Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

We are a dedicated institute for student entrepreneurs across campus and beyond. We aim to maximize your success by fostering your entrepreneurial mindset, promote inter-disciplinary collaboration and provide support for the creation and development of your new ventures. Jumpstart your ideas and get involved today!

Tune in for excitement!

Passion. Potential. Pitches. Don't miss any of the 2025 New Venture Challenge excitement.

Tune in Friday, April 11 at 1 p.m. for great ideas and fierce competition. Then, join the judges, mentors, spectators and teams as they see who is going home with thousands of dollars in venture financing. The awards broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. and one team will walk away as the overall best venture.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

Start your entrepreneurial journey

Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration is the home of the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship and the first Department of Entrepreneurship in the state of Michigan. We are a student-centric hub where experiential, curricular, and external entrepreneurial opportunities intersect.

Our mission is to maximize student success by fostering a campus-wide entrepreneurial mindset that promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration and the creation of new ventures.

We aim to create innovative programming, boost cross-campus and ecosystem collaboration and provide a comprehensive mentoring program.

Our institute provides extracurricular opportunities and is open to all undergraduate and graduate CMU students.

Student opportunities

Meet experienced alumni, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and other business and political leaders.
Learn practical skills, innovative thinking, and connect with mentors and entrepreneurial resources.
Attend skill-building workshops and compete in pitch competitions and Hackathons.
Take part in special scholarship programs and travel experiences.
Pitch your venture at our signature New Venture Challenge event and compete for up to $20,000 in cash awards.

Find your path

Are you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

Every journey is unique. Explore the opportunities that interest you.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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Award honors recreation leader

by Sanjna Jassi

Stan Shingles, CMU assistant vice president for university recreation, is winner of a national collegiate recreation organization’s top annual award.

Stan Shingles is the winner of a national collegiate recreation organization’s top annual award.

Central Michigan University’s assistant vice president for university recreation received the 2019 Honor Award from NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation, formerly the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association.

“This awards underscores the commitment that CMU has made in allowing me to serve our profession and professional association,” Shingles said. “Although this is an individual honor, it could not have been achieved without the unyielding support of CMU and my outstanding University Recreation teammates over the past three decades.”

NIRSA presents the annual Honor Award — its most prestigious recognition — for outstanding achievements in the profession and exemplary service to the association.

"He is a major leader at CMU, within the Mount Pleasant community, in the state of Michigan and nationally." — Tom Jones, recreational services director emeritus, speaking of Stan Shingles

“Stan is a role model for servant leadership, a mentor to students and professionals, an expert in recreational sports, and an ambassador in numerous organizations and causes,” NIRSA said in a news release announcing the award.

In his 30 years at CMU, Shingles has been assistant director for intramural sports, associate director and director of programs, and interim assistant vice president of the Office of Institutional Diversity. He also is a 30-year volunteer with Special Olympics Michigan.

“The national partnership between NIRSA and Special Olympics was created and fostered during Stan’s term as NIRSA president,” said Scott George, manager of university engagement with Special Olympics and former CMU staff member.

George said Shingles also envisioned the positive impact Unified Sports would have on CMU students and Special Olympics athletes.

“Stan’s great influence can be seen at the national level and in the growth of Unified Sports within NIRSA,” George said.

Shingles is CMU’s second NIRSA Honor Award recipient. Tom Jones, now recreational services director emeritus, received the honor in 1987. Jones also is namesake of the lifetime Michigan Intramural Recreational Sports Association Outstanding Member Award that Shingles received in 2006.

“Stan became involved in all aspects of the community and came to be an agent for change in mid-Michigan,” Jones said. “Nearly 30 years later he is a major leader at CMU, within the Mount Pleasant community, in the state of Michigan and nationally.”

Shingles will receive the Honor Award at NIRSA’s annual conference Feb. 16-19 in Boston.

NIRSA is a leader in higher education and advocate for the advancement of recreation, sport and well-being.