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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.

      Showcase a Fired-Up Attitude in Thanksgiving parade

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      Students, faculty and staff will once again have the opportunity to demonstrate their passion for Central Michigan University as marchers in America’s Thanksgiving Parade ® presented by Gardner White.

      CMU’s parade float highlights the CMU “We do” brand with scenes of students engaged in hands-on learning, participating in leadership activities, and earning their degrees.

      CMU community members march in the Thanksgiving parade

      APPLY TO MARCH

      Marchers participate in the parade by riding on the float, carrying banners and walking alongside the float and engaging with spectators along the route. 


      This will be CMU’s second year participating in the event, which takes place Thursday, Nov. 24 in Detroit.

      Join the parade
      CMU students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to apply to participate in this year’s parade, said Brittany Milan, associate director of Alumni Engagement. Milan is leading CMU’s efforts in the parade.

      “We are looking for individuals who are truly Fired Up about their CMU experience and who are able to spend their Thanksgiving morning with us in Detroit,” she said.


      Milan said interested individuals must complete the brief online application before end of day Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, to be considered. A committee of CMU students, faculty, staff and alumni will review applications and select the 2022 marchers by mid-October.

      National spotlight on CMU
      The parade, which has been held annually for nearly 100 years, is the second largest in the U.S. and has twice been named the best holiday parade in America in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards.

      The 2021 event was broadcast in more than 180 media markets nationwide, reaching as many as 77 million households. With this reach, the parade earned more than $12.8 million in publicity value for participating organizations like CMU, according to The Parade Company.

      The parade also draws a large live crowd in Detroit, said Tony Michaels, president and CEO of The Parade Company and proud member of the CMU Class of '81. 

      “America’s Thanksgiving Parade® presented by Gardner White is the biggest event in Detroit and the entire region reaching hundreds of thousands of people curbside and millions more through our television broadcast,” said Michaels. “We are so thrilled to have Central Michigan University as one of our incredible sponsors helping us to bring our community together in a very special way for this amazing tradition!”

      The parade route passes CMU’s Detroit Office, located at 777 Woodward Ave. The CMU Alumni Association has partnered with The Parade Company to provide exclusive grandstand seating to watch the parade with CMU family and friends. Learn more by visiting the CMU Alumni Association webpage. 

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