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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.

      Collaboration is built into new health studies facility

      by Sanjna Jassi
      CMU’s new Interprofessional Education and Practice Center opens wide the door to student success.

      As workers enter the final construction phases of Central Michigan University's Center for Integrated Health Studies, Amy Malheim is putting the final touches on her plan for the new Interprofessional Education and Practice Center within the building.

      Starting in January, this is where CMU health professions students will find new opportunities to learn by doing, training with high-tech clinical mannequins and role-playing medical actors.

      Malheim is director of the center, having arrived in July from the University of North Dakota, where she was administrator of a similar program. Her guiding principles for the center are embedded in its name: interprofessional, education, practice.

      "The center is to be all about collaboration among the health professions, to get various disciplines talking and learning from each other," she said.

      That's the future of health care, studies show, and the IEPC is designed to keep CMU students at the forefront.

      "In today's world, health care professionals need to be trained in real-life environments," said Tom Masterson, dean of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions.

      "That includes learning and working alongside colleagues with different clinical training and using high-definition mannequins and students role-playing as patients. These experiences help train our students to better respond clinically in real-world situations, which ultimately will improve patient outcomes."

      Exploring the center

      The center encompasses 6,000 square feet that includes a two-room simulation suite equipped with a variety of high-tech clinical mannequins in addition to eight patient exam rooms for role-playing medical scenarios. All rooms are set up for observation and feedback.

      "This gives students the hands-on experience in a controlled environment that allows them to make a mistake and to correct it right after," Malheim said.

      Malheim foresees that departments would schedule groups in the center three to four times a semester as well as work with her to set up their own collaborations, such as physical therapy students working with speech-language pathology students.

      She also expects to create an interprofessional committee with representatives from each department and discipline, including the College of Medicine, to champion the effort.

      Masterson said he is excited that a 10-year goal is coming to fruition.

      "The center is key to a lot of our programs moving into the future."

      Construction of the $26 million, 50,000-square-foot CIHS building began in March 2018. The Michigan Legislature allocated $19.5 million for the building, and the balance came from university reserves.

      Questions?