Yale Alumni Association of Cleveland 
Annual Membership Meeting and Dinner 

***This year’s speaker will be Yale Professor Thomas Near, Head of Saybrook College***

When: Monday, May 6, 2024
            Doors Open: 5:30 p.m.
            Presentation: 6:15 p.m. - Dinner to Follow 

Where: Nuevo Modern Mexican Restaurant
            1000 East Ninth Street, Cleveland Ohio 44114
            (On the pier behind the Rock Hall)

Parking: There is a pay parking lot on the pier next to the restaurant

Pricing: 

$60.00 - Members of the Yale Cleveland Community and Guests

$30.00 - Recent Yale Graduates 2014 to 2024 & Guests

Includes a plated dinner and one drink ticket (wine or beer) followed by a cash bar

Registration Extended: Thursday May 2nd by 5:00 p.m.

Yale Professor Thomas Near

Thomas Near was recently in the news for discoveries that changed the understanding of parts of the fish tree of life. He chairs the Yale Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is also the Henry Payne Bingham Curator of Ichthyology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, named for the Cleveland-born Bingham, 1887-1955, a noted amateur marine biologist who donated his oceanographic collection to Yale in the 1920s. Bingham's father was Charles William Bingham, Class of 1868, co-founder of the Yale Alumni Association of Cleveland, with many of his descendants still living in the Cleveland area. 

Professor Near will speak on "The Evolutionary History of Fishes: Insights to Biodiversity and Human Health." Nearly half of all living vertebrate species are ray-finned fishes. Our understanding of the evolutionary history of this important group has only emerged in the early 21st century. Exploring the biodiversity of fishes not only reveals over 350 million years of evolutionary history, but also provides fundamental insights into human health and the potential for medical innovations. Professor Near will put this in the context of a broadened approach to scientific inquiry at Yale where the university's science strategy provides a roadmap for discovery and innovation across diverse academic disciplines. As the head of Saybrook College, Professor Near can also answer our questions about how student life at Yale has changed in recent years.