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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

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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Trustees to discuss a new five-year strategic plan

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A new plan for Central Michigan University’s future will be the focal point of next week’s meeting of the CMU Board of Trustees.

Following the universitywide Strategic Envisioning Process that began in 2019, and after a year of community engagement and planning work involving multiple individuals and university offices, a final draft of a new five-year strategic plan is ready for Trustees to discuss during Thursday’s formal session.

The plan, which includes revised university mission and vision statements and several new priorities, objectives and goals, is the final product of more than 200 pages of input from students, faculty, staff, alumni, supporters, community partners and other stakeholders. An overview of the strategic planning process, including a list of campus engagements, is available on the strategic planning website.

Also included on Thursday’s agenda, independent auditing firm Plante Moran will present the university’s audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. President Davies also will present the year-end report on presidential priorities and initiatives from the 2022-2023 academic year. Trustees will then discuss and vote on presidential priorities for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Highlights for Wednesday’s committee meetings include:

Policy and Bylaws Committee, 1:15-1:30 p.m. — Trustees will hear a recommendation from Jennifer DeHaemers, vice president of student recruitment and retention, related to the first increase in the new student orientation fee in 16 years.

Academic and Student Affairs Committee, 1:45-3:00 p.m. — Members of the leadership team from the Division of Student Affairs will provide an update on an initiative to foster a sense of belonging among CMU students. Provost Nancy Mathews will give an overview on the visioning process to develop a new academic plan for CMU. Vice President DeHaemers also will provide a brief enrollment update.

Finance and Facilities Committee, 3:15-3:45 p.m. — Mary Hill, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, and Jonathan Webb, associate vice president of Facilities Management, will provide an update on completed and ongoing facilities projects.

Trustees-Faculty Liaison Committee, 4:00-5:00 p.m. — Trustees will hear two presentations on artificial intelligence and its impact on higher education. Stefanie Lassitter, director of instructional development in the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support, and Troy Hicks, chair of the Department of Teacher and Special Education, will discuss ways CMU and faculty members are addressing the opportunities and challenges presented by the growing use of artificial intelligence.

Trustees-Student Liaison Committee, 5:00-6:00 p.m. — Four student leaders will present updates and reports from their organizations. Tyler Zimmerman, president, and Ryan Biller, vice president, will provide the Student Government Association report; Hadlee Rinn, president, will report on Program Board; and Christian Toney, director, will give the Residence Housing Association report.

Agendas for the September meetings, including both Wednesday’s committee meetings and the formal session Thursday, are available on the Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes webpage.

Board of Trustees meetings are open to the university community and members of the public. All meetings will be held in the President’s Conference Room in the Bovee University Center, with seating for up to 25 individuals in the adjoining Lake Superior Room; all meetings are also available via live stream.

View the Wednesday committee meetings via livestream.
View the Thursday formal session via livestream.

Per the Board of Trustees bylaws, individuals wishing to address the Board of Trustees during the public comment period must submit a request in advance of the meetings in one of two ways: