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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.

      Med simulation, real-world stress

      by Sanjna Jassi
      Teams from around Michigan attend SIM Wars at CMU’s College of Medicine in Saginaw.

      Emergency medicine residents from across Michigan put their skills to the test in a competition that threw them into simulated, once-in-a-lifetime medical situations that cannot be practiced on actual patients or learned from a textbook.

      The 10th annual SIM Wars competition, sponsored by Central Michigan University’s College of Medicine and the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association of Michigan, took place April 16 at the college’s Saginaw education building.

      Dr. Robert Sasso, director of CMU’s state-of-the-art Covenant HealthCare Simulation Center, works each year with co-directors, Dr. Andrew Bazakis and Dr. Jonathon Deibel, to devise unpredictable, life-threatening situations for residents to address as a team.

      Simulations called for residents to treat “patients” suffering from medical emergencies ranging from rattlesnake bites to stab wounds. What began as a sepsis diagnosis was elevated into a more serious matter in the final round, when a staged nurse administered a life-threatening medication error to a patient, due to a room mix-up.

      In each simulation, teams are tested on their ability to handle uncommon medical issues. They are judged on communication among teams and “families,” their judgment, and stress management.

      This year’s winning team was from Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, followed by Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc Township.

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