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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.

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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Comparing confidence and scores

by Henry Heller

Bridgette Russell, a graduate student studying Mathematics with a concentration in Education, explored the relationship between how people think they will perform in mathematics compared to how they actually perform.

Russell’s study was inspired by two of her intermediate algebra students. One student was convinced they were not good at math, but consistently scored over 100% on coursework. Another student believed they would pass the course with no problems but received scores of around 30% on most exams. Russell wanted to investigate this to help students be more successful in mathematics.

The goal of Russell's research was to learn about what factors impact undergraduate students in introductory math courses and find ways to help them develop the skills necessary to succeed in more advanced classes. For example, intermediate algebra has a high DFW rate, meaning many students receive a D, F, or withdraw from the course. By understanding what influences a student's perception of their skills, Russell hopes to decrease these DFW rates.

In her findings, Russell discovered students do not always accurately predict their success or failure. Some people are overconfident and think they will perform higher than they do. While others are under confident and perform better than they think they will. A large part of Russell’s study was finding these inconsistencies and explanations such as having a growth or fixed mindset and other internal or external factors.

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