Monthly archive: February 2016

ATLANTA, GA AND CHATTANOOGA, TN – FEBRUARY 2016 – In January, Richmont’s 68 graduating students took the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE) and substantially exceeded the national mean of 83.86 for the fourth year in a row. On Richmont’s Chattanooga campus, students garnered a mean score of 98.73, while Richmont’s Atlanta students achieved an equally impressive mean score of 92.55.

“The Board of Trustees and I simply could not be prouder of Richmont’s faculty and students; the scores of the CPCE exam give a clear picture why. These nationally impressive numbers reflect each person’s dedication to excellence in the field of helping others,” said President Bob Rodgers.

According to the website for the Center for Credentialing & Education, the CPCE is used by more than 400 universities across the United States and “provides a…comprehensive exam that meets high psychometric standards” that “compare a program’s results to national data” and “gives students comparative strength and weakness feedback” (www.cce-global.org). The 160-question exam evaluates students on eight subject areas and allows universities to receive an objective view of student’s level of knowledge.

“We are tremendously proud of our students and their commitment to becoming excellent clinicians,” said Dr. Stephen Bradshaw, Dean of the Schools of Counseling and Psychology. “Their strong performance on the CPCE reveals both their personal diligence and the exceptional quality of the counseling program at Richmont. We are exceptionally proud that as outstanding as these scores are, they don’t even address the integrative part of the curriculum – that aspect of a Richmont education that highlights sensitivity to the work of faith-based issues in the counseling room.”

Performance on the CPCE is considered an indicator of how students will perform on the National Counselor Examination (NCE), which is required for licensure as a professional counselor in most states. Richmont’s 2016 CPCE scores match students’ most recent performance on the NCE. Our students pursuing a degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling attained a 100% passing rate with a mean score of 118.5, compared to the national mean score of 109.71 for students in CACREP-accredited programs.

ATLANTA, GA AND CHATTANOOGA, TN – FEBRUARY 2016 – Richmont has been invited to participate in Project Amazing Grace, a prestigious national research project jointly spearheaded by Biola University and the University of California at Davis, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. The research initiative will investigate the nature, impact, and influence of understanding God’s grace. To that end, the project’s foundational question states, “How and in what ways is grace fundamental to human existence and wellbeing?”

Dr. Timothy Sisemore, Director of Research, says, “Richmont is pleased to see its research initiatives noticed and enhanced by participation in these important meetings.”

In January, Sisemore presented to Project Amazing Grace’s Core Research Team the story of the Richmont Grace Scale and its evolution into the Dimensions of Grace Scale, which is to be published shortly in the journal Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Future directions of the scale include planned theses for two Richmont students.

Sisemore was further invited to participate in Biola University/Rosemead School of Psychology’s annual Institute for Research on Psychology and Spirituality, a select gathering of top researchers in the field in which participants learn of others’ research projects and exchange ideas. Sisemore presented Richmont’s Psychotherapy Outcomes Project (RPOP) to the group as a model for training and data gathering.

President Bob Rodgers says, “Richmont is honored to be included in this important research project. Understanding the grace offered to us by God transforms the way we live. As such, Richmont is committed to studying the application of grace in the field of psychology to reshape clients’ lives for years to come.”

Project Amazing Grace’s primary empirical goal as stated on the project’s website is, “to investigate how humanly experienced divine grace has the capacity to profoundly enhance and elevate human flourishing.” For more information, please consult Project Amazing Grace’s online presence at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Amazing-Grace/696913600428471?hc_location=ufi.