Susquehanna Valley Section To Celebrate 50th Anniversary

THE ACS SUSQUEHANNA Valley Section will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding on Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Joseph Priestley House Museum in Northumberland, Pa. A brief program on the history of the section and its relationship with the Joseph Priestley House is planned. Attila E. Pavlath, ACS past-president, will be on hand to speak about the society and its support of the section. Snack food and beverages will be served under a tent in the yard of the Priestley House.

Dinner at a local restaurant will be served at 5 PM for those who wish to stay after the program to meet and greet old friends. A more detailed itinerary will be posted on the section’s website: http://course.wilkes.edu/SusquehannaValleyACS/meetings. Those wishing to attend the festivities should contact Suellen Beck at sb047@bucknell.edu or phone (570) 577-3258 by Sept. 9. Dinner reservations may be made at the same time.

A small group of chemists, including John Day and George Hazen from the Merck Cherokee Plant and Lester Kieft from Bucknell University, spearheaded plans in 1957 for a new ACS section that would be more convenient to the members living east of the Central Pennsylvania Section at State College, particularly during the winter months when travel from Lewisburg, Bloomsburg, and Williamsport could be treacherous.

The section has grown to encompass the universities and industries within the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre areas so that it now serves an area from Scranton to Selinsgrove and from Williamsport to Sunbury along the Susquehanna River.

The section includes such schools as Bloomsburg University; Bucknell University; King’s College; Lycoming College; Marywood University; Misericordia University; Pennsylvania State University, Wilkes-Barre; Penn State, Hazelton; Susquehanna University; the University of Scranton; and Wilkes University.