On November 12 and 13, 1938 forty-eight x-ray technicians met in Lima, Ohio and signed an Affiliation Charter of the American Society of X-ray Technicians thus officially forming the Ohio Society of X-ray Technicians (Radiologic Technologists).
Five Ohio technologists have been presidents of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. They are:
Rubygrant Pennell, R.T., Columbus (1954-55);
Wilbur J Huston, R.T. Sandusky, (1961-62);
Roland C. McGowan, R.T., Cincinnati, (1964-65);
Joan Parson, R.T., Massilon, (1984-85);
Julie Gill, Ph.D, R.T. (2013-2014).
Roland McGowan, R.T. became Executive Director of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists and Joan Parson, R.T. served the American Society of Radiologic Technologists in many capacities including her last position as Executive Vice President of Operations.
The 1938 meeting was considered the first Annual Meeting of the OSXT. Since its inception, annual meetings have been held except during the war years of 1943, 1944, and 1945. Meetings have been rotated among the cities of Ohio. On March 2 and 3, 1957, the first Annual Educational Meeting was held in Columbus. That same year, the annual business meeting was moved to the fall.
In 1975 a Student Quiz Bowl competition was initiated as part of the Annual Educational Meeting with teams from Radiologic Technology programs from across the state. These meetings were also rotated among the cities in Ohio until 1995 when the two meetings were combined. One meeting is now held each spring, the Annual Meeting of the Ohio Society of Radiologic Technologists to include the Quiz Bowl competition.
The Ohio Society of Radiologic Technologists publishes the Cardinal Rays, a newsletter distributed bi-monthly to members. In addition, the OSRT maintains an active web-site with current information about the society and the profession.
Fifteen members of the OSRT have been honored with Life Membership and eight persons have been honored with Honorary Life Membership. Roy E. Bell, R.T., FASRT, Joseph Fodor, III, R.T. FASRT, and Nina Kowalczyk R.T.,FASRT are OSRT members who obtained Fellow status of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists.
Members who meet the necessary criteria may be nominated for the Technologist of the Year Award. The invitational Guest Lecture Series was established in 1966. Starting in 1974 the lecture series was given in honor of the OSRT members who were past presidents of the ASRT and was renamed the Penn-Hu-Mac Lecture Series. After the ASRT presidency of Joan Parson, the series was renamed the Penn-Hu-Mac-Par Lecture.
OSRT formally published its history thanks to the efforts of historian and long time member, David Shields, R.T. Mr. Shields was one of the original forty-eight founding members of OSRT. Thanks to his efforts, OSRT has preserved its history in a formally published document. For information on the publication, contact current OSRT Historian, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., RT(R).