Professor Stacey Hettes teaches biology and neuroscience to undergraduates eager to enter the worlds of science and medicine at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside and is the youngest winner to date of the Milliken Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Science, a $50,000 professional development prize.

Her classes are difficult because life is difficult. They are also full of wonder, joy, and triumph because, like her students, she is a hard-working seeker. She relishes in shared struggle and shared discovery, even when the topic is long-buried child sexual abuse. Re-emerging from the shadows of her past was only possible once she resolved to carry the story found in her debut memoir into the light.