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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 faculty member gets international honor

      by Sanjna Jassi
      CMU psychology and neuroscience faculty member is awarded an international honor.

      Gary Dunbar, a longtime Central Michigan University faculty member in the experimental psychology and neuroscience programs, recently was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize in Manila, Philippines.

      He also was chosen to be a keynote speaker during the event's Evelyn Tantamco Gusi Awards for the most outstanding physician.

      The Gusi Peace Prize Foundation is a charitable organization that honors individuals or groups worldwide who distinguish themselves through contributions toward peace and respect for human life and dignity.

      Dunbar is director of the Field Neurosciences Institute Laboratory for Restorative Neurology and co-director of CMU's Brain Research and Integrative Neuroscience Center with College of Medicine faculty member Julien Rossignol.

      His recent research focuses on using stem cells, dietary supplements and pharmacological treatments for cognitive or motor deficits following brain damage, spinal cord injury, glioblastoma and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

      "I feel honored to have been nominated and selected," Dunbar said. "It was an absolutely phenomenal and surrealistic experience of a lifetime. I am very glad I accepted the offer to speak and accept this award and to meet outstanding laureates from around the world."

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