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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.

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      Every journey is unique. Explore the opportunities that interest you.

      New mural will highlight Native American history, culture

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      A new mural coming to Central Michigan University’s Bovee University Center will explore the past, present and future of Native American and Indigenous people around Michigan and throughout North America.

      A committee of CMU faculty, staff and students, along with a representative from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, began meeting last academic year to discuss concepts and goals for the new mural project, said Colleen Green, director of the Office of Native American Programs and Student Transition Enrichment Program.

      “We strive to educate our students and allow them to foster personal growth,” Green said. “What better way to do it than by guiding them through an interactive mural where they can learn about the Indigenous culture of the place we all reside today?”

      A vision with purpose
      The committee selected Anishinaabe artist Alan Compo to design the mural. Compo is a member of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, and much of his art centers on the history, culture and stories of Native American and Indigenous people. 

      With the new mural at CMU, Compo hopes to achieve two goals: helping Native American and Indigenous students, faculty, staff and visitors feel represented and seen, and also helping others learn more about Michigan’s first residents, who may be their neighbors and community partners.

      “Many people don’t realize that they are living next to such rich a culture, one that has always been there and always will be there,” he said.

      Compo said the shared vision of the mural committee was to portray the culture and history of the Anishinaabe people and also highlight the hundreds of other Tribal Nations throughout North America. The mural will incorporate images representing traditional stories and history as well as current events and issues.

      “We are telling stories that need to be told,” Compo said. “Our hope is that the mural will get people to start asking questions and to wonder, and to inspire them to choose to learn more.”

      Multimedia features
      To inspire viewers to learn more, the mural also will feature a digital display and a QR code linking to an educational webpage.  

      Michelle Cassidy, faculty member in the Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures, is helping develop the content for the displays and contributing to the mural webpage.

      “The mural will open an educational space,” Cassidy said. “We hope it gets people interested in learning more, and we will provide information and links to help them take that next step.”

      The information on the display screens will include information about the history of the treaties between the US and Indigenous nations, including the resulting land cessions and reserved land use rights, as well as information about federally recognized tribes in the U.S.

      Cassidy said the digital components also will help to explain how that history is relevant now, and how it continues to impact Indigenous people today.

      Planned unveiling ceremony

      The mural will be installed on the second floor of the Bovee University Center, near the main entrance to the Rotunda. The mural committee expects the project to be complete sometime in late August.

      The new mural will be located near the Rotunda.
      The new mural will be located near the Rotunda in the Bovee University Center.

      The university is planning an unveiling ceremony, open to CMU community members and members of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, in early September. More information will be shared in the weeks ahead. 

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