Dr. Shawn Eagle

Yeah, I really appreciate that, and I want you to know I don't feel that any conversation we had was ever unwarranted.

In fact, you can cut this if you want, but I pulled down my dissertation here that's printed because I recalled in prepping for this what I wrote in the preface, and I specifically name

you, I say thank you to doctors, Dr. Leslie Taylor, Toby Brooks, Natalie Steadman, and Troy Hooper for your teaching and direction while attending Texas Tech.

I regret that at times you did not see the best version of me.

I want you to know that I found something I'm passionate about and will drive to represent the program.

And I, uh, that's a theme in my life.

You know, my mom jokes about this story that in, uh, in

Like eighth or ninth grade, I, you know, my grades were slipping.

You know, they had a, we had a parent-teacher conference with myself present.

And, you know, we grew up on a small barn.

We had horses and stuff.

And I would make excuses to them like, oh, you know, I'm working with the horses.

You know, that's why my grades are down.

slipping and my mom came in i was like he's full of it you know this is not what's happening she took me to a christian school with a linoleum basketball court and i you know all of a sudden my grades got a lot a lot better um but you know i i've noticed this pattern in my life in academia where as a student where

I just, I don't know, I kind of skate by until that thing lights me up.

And there were a few of those moments at Texas Tech that drove me exactly to where I am today.

And I wanted you and my advisors at Denison to know that I had found the thing that turned the switch.

Yeah, I think it impacts my work every day because there are a lot of careers that get ended early because of concussions and brain injuries.

There are a lot of lives that get ended early because of those things.

And I want people to know that this is a treatable condition.