The University of Kansas is convening a symposium that assembles internationally recognized thought leaders on the subject of critical engagement. These practitioners and their work are increasingly being highlighted at conferences, through exhibits, and in literature. Our symposium seeks to investigate the theoretical underpinnings of such work and translate these action-based community engagement efforts into interdisciplinary and theoretically-based scholarship. We will convene this group of scholars in order to establish a framework for the critical inquiry and review of the public impact of socially engaged discourse and design. The symposium will gather 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.