Heritage
Richmont Graduate University was founded by hardworking visionaries who desired to impact the world for Christ. The legacy began in 1933 when the Chattanooga Bible Institute (CBI) was founded by Dr. James L. Fowle, Reverend H.E. Wright, Mrs. Ellen Poindexter, Mrs. George Elder, Mrs. Mark Senter, Mrs. Hilda Spence, and Mrs. Howard McCall. These founders envisioned a “Moody Bible Institute of the South” that would support local churches and their various ministries. From this incredible vision, CBI faithfully served the Chattanooga, TN community by providing training, counseling, library resources, and support for clergy and laity of all denominations.
In 1973, a group of Christian mental health professionals who had begun exploring the integration of Christian faith and professional counseling founded the Atlanta Clinical College. After opening a counseling center, they partnered with a major state university to offer advanced professional training and research within a Christian context. The organization was named the Religious Consultation and Research Society before being incorporated as the Psychological Studies Institute (PSI). The individuals who were initially committed to the founding of PSI included: Dr. William J. Donaldson, Jr. - faculty member at Georgia State University; Dr. Donald G. Miles – CEO of Georgia Mental Health Institute; Dr. John R. Richardson – pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church and chaplain of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents; and Dr. Paul Walker – pastor of Mount Paran Church of God.
Initially, PSI operated out of the Georgia Mental Health Institute and then at North Avenue Presbyterian Church, the Metanoia Building, Capitol View Baptist Church, and Mount Paran Church of God’s Family Life Center before the McCarty Foundation generously moved PSI into their own facility on the campus of Mount Paran Church of God in 1995. For more than 25 years, PSI offered a diploma in Christian counseling through its partnership with Georgia State University. In the fall of 1998, PSI began offering its own Master of Arts in Professional Counseling degree after receiving authorization from the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
In August of 2000, the Chattanooga Bible Institute merged with the Psychological Studies Institute, formalizing a working relationship that had begun in 1997. Only three years after the merger, PSI received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The Psychological Studies Institute changed its name to Richmont Graduate University in November of 2008.
Today, Richmont continues to provide high-quality graduate education that produces compassionate ministers and professional mental health counselors who work throughout the metro Atlanta and Southeast region of the United States. Our counselors work in behavioral health centers, homeless shelters, addiction rehabilitation facilities, churches, and other community-based programs that serve uninsured/underinsured populations. Our graduates work with clients of all ages who are experiencing trauma, grief, child abuse, neglect, depression/anxiety, marital strife, and other adverse life experiences.
The University is committed to preparing students and to serving local residents by providing access to reduced-fee counseling services. Specifically, by providing counseling interns to nonprofit organizations throughout Atlanta and Chattanooga, students can receive credit toward their degree requirements and recipient organizations can better serve their constituents without the enormous costs of building in-house mental health clinics.
The history of Richmont is truly a rich one. Today, led by President Timothy Quinnan, the University is committed to staying true to Christian principles and practices.