Scholarly conferences are one mechanism by which doctoral students can enter into their profession as practitioners and scholars. Unfortunately, research about the effectiveness of this career development strategy is limited. This paper explores learning experiences of doctoral students at a scholarly conference. Theories about learning communities, communities of practice, and knowledge creation frame student experiences. Special attention is given to how legitimate peripheral participation describes interactions of students with the scholarly community of practice during the conference. Recommendations for students, faculty, other scholars, and program planners are given in order to promote improved access to and participation in the scholarly community. Such changes can provide doctoral students with a smoother transition from academic learning to learning in the scholarly community of a professional conference.

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O besity in both sexes and all age groups has become a prominent problem in the United States. The city of Durham in North Carolina, like many cities in this country, has many individuals who are obese. The Durham County 2011 Community Health Assessment notes that 65% of adults in the county are overweight or obese [1]. Obesity is more prevalent among blacks and Hispanics than among whites throughout the United States [2], and in the city of Durham, 41% of the population is black and 14.2% is Hispanic [3]. Obesity is becoming more prevalent in children as well as adults. Nationally, 16.9% of children are obese [4], and in Durham County, 20% of children are [1].The scope of the problem in Durham has stimulated a team of researchers, clinicians, and community members to develop a proposal for reducing obesity, starting with elementary school children. The project, called Achieving Health for a Lifetime (AHL), will then expand to include older and younger children in schools and eventually parents and older adults in the communities surrounding the schools.Recommendations regarding diet, physical activity, and other behaviors have been widely disseminated for decades. Some experts in the United States now believe that in order to better manage the problem of overweight and obesity, national policy changes are needed that might have an effect on citizens' dietary and physical activity habits [5]. Multidimensional approaches that include policy change and combine the resources of public, private, and philanthropic organizations to ensure a coordinated and sustainable long-term effort can also be effective when initiated locally, as evidenced by recent research [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. However, such an approach is likely to be successful only after a proper community assessment is carried out in partnership with the community in which one hopes to initiate change. Following the examples of the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, the city of Chicago, the state of Delaware, and others [6-10], AHL used community meetings, interviews, focus groups, and advisory councils to assess existing local services and gaps in those services, and to solicit input, support, and assistance from a range of sources.Community engagement is defined as the process of working collaboratively with groups of people who are affiliated by geographic proximity, special interests, or simi-

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