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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.

      Professor Receives 2023 Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript Of The Year Award

      by User Not Found

      Shay Dawson, faculty member in the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services Administration, was awarded the 2023 Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript of the Year from the National Academy of Recreational Therapists and Sagamore-Venture Publishing. Shay and his team received the award at the American Therapeutic Recreation Association Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, for their paper entitled “Kids B.E.A.R. Pain, A Pediatric Chronic Pain Protocol.”   

      The Kids B.E.A.R. (Becoming Energized and Rejuvenated in Pain) Pain Protocol uses a 1-week residential therapeutic camp design embedded with clinically proven techniques in an environment that may be more conducive to improved compliance than a traditional clinic setting. The program design includes a 5-day residential component for adolescent patients with chronic pain, finishing with a 3-day family weekend to inform caregivers of the skills taught and to enhance family functioning. 

      The National Academy of Recreational Therapists (NART) is a national academy that pursues activities to support and advance the recreational therapy profession by recognition, education, research, scholarly activity, advocacy, and the provision of advice to decision makers. 

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