The papers in this session interrogate the effect of engaged work on the methodological and ethical decisions we now face. We begin by focusing on the adapting of anthropological methods to answer questions mutually negotiated and defined with non-anthropological collaborators, or publics. We draw on projects that involve urban redevelopment in collaboration with faith-based organizations, primary care redesign in collaboration with physicians and community organizations, community outreach with students still learning what it means to practice anthropology, and the use of biohistorical research on race in ways useful for contemporary policy makers and lawmakers. Within these projects, we reflect on the impact of our relationships with the various publics involved and/or implicated in our work, be they students or collaborators, communities or participants. These are formative and mutually beneficial relationships, established at the start of defining our current work and within which we labor towards a jointly defined social good. Clearly the world is changing, social issues are evolving, and anthropology is changing to meet these needs. Central to the discussions presented in this session are the methodological and disciplinary inventions necessitated by our new professional engagements.