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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.

      Keep the Faith

      by Sarah Buckley

      A new tabletop game, Keep the Faith, invites players to explore how religions change over time through collaborative storytelling. Developed by Greg Loring-Albright and published by Central Michigan University Press, the game launched on BackerKit on February 4, 2025.

      Faith in flux

      In Keep the Faith, players guide a fictional Faith through evolving eras, shaping traditions, doctrines, and rituals. Using Aspect, Era, and Goal cards, they navigate shifting values, external pressures, and internal conflicts, sometimes reinforcing old ways, other times splintering into new sects.

      The game’s accessible mechanics appeal to both newcomers and veteran world-builders. Elements like music, worship spaces, and symbols shift in meaning based on player choices, creating a unique narrative every session.

      Cover to the game, Keep the Faith, with artwork by Jabari Weathers, showing a pair of religious adherents, hands outstretched while taking part in a faith ritual.”

      Cover to the game, Keep the Faith, with artwork by Jabari Weathers, showing a pair of religious adherents, hands outstretched while taking part in a faith ritual.

      Learning through play

      Designed for 60–90 minute sessions, Keep the Faith works as a casual one-shot game or an engaging tool for classroom discussions. Its modular nature ensures replayability and thought-provoking conversations about religious transformation.

      Jonathan Lawrence, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Canisius University, sees its educational potential.

      “I could see myself using this early in a semester to introduce various concepts about religion . . . or later in the term to talk about how groups evolve—or maybe even use it both times and allow students to compare,” said Lawrence.

      This aligns with CMich Press’s “Games for Learning” initiative, which develops peer-reviewed educational games.

      Card art from the game Keep the Faith, by the artist momatoes, showing a woman wearing green and holding up her hands.
      Card art from the game Keep the Faith, by the artist momatoes.

      A collaborative creation

      Loring-Albright, known for Ahoy and Bloc by Bloc: Uprising, brings his expertise in narrative-driven game design to Keep the Faith. Artists Jabari Weathers and momatoes enhance the experience with striking visuals.

      CMU student Liv O’Toole, who playtested the game, found its moral dilemmas engaging.

      “As my peers and I drew Aspect cards and our storylines developed, it became clear that our values were not aligned,” said O’Toole. “By the end, we had created our own religious tradition and gained an appreciation for how faiths evolve.”

      With its blend of storytelling and meaningful discussion, Keep the Faith stands out as an innovative and engaging experience for players and educators alike.

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