August 11, 2005
Clark University student from Northfield Receives Anton Fellowship
to retrace Jack Kerouac's travels
Pictured from left to right are Peter Tomczik, 15, and his brother Adam. Peter accompanied Adam on his travels this summer.
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WORCESTER, Mass. - Adam J. Tomczik of Northfield, Minn., is one of ten Clark University undergraduates who will pursue independent scholarly and creative activities this summer and during the upcoming academic year with support from the Anton Fellowship Program.
Tomczik has been researching Jack Kerouac's vision of America, looking at his novels, journal entries, letters and correspondence and traveling across the United States, by car and by bus, retracing Kerouac's travels. He will stop in Lowell, Mass; New York City; Chicago; Denver; San Francisco and the Cascades to see what has changed in their history and geography.
“For American literature and for American social history, Jack Kerouac is more than simply a successful author; he is an icon of a way of life and an entire generation,” said Tomczik. “I have wished to race Kerouac's travels since first discovering the Beat Generation literature. No piece of work has studied Jack Kerouac's travels in their entirety.”
"This project is one of the most creative that I can recall in my 30-plus years of teaching undergraduate students of history," said Paul Ropp, professor of history at Clark. “Adam is tackling historical questions of high cultural and even political importance."
Tomczik just completed a semester abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He spent the summer of 2004 creating a documentary film, "Across the Sea and Onto Your Plate," which showcases ethnic neighborhood restaurants in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood . He also worked for Sociology Professor Robert J. S. Ross as an International Studies Stream research intern and researched the unionization of a baseball hat factory in the Dominican Republic. He produced a 25-page report on this topic that Professor Ross incorporated into his latest book “Slaves to Fashion”.
An American history major and a jazz guitar minor, Tomczik is a member of Clark's Class of 2006. In 2002, he was one of 14 students who entered Clark on a Making A Difference Scholarship that rewarded his outstanding commitment to, and leadership in, community service activities.
Tomczik is the son of Patrick and Dee Tomczik. He is a graduate of Northfield High School.
This is the fifth year of the Anton Fellowship Program, which was created by a gift from Barbara ’56 and Thomas ’56 Anton to give undergraduates more opportunities to explore their intellectual interests. The fellowships range from $500 to $2,500. Recipients also become members of the Society of Anton Fellows, which meets with faculty mentors at special gatherings throughout the year to share their research experiences. The Anton Fellowship Program is directed by Professor Sharon Krefetz.
Clark University is a private, co-educational liberal-arts research university with 2,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in the United States, Clark has challenged convention with innovative programs such as the International Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the accelerated BA/MA programs with the fifth year tuition-free for eligible students.
Angela Bazydlo
Associate Director, Media Relations
(508) 793-7635
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