Dr. Kramer’s plant research is in the taxonomy of the Family Annonaceae, a family of woody trees, shrubs, and vines growing mainly in the tropical forests of southeast Asia, Africa, and South America. The only North American species is the Paw Paw.

After his initial faculty appointment at Flint College of the University of Michigan, Dr. Kramer was a university administrator at Indiana University for 13 years and came to Mansfield in 1980 to serve six years as Dean and Director of Ohio State University’s regional campus. In 1986 he returned to the classroom as Assistant Professor of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology where he teaches the 2-quarter course in “Introductory Plant Biology” and the “Local Flora” course. For several summers he has presented plant biology workshops for teachers. His current research is in the use of computers, videodiscs, the World Wide Web and other technology for teaching biology. He has published several papers and a book chapter on the subject.

He is a member of several professional organizations and served as chair of the Teaching Section of the Botanical Society of America (BSA) in 1993-94 and in 1998 received the BSA’s Samuel N. Postelthwait Award for service to the Teaching Section. Dr. Kramer has organized six national symposia for the BSA, all on various aspects of the use of computers and other technologies for teaching biology, and served five years as Chair of the Education Committee of the Botanical Society. During his chairmanship the Education Committee digitized the society's teaching slide collection and published it on the BSA web site [http://images.botany.org/]. They also published an educational poster on the "Growth and Development of the McIntosh Apple" [http://mcintosh.botany.org/]; Dr. Kramer is a member of the Mansfield Mens Garden Club, interested mainly in growing perennials.

In the Mansfield community he served as a Director of the Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, and the Mansfield Art Center, and as a member of the Regional Planning Commission. A Rotarian since 1967, Kramer is a past president of the Mansfield Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. He and his wife, Gladys, are members of the First Congregational Church. They have one son, Ken, who is a graduate of The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. Ken and his wife, Tina, are the parents of Lauren Elizabeth.