Thursday, April 16, 2026
4:00 pm, Student Union Theatre
ANNUAL FREE PUBLIC LECTURE for students, faculty, and community
Lead Where You Stand: Purpose, Power, and Responsibility in a Changing World
Dr. Estreet earned a bachelor’s in science in psychology from Bowie State University, an MSW at Virginia Commonwealth University, a doctorate in social work at Morgan State University, and an MBA at the University Maryland-College Park. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest intercollegiate African American fraternity.
He has been a professor and chair of the Master of Social Work Program at Morgan State University since 2013. Estreet is also founder and chief executive officer of Next Step Treatment Center in Baltimore, which provides substance use treatment and mental health services. He was vice president of the NASW Board of Directors but stepped down from that role after being considered a candidate in the search process. Estreet also served as president of the NASW Maryland Chapter and is an active member of the Council on Social Work Education and the National Association of Black Social Workers.
While at Morgan, Estreet was awarded more than $6 million in extramural grant funding for social work workforce development, research, and training. He also led the development and expansion of the first MSW program in the United States, and at a historically Black college or university, to have an area of specialized practice focused on addressing substance use disorders.
During his career, Estreet has also been tapped to turn around and expand an underperforming clinical program and speed up public health action to address HIV health disparities among men in Baltimore and Jackson, Mississippi. Estreet has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, is a prolific national conference presenter and keynote speaker, and has two published books.
About the Paris Endowed Lecture Series
The Paris Lecture Series is made possible through a gift from Dr. John Viehe.
Dr. Viehe has taught at Campbell University for many years after a distinguished career in Military Intelligence. He earned his Ed.D. from North Carolina State University.
The lecture series is in honor of his mother, Ethel Paris Viehe, and aunts, Florence Edith Paris and Cora Paris Hagen.
The Paris Sisters
The Paris sisters were exemplars in the field of education, examples for current students to emulate. Each was born in the city of Buffalo, New York and remained in education long enough to retire and earn a pension. When they entered the field, most teachers were prepared solely at two-year normal schools. Some obtained additional higher education. Among New York State’s major cities, Buffalo had the highest proportion of teachers with no formal education beyond normal school.
However, the Paris Sisters did not follow this trend. Each graduated from Buffalo Normal School (now SUNY Buffalo State College) and then earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Buffalo (now the State University of New York at Buffalo). Subsequently, each of the sisters earned a master’s degree from an Ivy League University.
Firstborn Florence also acquired a Principal’s Certificate and became the youngest and first female principal in the Buffalo School System. She served as principal of Buffalo, New York Public School 65 for 47 years.
Cora, the middle sister, later attended Colorado School of Mines and developed a solid understanding of earth science. During World War II, she stepped forward to support the war effort by teaching science courses, including meteorology, to pilots, enabling the opening of an airplane factory which produced over a thousand lend-lease fighter planes.
Ethel had the misfortune of being widowed with four children under the age of 11; she immediately returned to teaching and became Chairman of the Science department at Hamburg, New York High School. She was awarded three National Science Foundation grants to study specialized advanced topics. She imparted the importance of education to her four, each of whom subsequently earned a doctoral degree.
Past Paris Lectures
