LEWISTON – Both college officials and students introduced a new building on the Westminster Street campus of the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College Sunday afternoon.

It will be home to LearningWorks, a higher education collaborative initiative of College for ME-Androscoggin. It’s designed as a hub for activities of higher education carried on throughout the county.

Jan Phillips, associate dean for community outreach and director of LearningWorks, said, “This is just the beginning.”

It marks the first new building to go up on the campus since it opened in 1988 in a converted indoor tennis building.

The new building is complete on its lower floor. It includes a large writing center where students are tutored and given assistance in preparing their written assignments.

USM/LA’s new building also provides space for math tutoring and it houses the Senior College, which provides a curriculum of intellectually stimulating learning opportunities and special events for people 50 years of age or older.

The unfinished upstairs portion of the building will eventually provide space for additional classrooms and faculty offices.

Sunday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house featured talks by college officials, congressional representatives and state dignitaries.

Laura Fortman, commissioner of Maine’s Department of Labor, told the open house attendees that Gov. John E. Baldacci likes to envision a link between higher education and labor.

Fortman noted that USM/LA is sending an adviser one day a week to the Lewiston CareerCenter, and the CareerCenter is regularly sending one of its counselors to the campus.

Following the talks, L-A civic leaders, representatives of area education agencies and members of the public toured the new building.

Phillips said LearningWorks covers just about everything from recruitment to aspirations and readiness. The math tutoring and writing center focus on retention.

“Then there’s graduation, and the Senior College makes it all come together as life-long learning,” Phillips said.

She emphasized that the LearningWorks partnerships in the new building will mean that numerous community partners will be using the space. For instance, she said, adult education students of Lewiston or Auburn might be making use of some of the space. The same is true for partners that range from the cities’ elementary and secondary schools to the area’s four colleges, Central Maine Medical Center, Sisters of Charity Health Systems, the YWCA and others.

First District Congressman Tom Allen attended the open house and congratulated the college on its innovative partnership space. State Rep. Elaine Makas, Sen. Peggy Rotundo and Rep. Margaret M. Craven, all of Lewiston, brought a statement of congratulations from the Maine Legislature.

Two students told their own stories at the event.

Mark Coursey of Auburn told attendees how he started higher education as a traditional-age student.

It didn’t go well, he said. He was side-tracked by ill-health and a lack of interest. He dropped out, got married and started a family, but he had a sense of carrying a burden for 16 years because he had not received a degree.

“I had built up all these reasons why I couldn’t do things,” he said.

Coursey was signing up his son for pre-school when he decided to make a commitment to go after his degree.

He said he called LAC, worked with an adviser and entered the school.

He expects to graduate this coming May.

Nasma Abdi is another USM/LA student who told of leaving Somalia as a refugee. She traveled through Ethiopia before reaching California, Ohio, Boston and eventually Lewiston.

She described her challenges in taking courses with little skill in speaking English, and she praised USM/LA personnel for helping her.

Attendees at the open house were told that the next phase in USM/LA’s expansion will be a similar building that will go up right alongside the new structure.

The college’s master plan says eventual full build-out of two new additions and renovation of the existing Westminster Street facility has a price tag of more than $17 million. Cost of the LearningWorks building introduced Sunday included about $700,000 for land and $2 million for design and construction.