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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.

      New certificate focused on STEM skills at CMU

      by Ashley O'Neil

      Beginning in January, students in the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) have the opportunity to collaborate with each other and (CSE) faculty as part of a new certificate they can earn alongside their degree. InSciTE is an integration of content, research, and pedagogy. The learner-led focus is intended to help students tackle current STEM challenges while developing skills such as time management, communication, and seeing the value that team members with different perspectives bring to the problem-solving process.

      Throughout the fall, Dr. Wiline Pangle, InSciTE Director, organized a series of workshops for InSciTE faculty facilitated by Dr. Gina Wilson as a way to establish some of the guiding principles of the program – inclusive and collaborative practices. 

      Dr. Mark Francek, one of the faculty who is set to teach in spring, sees this as a valuable learning opportunity. “I’m excited to work with Dr. Pangle. She’s dynamic. She has a research interest in this. And I’m eager to learn from her. to learn from my students… there are students from every discipline within science and engineering. Each of them are going to bring a different perspective, and I’m interested in learning from them.”

      Staff members from The Center for Excellence in STEM Education also participated in this workshop series, and got a deeper look at the program’s innovative approach in talking with students who are in the program and several faculty members for the two episodes listed below on their podcast, Teach Wonder.

      Learn more about InSciTE and stay tuned for additional updates once the 35 undergraduates of the pioneer cohort start the course , set to be taught by Pangle and Francek. 

      Capturing the Capacity to Grow

      Belonging and Inclusive Teaching: InSciTE

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