Renovations continue at Slippery Rock University's Spotts World Culture Building, where workers are replacing mechanical systems, building new offices and doing other work that is scheduled to continue until early December at a cost of $7 million.

SLIPPERY ROCK — Millions of dollars in construction projects at Slippery Rock University this summer and next are part of a long-range plan to help the university expand new programs and make facilities more accessible.

This summer’s work will top $10 million.

The two big-ticket construction items under way include renovations to the third floor of Rhoads Hall, a residence hall where workers are replacing windows, and updating dorm rooms and other building features for ADA compliance.

The project, a multiyear effort that will cost $2.3 million, is expected to be finished by mid-August.

There also are major renovations to the Spotts World Culture Building. Workers are replacing mechanical systems, building new offices and doing other work that is scheduled to continue until early December at a cost of $7 million.

“It may be slightly larger than normal,” said Scott Albert, SRU vice president of facilities and planning, of the workload on campus this summer. “It just depends. If we have a state capital project going on, we have to be involved in that, even if we’re not managing it directly.”

That will certainly be the case next year, Albert said, when Miller Auditorium and East and West Gym will get renovations estimated to cost $20 million total.

The renovations are tied to the relocation of the school’s theater department, but Albert said the effects of major construction and renovation projects often are spread out among multiple departments. Some, like the World Culture building renovation, Albert said, are aimed at helping new SRU offerings to grow.

Those renovations will allow the university to consolidate most of its College of Liberal Arts in one location, which will in turn create room in SRU’s Strain Behavioral Sciences building, where laboratories will be renovated to help the Safety Management Program expand.

The move also will open up more space in the Vincent Science Building and allow for projected growth in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering program, which will have its first class this fall.

Next year’s renovations to Miller Auditorium and East and West Gym will allow the theater department to relocate out of SRU’s former Student Union building, which will be renovated and turned into a Student Services and Success Center — a project the SRU trustees are expected to approve financing for in October.

Albert said the school also plans to begin a project next spring to complete major renovations at Bailey Library. That’s the same time the science lab renovation project is expected to begin, Albert said.

The projects are estimated to cost about $5.5 million each.

Also coming next year are renovations to rooms at North Hall residence hall, and the university-owned Rock Apartments complex. Both projects are part of a multiyear upgrade to residence halls.