
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994                   TAG: 9410030014
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: G8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF DEBELL
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TIMES CHANGE DRASTICALLY; SO DO MAINE MILL TOWNS

In an undeniably creative example of what developers call "adaptive re-use," a former indoor tennis building in the industrial city of Lewiston has been transformed into a thriving branch of the University of Southern Maine.

The opening of nonresidential Lewiston-Auburn College made it possible for the first time to get a four-year degree from a public institution in the Lewiston-Auburn area (population 92,000).

The school is credited with helping regional economic development, elevating community self-esteem and even galvanizing the arts community.

Lewiston and Auburn, which lie across the Androscoggin River from each other, are mill towns that once rode high as producers of shoes and textiles. The area hit lean times in the 1980s, and its manufacturing economy began changing to one that is more service-based.

One result was a lot of displaced factory workers with few marketable skills. Many had a high school education at best. They faced unemployment and welfare - until the college came along to offer the alternative of retraining and higher education.

Business and civic leaders began campaigning for a state university campus in 1982. They thought it would stimulate the economy and encourage local youngsters to continue their education. Those who did go to college had to leave town, and often didn't return.

Community leaders first sought a campus of the University of Maine, but were rebuffed. They turned to the Portland-based University of Southern Maine, which said it would open a branch in the Lewiston-Auburn area if the localities raised the money.

It was a requirement never before imposed in the state, and resentful voters twice rejected tax increases in referendums. Community leaders finally turned to the legislature and won a $2 million appropriation to launch the school.

That was in 1987. Work began immediately on renovating the tennis center, which is in an industrial park.

The school graduated its first class in 1991.

Currently, Lewiston-Auburn College has 1,448 "nontraditional" students. They're 78 percent female. Their average age is 32. "They are people who under no other conditions would be able to go to college," said Stephen Heavener, executive director of the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council.

"They always come to class," said Dean Helen Greenwood. "We never have any trouble with absenteeism. We do a lot to inspire them both culturally and socially. They change before your eyes."

The school's curriculum was set up in consultation with business and industry leaders, who told college officials they needed people with solid communications skills (oral and written) and computer training in addition to degrees in science and the liberal arts.

by CNB