Twenty-four hours after a rainbow of produce is plucked from the historic Airlie Center’s 20-acre farm in Warrenton, Virginia, it is served to hungry students in AU’s Terrace Dining Room.

The property, gifted to the university in fall 2016, grows and harvests 10,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables each year—the majority of which is used by AU’s Dining Services. Another 75 acres are dedicated to raising Berkshire pigs and Angus cattle, producing 12,000 pounds of beef and pork for AU students and Airlie guests.

The 300-acre meeting and conference destination also serves up research and experiential learning opportunities for the AU community.

“Science faculty have taken students out overnight to sample water [and] SOC professor Sarah Menke-Fish took out a class to do a series of documentaries on the property’s history,” says environmental science professor Kiho Kim, Airlie’s academic liaison. “Few universities have the capacity to provide experiential learning in both urban and rural environments. Airlie gives us longer reach into different parts of the metropolitan DC area.”

Students in Kogod’s master’s in business analytics program are examining Special Olympics International’s data on health information for persons with intellectual disabilities to develop predictive analytical models.

The first-time partnership between AU and Special Olympics focuses on research and education at the intersection of disability, development, communication, information technology, entrepreneurship, and public policy. Students also participate in for-credit internships to learn how the organization is contributing to make communities more inclusive, particularly in urban settings.

“We are delighted to partner with American University to advance public policies, data analytics, and collaborative research that will positively impact our vast network of athletes and the global disability community,” says Special Olympics chair Timothy Shriver.

The collaboration coincides with the unveiling of AU’s new strategic initiative on global disability and development, led by its Institute on Disability and Public Policy. According to Special Olympics, approximately 6.5 million people in the US, and as many as 200 million people worldwide, have an intellectual disability.