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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College of Medicine student joins national journal’s advisory board

by Sanjay Gupta

Christal Clemens, a student at the CMU College of Medicine is now the student member on the Editorial Advisory Board of Annals of Family Medicine.

The American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors appointed Christal Clemens, a fourth-year student at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine, as the student member to the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Annals of Family Medicine. She is the first CMU College of Medicine student to receive this honor and will serve a one-year term beginning Oct. 1.

mug-Clemens,-Christal — Christal Clemens

Annals of Family Medicine is AAFP's peer-reviewed clinical research journal dedicated to advancing knowledge essential to understanding and improving health and primary care, areas at the core of Clemens' future. "I see community health research as part of my career as a family physician," said Clemens. "Research has been a longtime passion of mine because of its impact on patient care, guidelines and outcomes.
I'm excited to be part of advancing primary care knowledge and understanding at a national level."

Initially attracted to the College of Medicine because of the focus on primary care for underserved rural and urban populations, Clemens says the College of Medicine's supportive and collaborative atmosphere combined with research opportunities and clinical rotations prepared her for her career and for service to her profession.

Clemens' research at CMU includes projects in psychiatry and obstetrics/gynecology. With training in reviewing research articles and identifying areas of improvement, she has worked in both bench and clinical research settings. She also holds research experience through internships at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Mayo Clinic and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

At the state level, she is the student member on the 2020-21 Board of Trustees of Family Medicine Foundation of Michigan, the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians' philanthropic arm.