ABSTRACT
As a part of the 2011 National Erasing Boundaries Symposium held at Hunter College, David Scobey (executive dean at the New School for Public Engagement) and Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. (professor of urban and regional planning at State University of New York at Buffalo) presented keynote addresses that focused on the symposium theme, Why Community Matters. This chapter summarizes their speeches, pointing out how they define the role of the engaged academy and its commitment to communities here and worldwide. In doing so, the chapter provides the context for the other chapters in this book. *
