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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.

      Leadership change in the College of Education and Human Services

      by Erica Peters

      Following her appointment as Interim Provost and Executive Vice President, Paula Lancaster has announced a leadership change in the College of Education and Human Services. Megan Goodwin, who has served as the associate dean since of the college 2019, will serve as acting dean. Goodwin’s appointment will remain in place until the search for the university’s next provost is successful and Lancaster returns to her role as dean.

      Goodwin began her career at CMU in 1984 as an assistant professor in the area of child development, teaching a broad range of early childhood and child development courses, and achieved the ranks of associate and full professor before taking on various administrative opportunities at CMU. Goodwin earned a bachelor’s in Child Development and Family Relations from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and master’s and doctoral degrees in Family and Child Development from Virginia Tech.

      “I am grateful to Dr. Goodwin for stepping into this role as well as for the leadership she has provided to the College in the past,” Lancaster said.  

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      Questions?

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