An institute of higher education charged with the mission of teaching, research, and service (increasingly referred to as outreach and engagement), such as the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, must explore mechanisms for integrating these three broad responsibilities. At the same time, such an institute must initiate specific activities to invigorate and make operational the notion of engagement, which is arguably the least understood and least employed of the three missions. This article describes one such activity of engagement by the Institute of Higher Education: the development and implementation of the conference, “Accountability and Financial Support of Public Higher Education.” This forum brought together representatives of the higher education community and some of its sponsoring constituencies in order to examine issues and advance the dialogue surrounding the assessment and funding of state-supported higher education.