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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.

      Program plants STEM at area schools

      by Sanjay Gupta
      CMU program teaches area teachers how to bring engineering skills into their classrooms.

      "This program has changed the way I teach," said Ron Ratkos, an 11-year adjunct professor at Mid Michigan College in Harrison.

      "It's different from how I was taught when I was growing up," said Natalie Brown, a senior at Central Michigan University pursuing a bachelor's degree in secondary education.

      The program that brought them together this summer is a unique six-week STEM initiative created by CMU engineering faculty. The focus is to help area teachers — from middle school to community college, and soon-to-be teachers — learn engineering concepts and create fun and interactive lessons for use in their classrooms.

      It also aligns with the focus on STEM education in Michigan and its leadership role in adopting multistate Next Generation Science Standards.

      "They are not just designing lesson plans. We are giving them a real hands-on engineering research project," said Kumar Yelamarthi, an electrical and computer engineering faculty member and director-elect of the School of Engineering and Technology.

      "They are getting firsthand knowledge of what engineers do, what the engineering process is like," said Yelamarthi, who designed the program.

      Circle of learning

      New participants become part of a circle of learning each summer.

      After their six weeks at CMU, when school starts, the teachers present their engineering lesson to their students, who bring the concepts to life.

      The teachers and students are invited back to CMU in the fall for a STEM day, where the students — and teachers — get to show off what they've created and learn from each other. The students also are given an engineering task and tour the College of Science and Engineering.

      The hands-on opportunities, relevance, collaboration and lifelong connections are what make the program unique, Ratkos and Bowen said.

      "What grabbed me at first was that I would actually be involved in a real research project," said Ratkos, a repeat participant. "Everything I've learned has been useful, and it fits really well into the Next Generation Science Standards, preparing students for college."

      Bowen, from Grosse Ile, Michigan, wants to teach high school in Michigan and eventually abroad. She said the program was a little out of her comfort zone at first.

      "But everyone has been really helpful. We all collaborated well, and it's been a great networking opportunity."

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