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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.

      In the competitive field of poetry publishing, it is extremely challenging to win awards and publish books, even for writers who’ve been laboring long at the trade. But apparently not for Weston Wise, a Breckenridge senior majoring in English and Anthropology, who just received news that his most recent poetry manuscript—and the second this year—has won an award and been accepted for publication.

      Wise’s new chapbook, The Songs of the Long Land, will be published by Beyond Words Magazine in February of 2024.

      “It feels unreal,” said Wise. “The name of the press describes it well: Beyond Words.”

      In Spring 2023, Weston’s chapbook, A Gentle and Modern Ape, was selected by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) in their College Undergraduate Poetry Competition as a winner of the Edna Meudt Memorial Award (PDF).

      "Securing publication for not just one but two chapbook manuscripts with reputable publishers is an astounding accomplishment for an undergraduate," said poet and Department of English Language and Literature faculty member Jeffrey Bean. "Weston is on fire!"

      Weston Wise stands at a podium in front of glass windows to read from his poetry at Art Reach of Mid Michigan.
      Weston Wise read his poetry during the October 2023 Wellspring Literary Series.

      In October, Weston read his poetry as a featured student at the Wellspring Literary Series. Founded by poet and English Professor Robert Fanning, this annual series features Michigan poets and musicians at Art Reach of Mid Michigan in downtown Mount Pleasant.

      “Weston’s smart, bold, witty poems draw on a range of subjects and are widely appealing," said Fanning. "This is only the beginning of his successes.” 

      To summarize? Look to the skies for Weston Wise. He’s another CMU poet on the rise. 

      Visit our website to learn more about CMU's Creative Writing minor, undergraduate certificate, or master's degree or contact the English Department at 989-774-3171.

      Source: English Department Public Relations Committee

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