Duluth, Minn. (August 10, 2023) — Chief Financial Officer Alan Finlayson, Carpentry instructor John Calcaterra, and Medical Laboratory Technician instructor Virginia Haynes all are retiring after a combined 56 years of service at Lake Superior College.

"The positive impact Virginia, John and Al have had on students is incalculable," said Dr. Patricia Rogers, president of Lake Superior College. "Al Finlayson has guided the college’s finances extremely well and hundreds of students learned the fundamentals of carpentry and medical lab work from John Calcaterra and Virginia Haynes."

Haynes and Finlayson were both hired in 2011 while Calcaterra was honored for 30 years of service this past spring.

Finlayson joined Lake Superior College after 18 years with what is now known as Minnesota State. He has been an employee of the State of Minnesota since 1981. He plans to continue helping the Minnesota State system with a large data conversion project on a part time basis.

Haynes started at Lake Superior in 2010 as an instructor and became program director of the Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) program in 2014. Under her leadership, the program added courses, renewed accreditation, developed an articulation agreement with St. Cloud State University, and added several new pieces of equipment. On top of these changes which benefited MLT students, she spearheaded the creation of a scholarship for the students.

Calcaterra started his career in 1975 in the residential construction industry. His three decades at the college included overseeing over 30 Duluth homes built by his carpentry students. Calcaterra plans to continue designing house plans and building both solid body and acoustic guitars.