Construction workers will be headed into some dorm rooms as students leave them for summer break.

Parts of Keen, Rodes-Harlin, McCormack and Gilbert halls and Pearce-Ford Tower will be renovated this summer, said Brian Kuster, director of Housing and Residence Life.

The work will finish the $80 million renovations of all 15 dorms on campus which began in 2000, Kuster said. Officials are looking into the need for housing for nontraditional students.

The third through 19th floors of PFT will be renovated this summer, Kuster said.

Some floors will be reworked to include community space for the Living Learning Communities based there, said Peggy Crowe, assistant director of student programs for HRL.

Living Learning Communities allow students in the same major or interest group to live and study together, she said.

The spaces will be areas for study and interaction which are geared toward a specific community, Crowe said.

Members of the International Exchange Community, which pairs international students with domestic students, will have extra kitchen space on the 10th floor instead of the community space, Crowe said.

Kuster said a lot of international students like to cook in small groups.

Crowe said the space will help the Living Learning Communities make students feel like part of a community.

“The whole purpose is to make this place much smaller,” she said.

The short side of Keen will also be renovated this summer, Kuster said.

The 20th through 27th floors of PFT and Keen’s tall side were renovated last summer.

Jana Clark, a freshman from Haubstadt, Ind., lives on the 20th floor of PFT. She and her roommate moved from the 16th floor at the end of March.

Clark said she likes the renovated room better.

“The biggest part is being able to move the furniture around,” she said.

Rodes, McCormack and Gilbert will get new furniture and flooring this summer, Kuster said.

The dorms in the Valley got new air conditioning, lighting and ceilings last summer, he said.

Kuster said the renovations done in the dorms should last for 30 to 40 years with continued maintenance.

There hasn’t always been money to keep buildings in good shape, which is why the renovations were needed now, he said.

HRL’s next big project may be the construction of an apartment complex on campus for non-traditional students, Kuster said.

Results will be back in June from a survey of students to see if there’s a need for it, he said.

Several people have asked about the possibility of housing for graduate students and students with families over the years, Kuster said.

But the project would be several years away, he said.