Since April 2013, the Eleanor Chelimsky Forum has served as the centerpiece of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society's (EERS) annual conference. Eleanor Chelimsky (2012), a highly esteemed pioneer in the evaluation field, inspired the Forum in her 2012 plenary address (subsequently published in "American Journal of Evaluation" ["AJE"]) wherein she challenged the audience to establish a ''specialized, ongoing forum,'' in which critical issues at the dynamic intersection of evaluation theory and real-world practice would be raised ''for rethinking, comment, criticism, and debate.'' Chelimsky's belief was that through such a forum, both evaluation theory and practice would grow and new connections would emerge. Within hours of her address, the EERS board of directors voted unanimously to establish the Eleanor Chelimsky Forum at its annual conference. The authors discuss both the genesis of the Eleanor Chelimsky Forum on Evaluation Theory and Practice and the 2015 Forum, which featured remarks by Abraham Wandersman.