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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.

      Ellen Strzalkowski, a May 2023 graduate of the doctorate of educational technology program, analyzed teachers’ views on social-emotional learning (SEL) during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly focusing on blended and online classrooms. SEL is a method to help students understand their emotions, feel emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy.  

      Strzalkowski has a passion for equity and inclusion, which inspired her research on SEL. She is especially enthusiastic about transformative SEL, a branch of SEL that focuses on social justice and identity. Strzalkowski says, “I believe that most teachers are very motivated and passionate about building up their students' academic and non-academic skills alike.” 

      Her research showed teachers were invested in SEL and brought these skills to their classrooms. She also learned about the different aspects of support teachers need to implement SEL, such as “culturally responsive, authentic, quality, and focused on the [classroom/school/community] training” and “acknowledgment that it is a complex topic that needs to be approached flexibly.” Participants led many conversations on the importance of cultural responsiveness and complexity and the training needed in all classroom aspects (physical, hybrid, or online). SEL practices in the classroom can be making connections between content and student experiences, allowing students to choose how to explore their own learning, and exploring how identity informs and influences views of self, community, and the world.  

      Strzalkowski says, “I hope my research helps school, district, and state administrators see the value and importance of transformative SEL [given] that teachers want to receive quality training that can be helpful for all their students.” 

      Currently, Strzalkowski works for an educational technology consulting company, with her main role focusing on bringing SEL into online learning. Strzalkowski hopes to “[continue] to impact the world of culturally responsive online learning through implementing quality transformative SEL strategies.” 

      This story is brought to you by the  Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

      Source: Hadlee Rinn

      Media Contact: Kara Owens

      Questions?