Austin Arias
Austin Arias is a leadership expert who uses personal stories and experiences to help students have an impact on their communities, grow personally & ensure their organizations have a lasting legacy.
TOPICS
- Authenticity
- Community Building
- First-Year Experience
- Fraternity & Sorority Life
- Leadership
- Officer Training
- Orientation
- Organizational Development
- Personal Growth
- Recruitment
- Values
KEYNOTES
- The “Balancing Act”: Finding Balance as a College Student
- The “Balancing Act”: Staff Edition
- Make Your Founders Proud
- Ready. Set. Recruit
- Your First Year Advantage
WORKSHOPS & CUSTOM PROGRAMS
Getting to know
Austin Arias
Austin Arias is a speaker, facilitator, and leadership educator who helps campuses build belonging, confidence, and community – and his commitment to this work is personal.
He was once the over-involved student leader who couldn’t say no. Student director of this, chair of that, always raising his hand for the next opportunity. He thought doing more meant being more. And for a while, it worked – until it didn’t.
What changed everything? Mentors and peers who really saw him – and helped him reframe what leadership could be. They taught him that saying no creates space for others to say yes. That being a “work in progress” isn’t something to hide. That collective action brings deeper impact than individual hustle. And that being part of organizations is just as much about discovering who you are and finding your people as it is about the work itself.
Austin brings 14+ years of experience in student affairs, leadership development, and higher education consulting – partnering with colleges and universities across the country to strengthen student leadership, guide values-driven organizational development, and build cultures where students feel seen and connected. His campus career has spanned director-level roles in student engagement, orientation, and retention. A proud brother of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, he also volunteers in leadership and harm reduction initiatives across the fraternity and sorority community.
He’s a firm believer that every program should leave participants with a plan of action – not just inspiration. Known for his warm, energetic presence and what students consistently describe as “golden retriever energy,” Austin creates spaces where people feel comfortable being real, taking risks, and growing together.
This work is how he pays it forward. Every time he steps on a campus, he’s thanking the people who invested in him – by investing in you.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
To help you promote your event with Austin, CAMPUSPEAK has created promotional templates you can use. In this folder, you will find resources for social media, a promotional poster for printing, and press photos you can use for your event.
Link to Promotional Materials
LOGISTICAL MATERIALS
Below you will find logistical resources for the day of your event with Austin.
In-Person Event AV Needs (PDF)
Speaking Introduction (PDF)
SEE WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY About Austin Arias!
KEYNOTES
The “Balancing Act”: Finding Balance as as College Student
College is more complex than ever and is truly a balancing act – academics, involvement in clubs and organizations, friends, family, and the demands of a personal life can leave students feeling unstable. That’s why finding and maintaining balance isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential.
Through humor, personal storytelling, and practical strategies grounded in real student experience, The Balancing Act helps students understand how to prioritize what matters, manage their mental health, and keep moving toward their goals without losing themselves in the process.
Learning Outcomes
- Recognize common habits and patterns in student leaders that quietly prevent growth – like struggling to say no, avoiding delegation, and treating busyness as a badge of honor
- Incorporate person-first behaviors into daily life while still honoring academic and leadership responsibilities
- Build a personal approach to balance that is sustainable, not just aspirational
- Create a culture of positive student leadership on campus by modeling healthy engagement for those around them
- Better utilize advisors, mentors, and supervisors as genuine sources of support and accountability
This Program is Ideal For:
- Student leadership conferences
- Student organization training
- Welcome week
- All-campus programming
The “Balancing Act”: Staff Edition
Higher education professionals give everything they have to their students – and often have very little left for themselves. The Balancing Act: Staff Edition is a keynote designed specifically for the people who do the work.
Using humor, personal storytelling from his years in their shoes, and grounded practical strategies, this program helps staff reconnect with their why, reclaim their energy, and build sustainable habits that help prevent burnout before it takes hold. This isn’t a lecture on self-care. It’s an honest, energizing conversation about what it actually looks like to care for yourself while caring for the students who count on you.
Learning Outcomes
- Recognize the patterns and habits that quietly lead to burnout in higher ed work – and understand why so many of us normalize them
- Develop person-first practices that protect personal wellbeing while honoring professional responsibilities and commitments
- Reconnect with the purpose and values that brought them to higher education in the first place
- Build practical strategies for setting limits, delegating with confidence, and asking for support without guilt
- Leave with a concrete personal commitment for showing up differently for themselves – so they can keep showing up for their students and colleagues
This Program is Ideal For:
- Faculty, staff, senior leadership across divisions and departments,
- as part of start of semester kickoffs, retreats and training days
Ready. Set. Recruit.
For too long, recruitment has been built on outdated techniques that don’t accurately reflect the values or the real, lifelong benefit of joining a fraternity, sorority or student organization. Our campuses have changed. The students walking through your door have changed. And the same events, training scripts, and marketing tactics no longer work the way they used to. It’s time to step back, assess what you’re actually doing, and use your purpose to reframe the whole approach.
Ready. Set. Recruit. helps organizations reimagine recruitment into a values-focused strategy – one that builds authentic relationships, creates meaningful and inclusive experiences, and attracts the members who are genuinely ready to belong.
Learning Outcomes
- Honestly assess current recruitment tactics and understand what is and isn’t working – and why
- Create a culture of shared recruitment strategy that activates all members, not just chapter leadership
- Build a more inclusive recruitment process that acknowledges and welcomes the full range of identities and experiences potential new members bring
- Understand the role of authentic relationship-building in both effective recruitment and long-term member belonging
- Leave with a concrete, community-specific action plan for reimagining recruitment in a way the whole chapter can believe in
The Program is Ideal For:
- Recruitment or intake preparation
- Council-wide recruitment training
- Chapter officer retreats
- Fraternity/sorority life conferences
- Student organizations navigating membership growth
Make Your Founders Proud
What would it look like if your community’s actions were truly in alignment with what your founders intended? Would they recognize your organization today?
Make Your Founders Proud challenges leaders to take a critical, honest look at the state of their chapters and communities – to determine what must change for their legacies to continue. Through real dialogue and tough conversation, this program asks every participant to look beyond competition and ego, take accountability for where their community is, and make a genuine plan to build something better. We have the potential to be the organizations our founders always hoped for. This program is how we start getting there
Learning Outcomes
- Identify the current issues affecting both their community and the broader fraternal movement – and understand how those issues are connected
- Understand how those challenges affect the health, belonging, and sustainability of their membership and organizations
- Address concerns around diversity, equity, and inclusion with honesty and a commitment to doing better
- Build more effective relationships with one another across chapters and councils to inspire collaborative action
- Create a realistic, community-owned plan of action to tackle their most pressing challenges and opportunities
This Program is Ideal For:
- Greek Week programming
- FSL leadership conferences
- IFC, PHC, MGC, NPHC council retreats
- Chapter officer training
- Fraternity/sorority advisor and staff days
Your First Year Advantage
Your first year of college can be filled with both challenges and excitement. You want to find your people, explore your interests, and get settled into your major – but it can feel overwhelming before it feels exciting.
Through his own difficult-turned-rewarding college journey, humorous stories, and practical tools drawn from everyday experience, Austin helps students realize that they already have what they need to make the most of this moment, they just need to know how to use it. In Your First Year Advantage, students walk away with a toolkit they can apply right away – to explore without overcommitting, find belonging, and create an action plan for a successful year.
Learning Outcomes
- Recognize and address the common feelings and fears that hold first-year students back from fully engaging in their new environment
- Build a personal first-year action plan that integrates wellbeing, academics, and involvement in a realistic, sustainable way
- Develop a clearer understanding of how to identify opportunities that are genuinely the right fit – based on their interests, identities, and goals
- Learn how to build and lean on campus relationships – with peers, advisors, and resources – early and often
- Leave with a concrete commitment to one action they will take in the next 30 days to strengthen their college experience
The Program is Ideal For:
- Orientation programs
- Welcome week
- First-year experience (FYE) courses
- New student convocation
WORKSHOPS & CUSTOM PROGRAMS
The hustle to make it all happen can cause student boards to lose sight of their purpose – and the people they serve. Refocus Your Board helps organizations RECALL what they’re actually here to do, RETHINK how they’re approaching their work, and RECREATE their strategy for programs, outreach, and community engagement.
Through an interactive workshop experience, leaders walk away with a clear-eyed view of where their organization stands, a stronger shared sense of purpose, and practical tools they can put to use immediately.
Learning Outcomes
By attending this featured workshop, participants will be able to:
- Assess whether the board is operating with a clear, shared understanding of its purpose and role on campus
- Identify specific opportunities to improve event planning, marketing strategy, and community outreach
- Develop a more student-centered approach to programming that better meets the needs of the community
- Strengthen teamwork, communication, and relationship-building within the leadership team
- Leave with a concrete action plan the full board has ownership over
This Workshop is Ideal For:
- Specially designed for programming boards
- student government
- fraternity/sorority governing councils
- multicultural student boards
- campus activities organizations at colleges of all sizes
Orientation Leaders (OLs) carry more responsibility than their job description suggests. They’re often the first real connection a new student makes on campus – and that first impression matters more than any brochure or welcome email ever will.
The Welcome Effect prepares your orientation leader team to show up ready: grounded in purpose, equipped with practical skills, and genuinely excited about the experience they’re about to create. Sessions cover team cohesion and shared culture, understanding the first-year and transfer student experience, how to build authentic connections in short windows of time, peer mentorship best practices, and how your orientation leaders can take care of themselves while taking care of everyone else.
Learning Outcomes
By attending this featured workshop, participants will be able to:
- Build a shared team culture and sense of purpose among the OL cohort before training begins
- Develop a deeper understanding of the common challenges, needs, and experiences of incoming first-year and transfer students
- Apply practical skills for building genuine connections in the time-limited, high-energy environment of orientation
- Practice peer mentorship approaches that prioritize student belonging, wellbeing, and successful transition
- Identify personal strategies for sustaining energy and wellbeing throughout orientation – so they can keep giving to others
This Workshop is Ideal For:
- Specially designed for programming boards
- student government
- fraternity/sorority governing councils
- multicultural student boards
- campus activities organizations at colleges of all sizes
The best retreats don’t just take your group somewhere different – they help your group think differently. A Custom Leadership Retreat is a fully designed experience built around your organization’s specific goals, challenges, and desired outcomes.
Whether you’re a student government preparing for a new year, a programming board rethinking your approach, or a Greek governing council working through difficult questions, or another type of leadership group on campus, Austin partners with you through an intake process to design a retreat that fits your people, your campus, and what you actually need to accomplish.
Learning Outcomes
By attending this featured workshop, participants will be able to:
- Establish shared organizational goals and priorities for the year ahead
- Build team cohesion, trust, and communication among the leadership group
- Develop clarity on organizational purpose, values, and the decisions that should drive the year
- Create an action plan with clear ownership, timelines, and accountability structures
- Leave energized, aligned, and genuinely ready to lead together
Are your organizations struggling to shift their culture and continue to evolve? Is collaboration non-existent? Do we need to reframe your recruitment strategy? Bringing in Austin to provide coaching to your organizations, councils and governing bodies that will provide them with steps they can take to diagnose chronic behaviors preventing change, reframe their programming and set a meaningful plan for the future. This can be done as a full-day of coaching sessions including a pre-assessment, small and large group discussions and planning sessions and debrief with professional staff. This can be added on to a keynote experience.
Austin is a skilled leadership educator with years of experience developing learning outcomes-based curriculums for student leaders for training and on-going leadership development. Austin can develop a curriculum that elevates your student’s development and training, rooted in leadership theory and models, best practices, and alignment with the institutional need and goals. Curriculums can include a series of workshops or one or multi-day retreats, including in-person or virtual delivery methods. This work includes an intake form to understand your needs and can include pre-and-post assessments for attendees and a debrief call post-program with the campus professionals. As a trusted facilitator, Austin can also facilitate your program too.
AUSTIN’S BLOGS
The following are past entries Austin has written for the CAMPUSPEAK Speaker’s Voice Blog
