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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 methods to make mathematics easier to understand

      by Teagan Haynes

      “I think we can all attest that just because somebody is good at math doesn't guarantee that they're good at teaching it,” said Brooklyn Willett, a PhD student in the Mathematics Education program. Willett presented a pilot study of her research exploring new ways of teaching math at the 46th annual conference of the North American chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA). A grant from the Office of Research and Graduate Studies helped fund Willett’s trip to Cleveland, OH, where the conference was held.  

      Willett’s research examined problem solving approaches that will be used by future math teachers.  This research was conducted through two sets of interviews with math education students. Willett found that a student’s knowledge on how to teach problem solving skills is influenced by the way their teachers taught them math throughout the years.  

      Willett’s project was inspired by her experiences teaching high school before coming to CMU. After hearing students question whether the skills learned in her classroom were useful in real world situations more times than she could count, Willett was determined to provide an answer to them. Her goal was to make sure all students had the right methods to solve problems in their daily lives. 

      Willett is currently working on conducting a larger study that includes practicing student teachers to help add additional value to her data.  Willett hopes her framework is used as a knowledge base to improve problem-solving teaching methods that all people can benefit from. After completing her PhD, Willett intends to contribute to schools in mid-Michigan. 

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