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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

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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CLASS announces award recipients during annual recognition ceremony

by Sarah Buckley

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences honored the recipients of distinguished alumni awards, faculty excellence awards, and student paper competitions during the annual CLASS Awards Ceremony Oct. 24 in the Biosciences Building at Central Michigan University.

Alumni awards

The CLASS Alumni Awards of Distinction recognize our outstanding alumni and their contributions to our communities. Our four alumni award recipients are highly skilled practitioners in their fields, they make a positive impact with a global reach, and have broadened our understanding of the human condition through scholarly and creative endeavors.

Hasnul Insani Djohar, MA ’13, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Global Engagement
Dennis Hand, ’06, ’08, ’12, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Professional Practice
Christina Otto, ’14, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Public Service
Kidada E. Williams, ’96, MA ’98, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Scholarly Activity

CLASS Student Paper Competition

The Student Paper Competition is awarded to students who submit papers written for classes at the 300 level and above within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Applicants can submit research papers, essays, creative works, theoretical papers, reviews of research, or papers presented at professional conferences.

Jasmine Alpert (HST 496WI), “‘Still They Cry More Blood’: How the Aftermath of the Yellow Fever Epidemics Affected Views on Medicine in Philadelphia”
Faculty Sponsor: Andrew Wehrman (History)
Colleen Fantozzi (REL 302), “Rock Stars, Witches, Punks, and Feminists”
Faculty Sponsor: Laurel Zwissler (Religion)
Ana Marie Partridge (SPN 475), ”An Outlook on the Field of Translation: The Emergence of AI”
Faculty Sponsor: Carolina Gutiérrez-Rivas (World Languages)

Shapiro Prize in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Shapiro Prize in Social and Behavioral Sciences is awarded to the student who has written the best social or behavioral science research paper based upon empirical data during the previous academic year.

Angeline Petras-Gourlay (HON 499), “‘Are You Sure?’: The Use of Debiasing Techniques in Juror Judgments of Guilt”
Faculty Sponsor: Kyle Scherr (Psychology)

Faculty teaching awards

The CLASS Excellence in Teaching & Learning Awards recognize faculty members who go above and beyond what is expected in creating exceptional learning opportunities for our students. Our teaching awards recipients are experts in their fields, effective and creative in promoting student learning, inspire students to high achievement and receive high praise from them in return, and are admired advisors and mentors to future educators.

Major Nicholas J. Andrychowski, Department of Military Science and Leadership
Susan Grettenberger, Social Work Program, School of Politics, Society, Justice and Public Service