Back to Main Menu

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 authors and editors honored at the 2025 Book Recognition Event

      by Claire Allen

      On April 2, 2025, Central Michigan University honored sixteen faculty and emeriti faculty who authored or edited books during the calendar year 2024. Held every spring, the Book Recognition Event recognizes faculty, staff, and emeriti who have published creative or scholarly books.   

      The annual event is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the University Libraries. Kathy Irwin, Dean of University Libraries, stated, “Producing a book is a major professional project often taking more than one year. I’m always interested and amazed to see the range of topics, methods, and formats of our colleagues’ books.”   

      Provost Paula Lancaster added, "Through this event, we honor our great thinkers and contributors for sharing their intellectual insights with us and the world. The texts they have given us are indeed a sign of their legacy. What their work may inspire in others is an even greater and enduring legacy.”  

      The 2025 honorees included:  

      • Bailey, Steven K., Author, Department of English Language and Literature. Target Hong Kong: A True Story of U.S. Navy Pilots at War. Osprey Publishing, 2024. 
      • Bean, Jeffrey, Author, Department of English Language and Literature. Everywhere, Everywhere. Cloudbank Books, 2024. 
      • Daugherty, Elaine DiFalco, Co-Author, Department of Theatre and Dance, Trommer-Beardslee, Heather, Co-Author, Department of Theatre and Dance. Consent Practices in Performing Arts Education. Intellect, 2024. 
      • Doyle, Darrin, Author, Department of English Language and Literature. Let Gravity Seize the Dead. Regal House Publishing, 2024. 
      • Hicks, Troy, Co-Editor, Department of Teacher and Special Education. Better Practices: Exploring the Teaching of Writing in Online and Hybrid Spaces. The WAC Clearinghouse, University Press of Colorado, 2024. 
      • Hwang, Mark, Editor, Department of Business Information Systems. Teaching Information Systems. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024. 
      • Kaczynski, Dan, Co-Editor, Professor Emeritus. How to Conduct Qualitative Research in Finance. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024. 
      • Lawson, Daniel, Co-Author, Department of English Language and Literature. Storying Writing Center Labor for Anti-Capitalist Futures. The WAC Clearinghouse, University Press of Colorado, 2024. 
      • Liu, Jennifer, Author, Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures. Indoctrinating the Youth: Secondary Education in Wartime China and Postwar Taiwan, 1937-1960. University of Hawai'i Press, 2024. 
      • Macleod, David, Author, Professor Emeritus. Inflation Decade, 1910-1920: Americans Confront the High Cost of Living. Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. 
      • Niec, Larissa, Co-Editor, Department of Psychology. Telemental Health Care for Children and Families. Springer, 2024. 
      • Taylor, Jason E., Author, Department of Economics. The Brew Deal: How Beer Helped Battle the Great Depression. Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. 
      • Verhulsdonck, Gustav, Co-Author, Department of Business Information Systems. UX Writing: Designing User-Centered Content. Routledge, 2024. 
      • Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew, Co-Editor, Department of English Language and Literature. Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse. Lexington Books, 2024. 
      • Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew, Co-Editor, Department of English Language and Literature. Gothic Melville. University of Wales Press, 2024. 
      • Wright, Robert E., Author, Department of Economics. FDR's Long New Deal: A Public Choice Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. 

      At the event, President MacKinnon donated three of his books, which are a welcome addition to the Book Recognition collection.   

      Since 2003, authors and editors of over 500 books have been recognized. You can view past recipients in the online CMU Book Recognition collection or browse the physical books located on the north end of the Park Library’s second floor.

      Events

      VIEW ALL EVENTS
      VIEW ALL EVENTS

       

      View our programming newsletter

      Entrepreneurship News

      Questions?

      Contact the team