Dr. Mari Ann Callais
Dr. Mari Ann Callais
Dr. Mari Ann Callais serves as the Sr. Director of Strategic Initiatives for Delta Delta Delta Fraternity. She has been a keynote and featured speaker at many local, regional, national and international conferences and conventions. She has been a member of AFA since 1991 and wrote her dissertation on Sorority Rituals and Behavior.
Dr. Mari Ann Callais serves as the Sr. Director of Strategic Initiatives for Delta Delta Delta Fraternity. She has been a keynote and featured speaker at many local, regional, national and international conferences and conventions. She has been a member of AFA since 1991 and wrote her dissertation on Sorority Rituals and Behavior.
As a First-generation college student, Mari Ann will admit she didn’t know much when she walked onto her undergraduate campus for the first time. From that moment on, Mari Ann began to understand how this experience was truly going to be life changing. As a sorority woman, Orientation Team President, member of a performance group, retreat facilitator and musician, all helped a young woman from a small fishing village become confident that she could contribute and make a difference in the world around her.
Having been a higher education professional since her undergraduate years, Mari Ann incorporates stories, music, and lessons learned as well as research to deliver authentic and engaging presentations. Mari Ann loves working alongside students and the professionals and volunteer who support them.
A true believer in challenge and support, Mari Ann never talks at her audience, but with them. Mari Ann never assumes she has all the answers, but shares ideas, resources and serves as an advocate for the student experience as one about growth and development.
Mari Ann believes in students and the power of conversations. More than anything, Mari Ann wants to emulate an experience of community and belonging.
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PROGRAMS
Let’s Be About It: Centering the Ritual in our Personal and Organizational Actions
Keynote | Workshop | Virtual | Retreat
As members of fraternal organizations, we learn the history, traditions, and rituals of our groups. We are taught to learn the information in much the same way as those who have come before us; names, facts, dates, creeds, and mottos.
But there must be more, much more, to membership than just memorization.
In her signature program, Let’s Be About It, Dr. Mari Ann Callais challenges us to return to the core of what we believe, our ritual, as a guide for the actions we should take as members. Having decades of personal, professional, and academic expertise on this topic allows Dr. Callais to make meaning of ritual (or ceremonies) for new, current, and lifelong members of our organizations.
It is not enough to talk about who we are and what we believe…it’s time for us to be about it.
Ideal Audiences
Fraternity and Sorority Life
Alumnae/i Engagement
Audience members will…
Explore the core elements of ritual as it relates to Sorority and Fraternity membership
Consider ways in which we can make our rituals serve as guides for action
Develop an understanding of how we as individuals and groups can infuse ritual into all of our choices
Audience members will…
Distinguish between “fitting in” and “belonging” for prospective members of organizations
Clarify how belonging in actualized in community, purposes, and bonds
Explore ways in which members can share organizational identity/identities to prospective new members
Ideal Audiences
Membership Development
Recruitment
- Community Colleges
*Ask about how this program can be tailored for Recruitment Training
It’s Not About Fitting In: Building True Belonging in Student Organizations
Keynote | Workshop | Virtual | Retreat
When done correctly, our organizations are places of belonging. A place where members find community, purpose, and bonds that can last a lifetime.
What we know about belonging has changed in the last few years; previously the conventional wisdom said it was about finding a group where we feel we fit in and joining. Simple, right? Not so much.
In this new signature program, Dr. Mari Ann Callais shows how our organizations can take lessons from our collective experience of the pandemic, how we have adapted to maintain and develop connections, and apply them to the needs of all new and current members. It isn’t about fitting in, rather about asking members to be who they already are and ensuring they find a home in our organizations.
At its core, that’s what true belonging is all about.
Lean In and Take Up Space!
Keynote | Workshop | Virtual | Retreat
For years, women have been taught to lean in. This concept was first introduced and popularized by Sheryl Sandberg and has been at the heart of most discussions of women’s empowerment ever since. This is great advice and Mari Ann believes it is effective for leadership, advancement, and personal development.
But we can’t stop at leaning in; because, after we lean in, we must take up space!
In this dynamic, thought-provoking signature program, Mari Ann Callais works to lay the foundation for the leaning in process but also what the best next steps are to ensure academic, organizational, and professional success. Through wit, humor, powerful storytelling, and actionable steps, Mari Ann shows how the next generation of great leaders will be seen, heard, uplift others, and occupy space at every leadership table.
Ideal Audiences
Women’s Empowerment
Leadership Development
Sorority
- Community Colleges
Audience members will…
Consider the “lean in” process and how it can apply to personal and organizational development
Clarify the relationship between leaning in and taking space as it relates to leadership
Develop strategies related to occupying space and how it connects to overall academic, organizational, and professional success
