Welcome!

Welcome to the Eliphalet Nott Society of Union College. Today the Eliphalet Nott Society is comprised of 25 members who each have pledged a percentage of a personal investment or income opportunity which upon a liquidation event will be transferred to the Vash Fund. Members of the ENS manage the Vash Fund as a part of the College’s endowment by investing in promising ventures.

But the ENS is more than just financial support for the College. In fact, the ENS has been a vital part of instilling an entrepreneurial spirit on the Union College campus. Today the formal curriculum is interspersed with four courses with specific focus on how entrepreneurship shaped each of these topical areas: Classics, History, Econ/Psychology and Art. And 8 additional courses have specific Entrepreneurship modules.

There is a very active Entrepreneurship club on campus. We've had speakers that include Bo Peabody, founder of Village Ventures, Walter Robb, former Head of Research & Development at General Electric, and others. We also have an active incubator just off campus on Nott Terrace with several promising Union-related ventures incubating there. And there is an upcoming term abroad in Fiji in the fall where several (11) students will be working with indigenous businesses to try to understand and perhaps help these local entrepreneurs.

What’s important is not that we are teaching our students a trade. What we are hoping to do is to get more people on campus thinking entrepreneurially – that is empowering people to cause change, to investigate new ideas, to try things that have never been tried before.

In keeping with the legacy of Eliphalet Nott who was a very successful entrepreneur in his own right, the ENS is focused on perpetuating this type of new thinking in the Union community. And along the way, we will be an important part of the U are Union Campaign helping to ensure the financial wherewithal of the College.