UVA’s Dan Kramer to Deliver Phi Beta Kappa Convocation Address The director of the University of Virginia’s International Studies Office will address the new initiates on March 26.

By Emily Innes Stanley
March 16, 2026

The Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Washington and Lee University will welcome members of the junior and senior classes into the prestigious honor society at the Phi Beta Kappa/Society of the Cincinnati Convocation held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, in the Houston H. Harte Center Gallery in Leyburn Library. The honorees will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa based on their exceptional academic achievements in the arts and sciences.

The ceremony is open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

Dan Kramer, director of the International Studies Office at the University of Virginia, will deliver the convocation address, titled “The Future of Diplomacy.” Kramer will discuss how history appears to be repeating itself and why that may not necessarily be a bad thing. In the wake of World War I, isolationism replaced global diplomacy, and the U.S. turned its back on the League of Nations and on most immigrants with the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921. But amid this governmental retreat, new nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) arose and established new networks that often worked behind the scenes and found innovative solutions to maintain or reestablish international connections. In his talk, Kramer will demonstrate how these NGOs may provide insights and models for the current climate of increasing isolationism and for the future of diplomacy.

As director of the International Studies Office at UVA, Kramer oversees the Lorna Sundberg International Center, the Center for American English Language & Culture, the International Students & Scholars Program and the Education Abroad team. Prior to joining UVA, Kramer served as the director of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program at the Institute of International Education and worked closely with the U.S. Department of State, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, 49 Fulbright commissions, 130 U.S. Embassies and hundreds of American and international universities to recruit, select and support approximately 2,000 participants annually. Kramer holds a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He also participated in several international scholarship programs, including the Fulbright and the DAAD scholarship through the German Academic Exchange Service.

Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary. Its motto is “Love of learning is the guide of life.” The Gamma of Virginia Chapter was chartered at W&L in 1911.