Toni Dornhard, a junior and Classics major at �鶹��ý����, spent the summer interning for Freshta Taeb’s campaign for Assembly as an events coordinator, a position they found through Taeb’s campaign website. Although Dornhard admits to not following local politics prior to interning, working in Taeb’s campaign team has given her a chance to not only understand how local politics work, but to also play a role in it. “I love making and planning events, it is one of my strong suits so I am actively doing what I love while learning the importance of local politics,” says Dornhard.

As a Philosophy and Classics major, Dornhard is able to apply her knowledge of ethics and logic when talking to voters, which is crucial to helping Freshta Taeb not only gain voters but also to better understand how to serve the people of Legislative District 12 in New Jersey.

Post graduation, Dornhard wants to own a business revolving around how to make the world more sustainable. “We would be hosting a lot of events around how to change habits and try to become more sustainable.” This internship opportunity has taught Dornhard a lot about planning different kinds of events as well as interacting with the community at these events.

One of Dornhard’s accomplishments during this internship is putting together a list of venues, caterers and events that are easily accessible to the campaign team. Though the deadlines are strict, the experience has been rewarding. “I have many more connections to great people that I know will help me in what I need to do. In addition, I really do feel like this will add to my skill sets to become a business owner while fighting to make the world more sustainable.”

Local political activists who work for greater change can be an incredible source of inspiration for people. During this internship, Dornhard met Daniel Braile, who works as the campaign manager for Freshta Taeb’s campaign for Assembly.

“One of the lessons he has taught me is that one person makes a difference,” Dornhard says. “One intern, one voter, one speech. I have never felt more able to change things than I do when I am under his care.”

This experience has not only been rewarding to Dornhard in professional experience, but also motivating to pursue one’s dreams and to understand that anyone can be a catalyst for positive change.

Written by Vivvy Gundani

Barry Mahmoud, a and double major, has been interning at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Newark. As an investigative intern, Mahmoud assists investigators in obtaining and analyzing client materials such as medical records, financial reports, and more. Mahmoud is working toward law school and taking this opportunity to “gain some experience in the field of public interest law.”

Mahmoud originally began working in the Newark office in November of 2023 for an assignment that required him to observe a court session and then took the initiative in asking for a possible internship.

“After the eventful day, I was eager to return and spend more time, so I followed up in the spring about an internship opportunity, and here I am,” he says.

Mahmoud is appreciative to do “extremely meaningful” work: “As public defenders, the office handles cases for those who are unable to obtain their own representation in court. Many of the clients are people who come from historically disenfranchised and marginalized communities, thus providing them an opportunity to not only have a lawyer, but some of the best in their respective fields.”

Furthermore, Mahmoud values the exposure to the judicial system as he approaches law school: “This is the type of experience that I could never obtain in a classroom setting. Being able to witness firsthand the way that the federal judicial system functions and the many intricacies of it has been eye-opening, to say the least. Working with and speaking with the attorneys, as well as the clients, provides me with meaningful insight.”

Read more student intern experiences!

Written by Sarah Ramirez

Sidney Berger (German and Linguistics), Maya Niemsyk (Professional and Public Writing), Alli Kodila (German and Linguistics), Cameron Mackay (Philosophy), and Siegfrid Schaefer (German) presented five excellent research papers, professionally fielded audience questions and answers, and met 70 other rising scholars from the Northeast.

Students presented timely innovative presentations on such topics as HIV/AIDS in East Germany, the role of “Gendersprache” and “Denglish” from a historical linguistic perspective, the use of Kietzdeutsch in online German content, transgender identities in multiple film variants of The Little Mermaid, and analysis of the “Slept Agenda of Popular Culture” from a philosophical perspective.

Faculty from other institutions noted how well-researched these �鶹��ý���� presentations were.

Chapter Abstract
This chapter explores the relations between musical instruments, performance, sociality, and well-being by drawing upon Albert Borgmann’s philosophy of technology. In-passing, Borgmann categorizes musical instruments as “focal things.” He does not consider the implications of this characterization; this chapter does. Borgmann does not place musical performance in the associated category, “focal practice”; this chapter does. Among the benefits of examining performance and instruments through Borgmann’s framework, we are given the conceptual tools for understanding just how some technologies make a positive contribution to performance (in terms of what the author calls “technological paraphernalia”) and just how other technologies threaten the focal practice of performance (what Borgmann calls “technological devices”). More broadly, Borgmann has a unique way of articulating what it is to treat performance and instruments as ends in themselves rather than as means. Through this articulation, we see that performance and instruments can contribute to a good life through what Borgmann calls “centering.”

This is no neo-Luddite broadside against smartphones but a clear and careful philosophical exploration of what makes life meaningful and how smartphone use can either serve or undermine such meaning. Taking aim at the heart of our present age, Roholt’s book is consistently insightful and provocative.”

– Iain Thomson, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, USA

From the Back Cover:

When our smartphones distract us, much more is at stake than a momentary lapse of attention. Our use of smartphones can interfere with the building-blocks of meaningfulness and the actions that shape our self-identity.

By analyzing social interactions and evolving experiences, Roholt reveals the mechanisms of smartphone-distraction that impact our meaningful projects and activities. Roholt’s conception of meaning in life draws from a disparate group of philosophers—Susan Wolf, John Dewey, Hubert Dreyfus, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Borgmann. Central to Roholt’s argument are what Borgmann calls focal practices: dinners with friends, running, a college seminar, attending sporting events. As a recurring example, Roholt develops the classification of musical instruments as focal things, contending that musical performance can be fruitfully understood as a focal practice.

Through this exploration of what generates meaning in life, Roholt makes us rethink the place we allow smartphones to occupy in the everyday. But he remains cautiously optimistic. This thoughtful, needed interrogation of smartphones shows how we can establish a positive role for technologies within our lives.

Program Benefits

• High-achieving �鶹��ý���� students are able to complete a Bachelor’s and MBA degree in five years
• Students from a variety of undergraduate disciplines gain valuable business and professional knowledge, skills and experiences that enhance their employability and career options post graduation.
• Students are able to take advantage of a more time- and cost-effective option for getting an MBA degree by taking “swing” graduate courses that satisfy both their undergraduate and graduate degrees at the undergraduate tuition rate.

The following CHSS undergraduate programs are approved for participation in the 4 +1 program:

• BA Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
• (with concentrations in Arabic, French, German, and Italian). NOTE: the combined BA/MBA program option is not applicable to the BA in Language Business and Culture with a concentration in Spanish.
• BA Philosophy

Interested in Pursuing the 4+1 Bachelor’s / MBA Program? Follow these simple steps:

Contact Us

April Sime
MBA Office
973-655-4306
gradbusiness@montclair.edu

In a social situation, why is it sometimes off-putting when a person reaches for his smartphone? In small-group contexts such as a college seminar, a business meeting, a family meal, or a small musical performance, when a person begins texting or interacting with social media on a smartphone he may disengage from the group. When we do find this off-putting, we typically consider it to be just impolite or inappropriate. In this essay, I argue that something more profound is at stake. One significant way in which individuals shape their self-identities is through interactions with others in small groups. Much identity-work is interdependent; it requires generating and preserving social contexts. I argue that the smartphone-use of some individuals can fracture a group’s context and thus negatively affect the identity-work of others. In this essay, I examine identity-work, sociality, and personal technology from a perspective of existential phenomenology.

Everyone is welcome! No preparation or previous knowledge is required.

When: Thursdays – , , and from 11:30 a.m.–12:30p.m.

Where: – The same link will be used for all three sessions.