Photo / Courtesy University of Maine Augusta
The UMA Capital Center for Nursing and Cybersecurity Workforce Development broke ground Wednesday.
December 12, 2024
UMaine Augusta's $7M center for nursing and cybersecurity breaks ground
Photo / Courtesy University of Maine Augusta
From left, Chuck Mahaleris, Jennifer Riggs, Jenifer Cushman, Shannon Gauvin, Henry Felch, Samantha Warren, Roger Katz and Adam Lachman took part in the groundbreaking of the new UMA Capital Center.
The University of Maine at Augusta on Wednesday held a ceremony to commemorate the groundbreaking for the UMA Capital Center for Nursing and Cybersecurity Workforce Development, which will house state-of-the-art facilities for the university’s nursing and cybersecurity programs.
The Augusta campus took over a former Purdue University Global site, located in the Marketplace at Augusta directly across from UMA's main campus.
UMA hired Lavallee Brensinger Architects and Consigli Construction Co., with Chris Brown as Consigli’s project executive, to lead the project. Both firms have a Portland office. Renovations are expected to be completed in the fall of 2025.
The goal of the $7.15 million expansion is to increase enrollment, enhance hands-on learning opportunities and enable UMA to produce more career-ready professionals for the Maine workforce.
UMA is the third largest public university in Maine and is part of the University of Maine System. In addition to its main campus in Augusta, it serves students at its campus in Bangor and through UMA centers around the state.
Funding
Funding for the project included $4.5 million in Fiscal Year 2024 Congressionally directed spending secured for UMA at the request of the University of Maine System by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Angus King, I-Maine.
Another $2.65 million came from FY23 congressional directed funding. MaineGeneral Health said it will contribute $480,000 over four years to expand UMA’s nursing program.
“This groundbreaking represents UMA’s historic commitment to meeting critical workforce demands in Maine and the needs of students,” said Jenifer Cushman, UMA’s president. “With these expanded facilities, we’re not just growing our university, we’re growing opportunities for students to pursue careers in the high-demand fields of nursing and cybersecurity.”
UMA is part of the University of Maine System, led by Chancellor Dannel Malloy.
"When open to students next year, this state-of-the-art facility will enable UMA to expand and enhance nursing education in support of its own enrollment growth and the University of Maine System's goal of doubling our output of nursing graduates prepared to deliver safe, effective patient care across Maine," said Malloy.
King, who co-chairs the Cyberspace Solarium Commission — a federal agency established in Fiscal Year 2019 to "develop a consensus on a strategic approach to defending the United States in cyberspace against cyber attacks of significant consequences” — said health care and cybersecurity are two of the fields where Maine is facing a sizable shortfall in the state workforce. King’s remarks were shared by his director of economic and innovation policy, Adam Lachman.
Collins said the center “will strengthen Maine’s health care labor force and improve patient care while addressing critical workforce needs in cybersecurity."
Expanded nursing
UMA’s nursing program has grown from 91 students in the 2019-20 school year to 265 in 2024-25. The new nursing education facility at the Capital Center will be 50% larger than its current location at the Augusta Civic Center.
It will feature advanced laboratory and collaborative areas, and triple the program's simulation lab capacity.
The goal of the enhancements is to help UMA address the state’s nursing shortage by increasing enrollment to 400 students, offering more robust hands-on learning environments and supporting excellence in nursing and patient care to meet Maine’s health care needs.
UMA is reviewing several options to utilize the Civic Center space to support academic programs during the remainder of the two-year lease.
"This project is a transformative step forward in addressing Maine’s critical nursing shortage,” said Shannon Gauvin, associate professor and director of the UMA holistic nursing program.
Maine has a projected gap of 2,155 nurses by next year, she said.
The facility will allow UMA to expand the number of nursing students.
“The enhanced simulation labs and cutting-edge technology will provide hands-on clinical education that mirrors real-life scenarios, ensuring our students graduate confident and capable in their skills and application of knowledge,” Gauvin continued.
Jennifer Riggs, the nursing officer at MaineGeneral Medical Center and CEO at MaineGeneral Community Care, said the additional access to nursing training “will directly benefit patients in the Kennebec Valley now and in the years to come.”
Expanded cybersecurity
The cybersecurity program will move from a single classroom in the Randall Student Center on UMA’s main campus to a new 3,000-square-foot facility, greatly increasing UMA’s capacity to educate future cybersecurity professionals.
The new space will also enable UMA to provide advanced training opportunities for private industries and municipalities in Maine and beyond.
Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing fields in the nation, with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting a 33% increase in demand for information security analysts over the next decade, said Henry Felch, professor of computer information systems and cybersecurity.
“Here in Maine, businesses and organizations are urgently seeking skilled professionals to safeguard their digital assets,” Felch said.
The investment, he said, is “reshaping our ability to train the next generation of cybersecurity leaders” and “ensuring Maine stays competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.”
Design and construction
The project involves repurposing a former academic space at a shopping center called Marketplace at Augusta at 14 Marketplace Drive.
In 2012, it was redeveloped into classroom space for Kaplan, a for-profit university. In 2018, Kaplan was acquired by Purdue University Global, which operated there until it closed.
The existing classroom configuration and its location across from UMA’s main campus make the facility a good fit for the Capital Center, Jonathan Henry, UMA’s vice president of enrollment management and marketing — and the person who came up with the Capital Center name, to reflect UMA as the only public university in the state’s capital — has told Mainebiz.
The Marketplace at Augusta, Maine’s largest open-air shopping center at 1.3 million square feet, is owned and operated by Massachusetts-based mixed-use developer WS Development, which worked out a long-term lease with UMA.
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