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.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

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.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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Recreation programs accredited

by Sanjna Jassi

CMU’s recreation, parks and leisure services administration program has earned accreditation for each of its three concentrations.

For 37 years, Central Michigan University's recreation, parks and leisure services administration program has earned accreditation.

Now, for the first time, each of the program's three concentrations — outdoor and environmental recreation, recreation and event management, and therapeutic recreation — is accredited separately.

Begin exploring

Learn more about three ways to pursue interests in recreation, parks and leisure services administration at CMU:

"To my knowledge, we're the first program in the country to have three programs accredited at the same time," said Bob Frost, department chair.

The Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions approved the accreditation through 2026.

It's the latest of several points of pride for RPL. The department recently won the International Festivals and Events Association's Gold Pinnacle Award for the world's best event management bachelor's degree.

Last month, two people associated with RPL were among seven Alumni Award winners. The CMU Alumni Association honored Ryan Moran with its Alumni Service Recognition Award and Ron Bacon with its Honorary Alumni Award.

Moran manages several U.S. Army recreation centers, serving military personnel and families through community-based recreation. During a six-month assignment as a deployed entertainment coordinator, he organized entertainment for 17 U.S. military installations in Iraq.

Bacon is a founding member of the RPL Professional Advisory Board and has served as a guest lecturer, curriculum consultant, accreditation contributor and student mentor. In 2006, he established the Ron and Susan Bacon Outdoor Recreation Award.

Frost also said about 92% of CMU therapeutic recreation graduates pass the national certification exam — about five percentage points more than regional and national averages.

"It's helpful to have the programs validated not just by accreditation but by other outside measures," he said.

CMU has about 450 RPL majors and minors across all three concentrations: about 230 in recreation and event management, 140 in therapeutic recreation and 80 in outdoor and environmental recreation.

Frost said specialization within recreation career fields drove the decision to pursue accreditation for each individual concentration — even though tripling the accreditation process was a tall order.

"It's three times the work," he said. "We're proud of the faculty members who all contributed. You can't hide when it comes to accreditation."