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.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

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.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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Successful publication pursuits

by Sanjna Jassi

CMU faculty, staff and emeriti recognized for their books published in 2018.

Central Michigan University Libraries and the Office of the Provost will honor 15 CMU faculty, staff and emeriti for their literary contributions in 2018 at the 15th annual Book Recognition Event.

Honorees are recognized for authoring, co-authoring, editing, illustrating and translating books. Those being honored are:

Natalia Collings of the Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development for editing "Cases of Teaching and Learning Across and Beyond K-12 Settings."
Darrin Doyle of the Department of English Language and Literature for writing "Scoundrels Among Us."
Bradley Fahlman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for writing "Materials Chemistry," third edition.
Susan Grettenberger of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work for co-writing "The Arc of Faith-Based Initiatives: Religion's Changing Role in Welfare Service Provision."
Mitchell Hall of the Department of History for editing the first and second volumes of "Opposition to War: An Encyclopedia of U.S. Peace and Antiwar Movements."
Tara McCarthy of the Department of History for writing "Respectability & Reform: Irish American Women's Activism, 1880-1920."
Amy Ransom of the Department of World Languages and Cultures for writing "I Am Legend as American Myth: Race and Masculinity in the Novel and its Film Adaptations."
Joseph Michael Sommers of the Department of English Language and Literature for editing "Conversations with Neil Gaiman."
Michael Talliard, Master of Science in Administration degree program faculty member, for writing "Market Insanity: A Brief Guide to Diagnosing the Madness in the Stock Market."
Annette Thornton, a Theatre, Interpretation and Dance faculty member for co-editing "Physical Dramaturgy: Perspectives from the Field."
Jonathon Truitt of the Department of History for writing "Sustaining the Divine in Mexico Tenochtitlan: Nahuas and Catholicism, 1523-1700."
Jeffrey Weinstock of the Department of English Language and Literature for editing "The Cambridge Companion to American Gothic" and "Critical Approaches to Welcome to Night Vale: Podcasting between Weather and the Void."
Cathy Willermet of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social work for co-editing "Bioarchaeology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: An Interdisciplinary Approach."
Laura Zwissler of the Department of Philosophy and Religion for writing "Religious, Feminist, Activist: Cosmologies of Interconnection."

The honoree presentation is at 3:30 p.m. April 2 in Park Library's Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium. A reception will follow in the library's Baber Room.