The University of Kansas was convening a symposium that assembled internationally recognized thought leaders on the subject of critical engagement. The symposium sought to investigate the theoretical underpinnings of such work and translated these action-based community engagement efforts into interdisciplinary and theoretically-based scholarship. The group of scholars has been convened in order to establish a framework for the critical inquiry and review of the public impact of socially engaged discourse and design. The symposium gathered a group of scholars, practitioners, critics, and historians to discuss different aspects, forms, and features of social engagement that have developed across time and regions.