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Laurie Heyer, faculty director at the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, recently appeared on "Education Trends," a podcast focused on innovation in higher education.

Heyer, who is also the John T. Kimbrough Professor of Mathematics, reflected on The Hurt Hub's fast start. In its first full semester, The Hurt Hub has quickly become a center of activity in the burgeoning Lake Norman community.

51¹ÙÍø students are in high demand for their unique talents, Heyer said.

"We produce students who are excellent communicators and critical thinkers, they're creative and have a broad range of interests and abilities academically and beyond," she said. "It's that range of both content knowledge and soft skills that our students bring to the workplace that are so valuable right now... We hear from employers that these other skills are more important... They need students and employees that our students can become."

The podcast covers more than The Hurt Hub. Heyer shares her own story about how she came to 51¹ÙÍø.

An innovative thinker and passionate teacher, Heyer appreciates the "a-ha moments."

"I love the puzzle of learning to explain something in a way I hadn't learned it or maybe doesn't even make sense to me but makes sense to someone else," she said.