Back to Main Menu

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.

      Symposium renamed to honor champion for diversity

      by Eric Baerren

      A prominent Central Michigan University event is getting a new name to recognize how campus community members contribute to national efforts to improve equity, inclusion, belonging and social justice.

      The Klymyshyn Symposium on Inclusive Excellence and Social Justice will take place from Feb. 12-14. In previous years, it was called the Diversity Symposium and was held in April.

      More than 26 sessions, roundtables, workshops and speakers are scheduled across the three-day symposium. While most of the events will take place in Bovee University Center, Friday’s sessions and keynote speech will be in French Auditorium.

      “This event represents just a sample of the depth and breadth of our communities’ commitment to embedding our values into our collective teaching, learning, advocacy and service efforts,” said Shawna Patterson-Stephens, vice president for inclusive excellence and belonging.

      The symposium is now named after Ulana Klymyshyn, who taught in the anthropology department and retired in 2015 as director of Diversity Education, and who is also known for her contributions to diversity in the Mount Pleasant area, Patterson-Stephens said.

      “Klymyshyn was pivotal in implementing what has now transitioned into an annual learning experience,” she said. “As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, naming the symposium after Klymyshyn is an exciting way for us to honor her legacy here at CMU.” 

      The event is open to the public, but registration is required.

      Events

      VIEW ALL EVENTS
      VIEW ALL EVENTS

       

      View our programming newsletter

      Entrepreneurship News

      Questions?

      Contact the team