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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. 

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.

      CMU alumnus to work as Medical Coordinator at CFP National Championship Game

      by Jason Fielder

      On January 20, a Central Michigan University alumnus will be standing on the sidelines of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, ready to assist an important group of players – the members of the marching band.

      CMU alumnus Matt Brancaleone, PhD, PT, DPT, AT, works as the Medical Coordinator for the OSU Marching Band. His duties include providing athletic training services to band members. The job is a percentage of his clinical work as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Ohio State.

      A man in a black jacket, red hat, and black sunglasses tends to a marching band member sitting on a bench.
      Matt Brancaleone tends to an OSU Marching Band member.

      “We are extremely excited!” Brancaleone says. “There is a buzz in the air that we were all hoping for at the beginning of the year.”

      CMU impact

      Brancaleone is in his 10th season as the OSU band’s Medical Coordinator. He’s worked at the university for nearly 11 years, gaining employment shortly after graduating from CMU’s Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions with a Doctorate in physical therapy in 2014. It’s Brancaleone’s second degree from CMU. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in athletic training in 2010.

      A man wearing a black zipped-up jacket and red hat stands and smiles with his arms outstretched.
      Matt Brancaleone poses while on the field at the 2025 Rose Bowl.

      “Though I believe the education and clinical opportunities laid the foundation to get me where I am today,” Brancaleone says, “I think the biggest impact that CMU had on me was the relationships with mentors I developed during my time there and beyond.”

      Brancaleone cites this trio of professors as his special mentors: Dr. Rene Shingles, Dr. Deborah Silkwood-Sherer, and Dr. John Andraka. 

      “These three, whether they know it or not, have had such an impact on my career,” Brancaleone says. “Without these three individuals, I don't believe my time at CMU, transition to Ohio State, and subsequent clinical and academic career would have been as fruitful.”

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