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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Title IX Advisory Board identifies priorities

by Sanjay Gupta

The Central Michigan University Title IX Advisory Board has identified its priorities and is preparing recommendations for the president.

The Central Michigan University Presidential Title IX Advisory Board, appointed by President Bob Davies in December, has outlined priorities that will guide recommendations for how CMU can better serve its community members in response to the growing national crisis of sexual misconduct on college campuses.

Through meetings this semester, members of the campus-wide board identified four key priorities related to sexual misconduct and/or gender discrimination at CMU: communications, resources, training and a campus climate survey.

The 19-member board — comprising staff, faculty, alumni and student leaders — developed working groups for each of the four priority areas. The groups developed recommendations from their respective areas, which are being reviewed by the advisory board as a whole. The final recommendations, intended to further advance CMU's commitment to addressing sexual misconduct on campus, will then be presented to President Bob Davies.

Katherine Lasher, CMU Title IX coordinator and executive director of the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity, chairs the board.

"The board has worked quickly to put together innovative recommendations for the president that will help inform and guide the university," Lasher said. "I appreciate the board's commitment and insights — its work will have a meaningful impact here at CMU."

Campus climate survey

The campus climate survey, spearheaded by the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity, was sent to main campus students in early April. The survey aims to provide a representatively sound sample of feedback from CMU students who attend the Mount Pleasant campus on three main areas, including:

Awareness and perception of CMU's sexual misconduct resources and policies.
CMU's sexual misconduct prevention, education and training.
Student participants' personal experiences and prevalence of nonconsensual sexual misconduct, including while attending the university.

"The survey was launched to almost 16,000 students, and we have had an 18% response rate, which demonstrates the students' interest in improving the culture at CMU," Lasher said. "The data we gather will show us what we're doing right, but more importantly, what we need to work on and where we can improve."