person to feel agitated. 

All portal users may engage, and are encouraged to engage, with other portal users on external platforms such as LinkedIn, however, if behavior is not in alignment with this terms of use and privacy policy, or any SMSS policy, SMSS reserves the right to take appropriate action which may include removal and banning of a portal user.

General Disclaimer

While SMSS strives to make the information on this website as timely and accurate as possible, SMSS makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this site, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this website or its links to other Internet resources.

Reference in this site to any specific commercial product, process, or service, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by SMSS.

Fraudulent Job Posting Warning and Disclaimer

SMSS posts, shares, and allows sharing of job listings for the convenience and benefit of members. SMSS does not endorse or recommend employers, and a posting does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. SMSS explicitly makes no representations or guarantees about job listings or the accuracy of the information provided by the employer. SMSS is not responsible for safety, wages, working conditions, or any other aspect of employment without limitation. It is the responsibility of members to perform due diligence in researching employers when applying for or accepting private employment and to thoroughly research the facts and reputation of each organization to which they are applying. Members should be prudent and use common sense and caution when applying for or accepting any position. All job listings are posted or will be allowed to remain posted at the discretion of SMSS. SMSS reserves the right to refuse to post jobs or remove company threads and job posts that do not support the interests of members. If you encountered a fraudulent posting, company or organization shared through SMSS or our members, partners or corporate members, please contact SMSS via email contact@smsstem.org, so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

Privacy

Member portals are controlled access areas with no access granted to the public.

The profile fields automatically shared with other portal users are labeled accordingly on your profile.

You may change profile field visibility by clicking on your profile name located in the upper right of ever page and then selecting "View Profile" > "Edit Profile" > "Privacy" and adjusting settings for each field. Note that the software system lumps all users together as "members" so any field visible to "members" is visible to all users. We have requested that the software system provide additional privacy control options and we will let users know if this becomes available. Note that some field privacy settings are locked as those are required for continued use of the site either by the software system or by SMSS admins. 

Confidentiality and Security of Personal Information

The controlled access areas are created and managed using Wild Apricot membership software. Read about Wild Apricot's security and data security on https://www.wildapricot.com/wild-apricot-security and https://www.wildapricot.com/data-protection.

This software has built-in security measures and follows generally accepted industry standards to protect personally identifiable information, both during transmission and afterwards. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not disclose your password to anyone.

However, despite our efforts to maintain the confidentiality and security of your account, no method of transmission over the internet and no method of electronic storage is completely secure. Although we make every effort to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Personal Information We Collect

When you apply for membership, we collect personal information from you. You must provide your first and last name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and other information needed to process your application and complete your portal profile. You will need to create a login and a password for your account.

Sharing of Personal Information

We do not rent, trade, or share personal information with third parties, except to provide products or services, which you requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

We may share your aggregate anonymous information with the public or third parties (such as partners, potential corporate members, potential partners, politicians, etc.) in order to advocate; or establish or build credibility and trust with the intent of establishing or building a formal relationship that will ultimately support the organization's mission.

We may share personal information if we believe that it is required in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, a potential threat to the physical safety of a third party, or as otherwise required by law.

We may share personal information with our legal, financial, and other professional advisors.

We may share personal information with third parties upon receiving your consent as required by law.

Except as provided above, we will not share any of your information to any third party without permission.

Access to Your Personal Information

You can review, update, delete, or correct your personal information on your profile online at any time. You can modify your profile at any time by clicking on your profile name located in the upper right of every page and then selecting "View Profile" > "Edit Profile". Note that some fields are locked as those are controlled by admins only or are required for continued use of the site by the software system.

Changes and Updates to these Disclaimers and Policies

We may amend these disclaimers and policies at any time at our sole discretion and without prior notice. You should check back from time to time in order to confirm that there have been no significant changes.

Please note that the use of information that we gather is subject to the disclaimers and policies in effect at the time of use.

Last updated December 29, 2021