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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CMU historical audio drama receives acclaim

by Sanjna Jassi

"School Spirits," an audio drama focused on the history of CMU, was named Best of Competition in the Broadcast Education Awards Festival of Media Arts.

The legacy of Central Michigan University alumni echoes through halls on CMU's campus. For the first time, these will be more than ghostly echoes thanks to a series of new audio installations, part of an award-winning project called "School Spirits. "

After working with students to dramatize the history of Beaver Island through audio vignettes in 2018, Broadcast and Cinematic Arts faculty member Will Anderson wanted to do the same for landmarks on CMU's main campus in Mount Pleasant. This inspired the "School Spirits" project, recently named Best of Competition in the Broadcast Education Awards Festival of Media Arts.

"I wanted to find new places and uses for audio drama. I also wanted to use it to capture CMU's history," Anderson said.

Anderson uses recognizable places on campus as settings for conversations at different points in the university's history. Warriner Hall's vignette is set in 1928, when the building was constructed. The Biosciences Building feature is a conversation between two women pursuing careers in STEM fields who are excited about the opportunities CMU has for them.

The project features the voices of students, faculty and CMU President Bob Davies.

Anna Rudnitsky, an Honors Program student majoring in Theatre and Interpretation, coordinated the cast of "School Spirits." She connected the audio text to the people reading it and helped recruit voice talent. For Rudnitsky, this project was an opportunity to leave her mark on campus.

"I learned more about the connection to the community that arts can have," she said. "I found it cool to be a part of something long lasting within the school. My voice and the work I did is all across campus and will impact future generations."

The day after most of the recording for "School Spirits" was finished, CMU's campus shifted to remote-only classes due to COVID-19. Through Anderson's innovation, Rudnitsky's leadership and on campus voices, "School Spirits" was completed, despite the pandemic.

"This project reinforced to me what a special community we have," Anderson said. "I think it does a fantastic job of showing CMU's motto of wisdom, virtue and friendship. People at CMU are very good people and want the best for others."

This story was written by University Communications intern Eva Steepe.