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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.

      Applied Experimental Psychology graduate student plans exciting research

      by Henry Heller

      Zachery Mondlak, a graduate student in CMU’s Applied Experimental Psychology program, plans to research text-to-speech software and whether certain reader traits influence reading comprehension scores. For example, a skilled reader may be less likely to benefit from text-to-speech software compared to an unskilled reader. 

      Mondlak was inspired to investigate this subject from his experiences with neurodivergent individuals. Many of these individuals with reading differences as a symptom of their condition, mentioned preferring text read aloud or enjoyed learning through visual mediums. 

      In Fall 2023, Mondlak will begin conducting his research with college student participants from CMU and other colleges throughout mid-Michigan. All participants will complete various measures and read passages at the same time.  

      Mondlak says, “I am not sure what to expect results-wise, but […] this idea has not yet been explored in other studies that tested text-to-speech software.” 

      Previously, Mondlak has been involved in research projects related to reading and reading processes, mostly consisting of recording eye movements while reading in real-time. During his final year at CMU, Mondlak will be an instructor at various colleges in mid-Michigan and in the future would like to be in a consulting role in the industry after completing his Ph.D.  

      This story is brought to you by the  Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

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