The “publish or perish” reward system and the difficult balance of research and teaching are familiar to university faculty. But faculty in some fields are also experiencing a newer, less familiar pressure that may challenge those traditional binaries. Starting in the 1990s, the National Science Foundation and other funding agencies began asking faculty to address the social impacts of their research, and to conduct outreach to K–12 and other audiences. How can university faculty balance the seemingly disparate responsibilities of research, teaching, and outreach? One possibility is to undertake collaborative efforts that combine outreach with research and teaching. We present three case studies of outreach programs, each of which explores a different strategy for contributing to research and teaching and for impacting society. However, universities can systematically address the demands for more social engagement only by exploring new reward and administrative structures.