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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.

      English professor shares expertise at prestigious literary event

      by Sarah Buckley

      There are famous writers, and there are scholars whose critical insights highlight their brilliance for the rest of us. Department of English Language and Literature faculty member Joseph Sommers is a recognized expert who has written four books on the much-celebrated author Neil Gaiman, winner of both the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medals.

      St. Louis University recently invited Sommers to share his expertise in two talks honoring Gaiman as the most recent recipient of the St. Louis Literary Award, one of our nation’s most prestigious awards for writers.

      As part of their Campus Book Talk Series, Sommers gave an online talk about Gaiman’s books Stardust and The Graveyard Book.

      Sommers said it is nice to be recognized for his work in the field and to celebrate Gaiman’s major accomplishments. “One of the joys for me as a scholar in celebrating Neil Gaiman was being asked by this prestigious award to talk about two of his works, and to have those talks anthologized forever as part of his St. Louis Literary Award.”

      In conjunction with these talks and his forthcoming biography, Sommers will be teaching works of Gaiman, including The Graveyard Book and Stardust, in his ENG 323: Science Fiction and Fantasy this fall and ENG 482: Fantasy for Youth next spring. Seats are available for both classes.

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