Phil Kutzko works to improve diversity on the University of Iowa campus, being inspired by marching on Washington, D.C., in 1963 and watching Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech.

"I still can't believe I was there," Kutzko said.

Since 2002, he's served as the director of the Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate, which strives to increase the number of doctorates awarded to minority students in the fields of technology, engineering and math.

"This is a big project with a presence at the three state schools - Iowa, Iowa State and UNI." he said, adding that the main office is located on the UI campus.

Kutzko has helped achieve a great deal of success. UI now produces more mathematics Ph.D.s from underrepresented groups than any other institute of higher education in the country, accounting for 10 percent of the national total.

"That may surprise some people," Kutzko said, "since Iowa has a primarily white population."

In May 2005, Kutzko was in Washington, D.C., when UI's Math Department received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

This success has led Kutzko to a new position. He's been the director of the Office of Graduate Ethnic Inclusion since August. His role now is to employ the Alliance for Graduate Education's successful model and minority recruiting strategy to other units of the Graduate College.

Kutzko believes the benefits of diversity extend beyond the classroom into the community.

"We all benefit enormously from our diversity," he said.

Promoting diversity makes him feel proud to be an Iowan and proud to be an American.

"We have to come together and become one country and move forward," he said.

Kutzko, also a math professor at UI, gets a first-hand look at the diversity he helps to create.

"It's a dream come true to see the students interact," he said.

- Jason Spangler