Start up
Build up your venture idea.
Learn more
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.
Jimmy Haugh named Goldwater Scholar
by
User Not Found
Jimmy Haugh, a Central Michigan University junior from Orion, MI, has been awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Haugh is an Honors Program student pursuing a major in biology and a minor in geographic information sciences.
As a young kid, Haugh wanted to be like his idol, Diego, from the show “Go, Diego, Go!” It was his dream to visit the Amazon rainforest, recording rare species and helping to save the rainforest.
“I often trekked through my yard, field guide in hand, collecting the frogs or snakes to show my (usually dismayed) mother,” he said.
Haugh is currently fulfilling part of his childhood dream by studying abroad in the middle of the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Galápagos Islands to continue his studies in ecology, evolution, and conservation. The trip includes a visit to Yasuní National Park, which contains the highest biodiversity of reptiles and amphibians on Earth.
“Herptiles are among the most at-risk of extinction and are an indicator species for climate change due to their endothermic nature and reproductive strategy; their conservation is vital to the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functions,” he said. “Understanding how they evolve and interact can help increase our knowledge and catalyze conservation efforts.”
Under the guidance of his research advisor, Dave Zanatta, and John Pfeiffer, curator of Bivalvia at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., Haugh has been conducting research on shell shape variations in the critically endangered freshwater mussel genus Epioblasma. This undergraduate research experience will help prepare Haugh to achieve his ultimate goal of earning a Ph.D. in ecological and evolutionary biology and conducting herpetological research.
Haugh worked with Zanatta and Maureen Harke, director of the CMU National Scholarship Program, throughout the Goldwater Scholarship application process. The Goldwater Foundation seeks to support college sophomores and juniors who demonstrate strong potential to join the next generation of leaders in STEM research. Haugh was selected from a competitive pool of 1,353 applicants from 446 institutions to receive this award.
Signature Programs
Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship
Explore special opportunities to learn new skills and travel the world.
Compete & Win
New Venture Challenge 2025
Present your venture and win BIG at the New Venture Challenge.
Build your skills
Workshops and events
Boost your entrepreneurial skills through our workshops, mentor meetups and pitch competitions.
Develop your ideas
IDEA Den
Learn about the entrepreneurship makerspace on campus in Grawn Hall.
Ready, Set, Pitch!
Make-A-Pitch 2024
Present a 2-minute pitch at the Make-A-Pitch Competition and you could win prizes and bragging rights!
Meet Mentors
Mentorship and support
Connect with mentors and faculty who are here to support the next generation of CMU entrepreneurs.
Support students
Make an impact
Are you a CMU alum looking to support CMU student entrepreneurs? Learn how you can support or donate to the Entrepreneurship Institute.
View our programming newsletter
Alumni give back to students through mentorship, real-world experiences
The Wakeling Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars program wrapped its first cohort this academic year.
Students compete to win cash prizes at the New Venture Challenge
Pitched 40 ventures at NMV Challenge, Friday, April 19, CMU. Judges awarded $100,000 in cash prizes.
Wakeling Gendron Scholars make a life-changing trip to Texas
Wakeling and Gendron Scholars attended SXSW in Texas, meeting industry leaders and gaining entrepreneurial insights.
Business barriers lead CMU students to a new venture
Justin Ashman and Philip Mundt won Central Michigan University's New Venture Competition with their 3-D printing operation, Form Further.
